Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1026 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE whichprovides detailswith regard to the “ enforcement andpenalties ”.Consequently, a trader who has not fulfilled the obligations in line with S.L. 409.19 would be subject to a contravention from € 1,164.69c to € 23,293.73 c., by the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature. Furthermore, in line with Regulation 23 (b) of S.L. 409.19 the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Judicature could also “ order the offender to undo anything which was done in breach of these regulations to comply with these regulations, as the case may be ” and this not exceeding the terms of three months. Should the offender fail to abide by the Court’s order, then, there would be another fine imposed by the Court, between € 1,164,69 and € 11.646.79c. “for every day the default continues after the expiration of the said time.” The “trader’s” licence may also be suspended or not renewed for a maximum period of one year by the Malta Tourism Authority for “ repeatedly ” contravening or for failing to complywith these regulations (Regulation23 (3)(c)). Regulation 23(3)(a) of S.L. 409.19 further stipulates that “ any travel agent who sells packages as outlined in these Regulations shall abide thereby, irrespective of the fact whether or not the licence makes reference to this Subsidiary Legislation ”. A further sanction which is stipulated in the Regulations is that a travel agent could be also subject to the fines and penalties imposed in Articles 43 – 45 of the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act 5 , particularly if for example, one sells travel packages and is not contributing to the Insolvency Fund. Article 43 reflects the same criteria contemplated in Regulation 23 (a) and (b) above. Article 45 however, provides for a special procedure, whereby the Malta Tourism Authority may issue a written notice, whereby such notice would stipulate the offence and the steps required to be taken to remedy the offence, as well as the fine the person would need to pay in respect of the offence. This fine would not exceed € 2,300. This fine is payable to the Authority. The person receiving the fine may agree to pay the fine and consequently, he would have accepted that he has breached the regulations. Moreover, he would also accept to remedy the situation within the time frame set out by the Authority. Once the person accepts this “special procedure”, then, the Authority would not be permitted to take any further proceedings against the said person in relation to the same facts. 5 Chapter 409 of the Laws of Malta.