Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Done and dusted! On Thursday 28 May, the EU Competitiveness Council formally approved the inter-institutional political agreement reached on 5 May last on updating and modernising legislation on package tours and assisted travel. This legislation seeks to enhance consumer rights in the digital era by clarifying the rules for companies but without creating any additional bureaucracy (see EUROPE 11320 and 11308).
Agreement had been reached but several delegations (Belgium, Netherlands, Malta, Slovakia and Estonia) voted against and submitted a joint statement for the minutes. Austria also submitted a declaration. Poland, on the contrary, emphasised that progress had been made compared to the previous versions and said that the text helped to facilitate the development of tourist services and rights for tourists.
Vera Jourova, the Commissioner for Consumer Rights was delighted that the agreement had been made official and thanked the Latvian Presidency for its work on developing a “balanced text that was loyal to the objectives being pursued”.
According to the commissioner: “The rules on pricing will be clearer and will provide the right to reductions if the cost of fuel falls. The text will allow consumers to end a contract in the event of a disaster or a terrorist attack having an impact on their journey and will provide them with an option of three days accommodation if they are prevented from returning home within the timeframe agreed. Business travel will be exempt but protection will be ensured for SMEs covered by the provisions. This directive will allow for fair competition between companies. The insolvency of a travel provider recognised in one member state will also be recognised in the other member states”.
The countries jointly signing the statement denounced: - the rules that were contrary to the digital single market strategy and increased bureaucracy without creating a single market for services; - the application of the old rules to new stakeholders, which would lead to the disappearance of new enterprise models and complicate the task of the supervisory authorities; - the lack of a clear and simple regulatory framework that would enable tourism micro-enterprises to provide quality provision and supervisory authorities to carry out their work easily; - the lack of clarity in the concept of providing assisted travel and the inclusion of linked or assisted travel arrangements in the rules on the insolvency of service providers, which represents a heavy burden for SMEs and which will muzzle innovation and hinder competitiveness; - and corporate liability representing an insurmountable burden on companies. (Aminata Niang)