Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1014 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE linked tourist service agreement, for the infringement of some requirements of the law. The travaux preparatoires of the law on tourism indicated that the sanctions existed in the Code on Administrative Offences and did not discuss the correlation of sanctions at all. The Code on Administrative Offences 58 was amended in 2019, by establishing the sanction for the violation of requirements for the provision of the travel organising services, violation of requirements for travel agents and/or violation of requirements for the traders of linked travel arrangements, set in Law on Tourism. It is provided that these types of actions can cause a fine in the amount from six hundred (600) to eight hundred fifty (850) euros. It seems that, in respect of the travel retailers and vendors of linked tourist service arrangements activity, the sanctions will be applied for the infringement of the requirements established for the travel retailers and vendors of linked tourist service arrangements but not for the fulfilment of the services as such. However, the rule is quite ambiguous regarding tour organisers. For example, it is not very clear whether the sanction will be applied if the tour organiser infringes the requirements for the provisions of information to the tourists, as the Law on Tourism refers to the requirements indicated in the Civil Code. Moreover, as it was mentioned, the contractual requirements reflecting the Travel Directive provisions are regulated not in the Law on Tourism, but the Civil Code. Hence, there would be no liability to apply for the infringement of the requirements of package travel services established in the Civil Code. Moreover, it is not clear whether, and to what extent, the sanctions established in the Law on Consumer Rights Protection will be applied. Some sanctions are applied for the infringement of the requirements indicated in the Civil Code. By amending the chapter of the Civil Code regulating consumer contracts with the provision allowing to apply some provisions for the travel services, it might be concluded that some sanctions might be applied for the infringement of the tourists’ rights. However, as has been mentioned, the Law on Consumer Rights Protection applies only to the C2B (consumer-to-business) relation. Therefore, it creates uncertainty whether the general sanction system established in the Law on Consumer Rights Protection might be applied for the infringement of the rights of other travellers than the consumers (consumers in the broad sense). Moreover, it is crucial to take into account that, after transposition of Article 27 58 The Republic of Lithuania LawNo. XIII-1994, amending Articles 128 and 589 of the Code on Administrative Offences.