The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU had prepared a fourth compromise proposal on the Package Travel Directive for the meeting of the Consumer Protection and Information Working Group, which was held on Wednesday 6 November. For this new proposal, Hungary focused on those parts of the text that are not related to definitions (see EUROPE 13503/16), in particular vouchers and protection against insolvency.
It has therefore made a number of adjustments to Article 12a. In response to requests from Member States, the text now limits the transferability of vouchers so that they can only be transferred once. A clarification was also made that it is the responsibility of the person transferring their voucher to provide the professional with all necessary and relevant information to identify the transferee, on the basis that they alone hold this information. To make the vouchers more appealing, operators can offer vouchers that are worth more than the amount of the refund to which the traveller is entitled.
According to our information, France in particular was calling for the transferability of vouchers to be limited, specifically to avoid facilitating the risks of money laundering. From the point of view of professionals, this limitation makes things simpler since it allows them to better monitor the transfer process.
The Presidency has also suggested a number of changes to the information that professionals must provide to travellers when they offer a voucher, in order to simplify the readability of the provisions and to avoid duplication. It has also clarified the traveller’s right to reimbursement in the event of exchanging vouchers. Under this revision, the refund will be made within 14 days of the end of the validity period, on the basis of its initial value.
Finally, with regard to Article 17 on the effectiveness and scope of protection against insolvency, the Presidency has withdrawn paragraphs 6a and 6b. These stipulated that travel organisers and the entity responsible for providing protection against insolvency were required to inform travellers of their insolvency as soon as possible on their website and to provide all relevant information pertaining to the mechanism for requesting reimbursement. According to our information, the conditions that have been set out would be unenforceable given the different systems in force in each Member State. Member States will have the power to designate the entities that are responsible for providing insolvency protection, as specified in recital 23.
Read the new compromise proposal here: https://aeur.eu/f/e7q (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)