On Tuesday 15 October, the EU Council’s Working Party on Consumer Protection and Information will discuss the Hungarian Presidency’s new compromise proposal on the revision of the package travel directive. This text includes changes to the provisions relating to linked travel arrangements (LTAs) and insolvency obligations, which divided the Member States in September (see EUROPE 13479/6).
According to the document obtained by Agence Europe, the Presidency is proposing three options for LTAs: - to delete them by removing recital 5; - to maintain them and adapt the recital; - to incorporate them into the definition of the package.
Under the second option, Hungary proposes recital 5a: “The new situation where the definition of ‘package’ contains the criterion of a single visit or contact, should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.” Not every interruption in the booking process should be automatically presumed to lead to a package. For example, when a traveller selects a travel service and shortly afterwards books one or more additional travel services, this would be considered to be part of the same service.
In contrast, if a traveller, after having made a booking and without having first enquired about other bookings for the same trip or holiday, or without having been encouraged to do so by the professional, subsequently decides to book an additional travel service on the same website or at the same physical point of sale, this should not be considered part of the package.
According to the third option, the definition of a package tour as the transmission of the traveller’s name, payment details and email address from one professional to another proved too narrow. “Therefore, it is appropriate to consider bookings of different types of travel services for the same trip or holiday as ‘package’ where the trader that is party to a first contract transfers the traveller’s personal data to a trader that is party to a second or further contract”, the document states.
This may include, for example, the traveller’s name, payment details and email address, telephone number, social media account or any other information by which they can be identified. The reference to “personal data” is intended to make the definition more future-proof and is appropriate to indicate that there is a close link between the bookings or contracts in question and that they should therefore be considered as a package.
Insolvency. The Presidency has proposed a number of amendments concerning vouchers, in particular the rules relating to the period of validity of vouchers and their possible extension. It also specifies that the effectiveness of insolvency protection implies that the protection is available as soon as, due to the organiser’s liquidity problems, the travel services are not performed, will not be performed or will only be partially performed, or when the service providers require travellers to pay for these services.
Read the compromise proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/dvo (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)