Tourism Law in Europe

2  The Directive on Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 6 was transposed by the Act no. 170/2018 Coll. on package travel, linked travel arrangements, certain engagement conditions in the tourism business and amending and supplementing certain acts (hereinafter referred to as “Package Travel Act”). This act entered into force on 1 January 2019; and  Directive 2008/122/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, dated from 14 January 2009, on the protection of consumers regarding certain aspects of timeshare, long-term holiday products, resale and exchange contracts, as contained in the Act no. 161/2011 Coll. on Protection of Consumers when Providing Some Tourism Services, as amended. Slovak contract law is regulated in the Slovak Civil Code 7 (hereinafter referred as “CC”), particularly consumer contracts and person-to-person contracts. The fundamental part of consumer law is also contained in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 8 . The collaborative economy and the platform-based contracts strongly influence the provision of tourism services. Slovak law does not have special instruments for platforms, but it benefits from the EU’s developments in this area. The protection of the consumer and the traveller, as a customer who purchases goods and services through the platform, is ensured by: a) general rules of consumer law; b) general rules for the operation of platforms, which are gradually evolving (particularly on the EU level) and aim to protect all users of the platforms (e.g. EU Regulation 2019/1150) 9 ; and c) exceptionally, by specific consumer protection rules on the online market (Regulation on consumer ODR) 10 . Some instruments (e.g. amendments of consumer directives with 6 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC. 7 Zákon č. 40/1964 Zb. Občiansky zákonník v znení neskorších predpisov (The Civil Code, as amended). 8 Zákon č. 250/2007 Z. z. o ochrane spotrebiteľa a o zmene zákona Slovenskej národnej rady č. 372/1990 Zb. o priestupkoch v znení neskorších predpisov (The Act on Consumer Protection). 9 Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services. 10 Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Regulation on consumer ODR).