Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1068 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE We furthermore criticise the manner in which the business traveller is offered protection by the Act. It would have been better to look for a solution in accordance with the arrangement used for general terms and conditions. There could have easily been a distinction between large and small companies. The manner in which an opt-out option is offered (by concluding a “ general agreement ”) will not work in practice as the corporate travel sector does not always use long-term framework agreements, and the larger corporate accounts usually pay their trips afterwards and do not face any insolvency risks, and consequently do not need to be insured against this non-existing risk. We also question the manner in which the guarantee obligations have been implemented, and the supervision on these guarantee funds in the Netherlands. Questions that might very well be answered by the ruling of the EU CoJ of July 2019. If the government does not actually guarantee that in case of the insolvency of an organiser the traveller will get a refund off all the payments made, then that government itself is liable for the travellers’ damage. Finally, we believe that the new phenomenon of the Linked Travel Arrangement will not stand the test of time. We will observe how case law on this Act will develop in the years to come.