The COVID-19 pandemic has created major disruptions in the travel and tourism sector, the time has come to look for immediate solutions compatible with the rights of consumers, who have also been hit hard by this crisis, and not to change EU legislation guaranteeing these rights, stressed European Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Affairs Didier Reynders on Tuesday 14 April.
He was speaking by videoconference to the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), where he also recalled that the Commission had worked during the health crisis to enforce European consumer law to protect consumers from scams.
Three steps
According to him, it is necessary to work with the Member States to arrive at an exit and recovery strategy “and, in doing so, ensure full respect for European fundamental rights”. In the long term, “we need to ensure that all consumer policies reflect the profound changes that the coronavirus crisis has brought to our economies and societies”.
The Commissioner recalled that, as early as 27 March, he had written to all Member States to stress that the rights of travellers to be reimbursed should be maintained, but in a way that would help tour operators to alleviate their liquidity problems.
A possible solution would therefore be that these tour operators could be allowed to offer vouchers instead of cash refunds to travellers whose trips have been cancelled, “provided that the travellers can obtain a full refund, if they ultimately decide not to use the voucher”.
These assets will also have to be secured against the possible insolvency of the agencies or tour operators and should remain voluntary, he said. This compromise solution is preferred by the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) and the European Consumer Centre of Belgium (see EUROPE 12465/15).
No change to the Directive on Package Travel. Aware of the legislative measures adopted by some Member States to alleviate the crisis, Didier Reynders said he was “concerned about the different approaches at European level which do not always sufficiently respect the interests of consumers”. In his view, there is no question that at the moment none are achieving the level of the European Union (EU) Directive 2015/2302 on package travel and travel related services - which is under his purview.
“At this stage it does not seem appropriate to amend the Directive, but we are monitoring the situation closely. There needs to be a coordinated approach on package travel, passenger rights and tourism in general”, said Mr Reynders. That is why he is in regular and close contact with Commissioners Vălean and Breton (see EUROPE 12466/11).
Measures against scams. The Commissioner stressed that the common position of 20 March on pressure selling techniques, price adjustments and false claims of miracle products against COVID-19, coupled with the measures taken by Internet platforms have “put an end to millions of frauds and fake products”.
The consumer, actor of the recovery. In the longer term, there is a need to reflect on the way consumers shop and manage their private credit, to feed into the future EU consumer strategy.
“Private households, which account for more than 54% of GDP, must be an integral part of the post-crisis recovery”, the Commissioner said. The future strategy will draw lessons from the crisis, stress the important role consumers can play in a sustainable recovery, use all the possibilities of digital technology, improve consumer information and reassure them of their rights in the real and online world, said Mr Reynders. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)