On Thursday 21 November, the Council of the EU’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 again includes changes to the provisions relating to linked travel arrangements (‘LTAs’) (see EUROPE 13503/16).
According to the document obtained by Agence Europe, the Presidency is proposing to delete Article 19 on insolvency protection in its entirety, and the information requirements for ‘LTAs’ will be removed. Under the first option, recitals five and nine on the definition of package travel will also be withdrawn.
In the second option, recital nine is also deleted, but recital five is amended. It provides for the definition of ‘LTAs’ to be incorporated into the definition of ‘package’. The definition of ‘package’ should then cover both situations covered by the definition of ‘LTAs’ by modifying the existing cases and introducing a new situation in the ‘package’. 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.
For example, when a traveller selects a travel service and shortly afterwards books one or more additional travel services, this should be considered as part of the same contact or visit. The same applies when a traveller leaves the trader’s premises or website after selecting the first travel service and returns shortly afterwards to complete the booking of an additional service. In contrast, if, after having made a booking and without having first enquired about other bookings for the same trip or holiday or without having been encouraged by the trader to make additional bookings, a traveller subsequently decides to book an additional travel service on the same website or in the same physical point of sale, this should not be considered to be part of the same visit or contact.
Under the second option, recital eight is also amended. It provides that bookings of different types of travel services for the same trip or holiday are considered as a ‘package’ when the trader who is party to a first contract transfers the traveller’s personal data to a trader who is party to a second or subsequent contract. This may include, for example, the traveller’s name, payment details, e-mail address, telephone number or any other information that can be used to identify the traveller.
Furthermore, in the case of an online booking for at least two different types of travel services for the purposes of the same trip which do not constitute a ‘package’, the trader with whom the first contract is concluded must inform the consumer, before concluding a second contract, that this does not constitute a ‘package’. The trader is therefore not responsible for the performance of the additional service.
With regard to insolvency (see EUROPE 13519/15), Member States define their own systems of protection applicable on their territory, including the associated procedures and methods of communicating information. They should then designate the competent entity or entities responsible for providing the necessary information.
Read the document: https://aeur.eu/f/ef2 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)