Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1064 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE DCPEA, the Act unintentionally has a much broader scope than intended. It should have contained a reference to Article 7:500(h) and the trader of a linked travel arrangement (LTA), or the definition of trader should have been limited in Article III to the facilitator of a linked travel arrangement and organiser. 8. TRAVELLER’S RIGHT TO TERMINATE THE AGREEMENT The traveller had the right to terminate the package agreement, and has retained this right after 1 July 2018. Until that date, the Act stipulated that the traveller was able to terminate the agreement with immediate effect at all times, but that he was required to compensate the travel organiser for any damage it may have suffered due to the termination if this termination is attributable to the traveller 46 . This compensation was limited to the travel fee. It is difficult to imagine any damage exceeding this amount arising from the termination of the agreement by the traveller. However, the Act stipulated in paragraph 3 that the termination would not be attributable to the traveller if he had the right to be refunded part of the travel fee (or a part of the travel fee if the trip had already started but was terminated prematurely). Pursuant to the former Act, the circumstance inwhich a terminationwas attributable to the traveller was subject to debate. It is obvious that if the agreement is terminated due to circumstance personally affecting the traveller, such as illness or deaths in the family, this would be attributable to the traveller in the legal sense. This becomes more difficult if the traveller no longer wants to go on the trip if he believes that the situation in the country of destination has become too dangerous. There have been a number of court rulings 47 on this subject in which the judge assessed whether there were reasonable arguments underlying the decision of the traveller to terminate the travel agreement. Fear in itself is insufficient. This assessment covers both travel advice given by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs 48 and the opinion of the Calamiteitencommissie (Calamity Committee) 49 . 46 Article 7:503 DCC (old). 47 For example, refer to the Court of Arnhem of 18 May 2010 (ECLI:NL:2010:BM4122). 48 The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses colour codes, ranging from green to red, to indicate the level of safety of a country. This travel advice is not binding. 49 The Calamiteitencommissie is an independent body of the Calamiteitenfonds which takes decision on calamities and situations that qualify for compensation. The Stichting Calamiteitenfonds Reizen aims to pay compensation to consumers in case of calamities or eligible situations (refer to, inter alia , Article 1 of the guarantee scheme of the Calamiteitenfonds).