1. Without prejudice to the rights of consumers to seek alternative redress pursuant to Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (15), after having complained unsuccessfully to the railway undertaking or station manager pursuant to Article 28 the passenger may complain to the national enforcement body or any other body designated under paragraph 2 of this Article within three months from receiving information on the rejection of the original complaint. Where no reply is received within three months from making the original complaint, the passenger shall have the right to complain to the national enforcement body or any other body designated under paragraph 2. Where necessary, that body shall inform the complainant about his or her right to complain to alternative dispute resolution bodies to seek individual redress.
2. Any passenger may complain about an alleged infringement of this Regulation either to the national enforcement body, or to any other body designated by a Member State for that purpose.
3. The national enforcement body or any other body designated under paragraph 2 shall acknowledge receipt of the complaint within two weeks of receiving it. The complaint-handling procedure shall take a maximum of three months from the date of the establishment of the complaint file. For complex cases, that body may extend that period to six months. In such a case, it shall inform the passenger of the reasons for the extension and of the expected time needed to conclude the procedure. Only those cases that involve legal proceedings may take longer than six months. Where that body is also an alternative dispute resolution body within the meaning of Directive 2013/11/EU, the time limits laid down in that Directive shall prevail.
The complaint-handling procedure shall be made accessible to persons with disabilities and to persons with reduced mobility.
4. Passenger complaints about an incident involving a railway undertaking shall be handled by the national enforcement body or any other body designated under paragraph 2 of the Member State that granted that undertaking’s licence.
5. Where a complaint relates to alleged infringements by station or infrastructure managers, the complaint shall be handled by the national enforcement body or any other body designated under paragraph 2 of the Member State on whose territory the incident occurred.
6. In the framework of cooperation pursuant to Article 34, the national enforcement bodies may derogate from paragraphs 4 or 5 of this Article, or both of them, where for justified reasons, in particular those related to language or place of residence, this is in the passenger’s interest.