Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

50 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE problem solved, highlighted concerning the link between the current Article 52 of the Italian Consumer Code (most recently amended by Legislative Decree 21/02/2014 num. 21), Art. 32, paragraph 2, of the Tourism Code and Art. 47 lett. g which, excluding the regulation concerning the sale outside commercial locals and distance selling from the sale of tourist packages, excluded the right of withdrawal. The reason for this provision is to be found in the letter of the new Directive, which explicitly repealed the regulations of Directive 2011/83/EU (on consumer rights), and had been implemented, in Italy, with Legislative Decree 21/2014 amending the Consumer Code, but also in the systematic and axiological interpretation of the law, given the ratio legis expressed in recital No. 48, with which the European legislator specifies that : “ the use of this Directive makes it necessary to adapt certain acts regarding consumer protection. It should be particularly clarified that Regulation (EC) No. 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council applies to violations of this Directive. Furthermore, taking into account the fact that Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council does not apply in its current form to contracts governed by Directive 90/314/EEC, it is necessary to amend Directive 2011/83/EU to ensure that it continues to be applied to individual tourist services that are part of a connected tourist service, foreseen that such individual services are not otherwise excluded from the scope of application of Directive 2011/83/EU, and that some rights of consumers expected in it also apply to packages ”. That being so, it is clear, therefore, that the Directive’s ratio is to achieve complete harmonization, which is necessary in order to establish evenly rights for consumers and fair conditions for economic operators, in a sector that, in addition to being strategic for the adequate economic development of the Union, represents the field of choice in which consumers take on an ever more active role, day after day (as we have seen). Prof. Nicola Leone Dean of the University of Calabria