Yes. In the vast majority of cases, it’s legal.
We make a very clear distinction between public, commercial, and private information.
In all civilized countries, official information about a company (its name, place of registration, contact information), as well as its founders and directors is public. Each company is responsible for fulfilling its obligations to its contractors and own employees. If managers (and in some countries even owners) fail to comply with such obligations, they may face administrative or criminal responsibility. It is a fact.
Most often, there is a confidentiality clause in contracts and agreements between contractors. Where it is explicitly stated that all commercial information is confidential. Exactly! However, no one is asking you to reveal trade secrets, the cost of any of the services, or the registration number of the airplane that was serviced.
The mere fact that there is a debt of one company to another one is not commercial information. Unless it is explicitly stated in the contract or agreement.
As for private information, everything is much stricter here - any information that can identify a specific employee representing the company (except for public managers and founders), as well as his/her personal contact information (cell phone, e-mail, etc.) is confidential.
We strongly encourage our PRO account users (Claimants) to retouch any information that could be considered commercial or private when providing evidence on a case.
We have also prepared a special presentation for PRO account users called "How to Blacklist your Defaulters". In it, we present User guidelines prepared by the lawyers from ICON Partners. These guidelines specify in as much detail as possible what points you need to pay attention to in order to avoid any disclosure of commercial and private information.
The case created by Claimant (PRO Account User) goes to the Register administrator. During the 10 day Validation and Mediation period, the administrator contacts the Defaulter company, sending a "CASE HAS BEEN CREATED" notification.
In this notification, the administrator informs the Defaulter company that they have the opportunity to contact Claimant directly and resolve the situation.
If the Register receives official notification from the Claimant: "CASE HAS BEEN RESOLVED" before the case is published, such case will not be published.
If Claimant sends a "CASE HAS BEEN RESOLVED" notification after the case has been posted, it will be removed 90 days after such notification is posted.
The administrator also notifies Defaulter company that it can send its official position on the case. The Register undertakes to publish the position of the Defaulter company in the column "Defaulter's objection".
Only the Claimant can remove a case from publication. There is only one way to do this - to send an official "CASE HAS BEEN RESOLVED" notification to the administrator.
No. We are well aware of the situation in the aviation market. Many companies have become Slow Payers due to the total non-payment of their counterparties. We see our task as helping those who intend to work honestly in the aviation market and continue to fight the crisis in the industry and in their companies.
Yes. Aviation Professionals can create a case against a company. For example, if the company has not paid his/her salary. To do this, he/she needs to go through the same Register procedure as the companies. We will ask for documents showing that the applicant belongs to the aviation family: Pilot License, professional certificates, etc. As proof that a particular Aviation Professional has had a commercial relationship with the company for which he/she creates the case, we may request the first and last page of the relevant contract/agreement.
No. Currently, BLACKLIST.AERO only accepts cases created for legal entities.
BUT…
We all know the cases when dishonest businesspersons open a company, "inflate the bubble," and get into debt. Then they leave the company in a deplorable condition (often without even closing it), and then they open a new one. Often hiding behind nominal founders and directors.
In the future, we intend to follow such cases more closely and act as a professional media in the aviation market. We are guided by the principle of public significance of this or that fact and by the principles of journalistic ethics.
The Register voluntarily assumes the obligations of the media, acting on the basis of the standards of Independent Press Standards Organization and Royal Charter on self-regulation of the press.
Not only are we not afraid, we welcome it!
I'm well aware that from time to time we will encounter attempts to hinder our work through legal actions. Without this, it is impossible to imagine the establishment of the BLACKLIST.AERO Register as the only aviation resource that defends the financial interests of all honest market participants. Therefore, every attempt to counteract through legal or public actions will lead to the accelerated establishment of the BLACKLIST.AERO Register.
Those who would try to shut us up should realize that even with the presence of high-priced, expensive lawyers (even those who can prove that black is white and vice versa) it is possible to "win the battle, but lose the war."
We intend actively to cover any possible legal actions by the defaulters of our Register. Both with respect to Blacklist.aero and Claimants. I'm sure we will get the support of the entire aviation market. Moreover, the names of companies that try to shut us up and "clamp down", and their founders will be heard a hundred times more often and a thousand times louder in the market.
Ultimately, all non-payers will have to realize that it's cheaper to give back the money that was honorably earned to relevant companies or employees who have trusted them in the past anyway, than to try to bring the Doomsday upon us and our Claimants.
