Luxembourg, 13/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - A European Court of Justice press statement explains that by way of its Leitner judgement, tourists who have been victims of a poorly executed package tour contract can receive compensation for damages resulting from the loss of enjoyment. The Court of Justice explained that, "Member States such as Austria, where the responsibility for damages of this kind is not taken into account by national law must, however, fully apply the Directive". The 1990 European Directive on travel, holidays and package tours give the consumer the right, in principle, to compensation for damages resulting from the non-execution or poor execution of benefits from package deals.
Fourteen year old Simone Leitner was the victim of food poisoning at a holiday club, which ruined her and her parents holiday in Turkey. Austrian law did not "clearly" include compensation for these kind of damages but the court of appeal in Linz went to the Court of Justice. For the latter, the Directive implicitly recognises the existence of damages for ruined holidays. The Austrian Judge is expected to awards damages with interest to Simone Leitner.