Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1084 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE does not apply to personal injury or damage caused intentionally or with negligence and does not amount to less than three times the total price of the package”. This possibility generally applies to “compensation”. However, Article 50(6) of the A.P.T. provides a limitation on “compensation” (and therefore, no longer on “an appropriate amount of money”, which constitutes a restriction on the Directive): “In a package travel contract, the travel organiser may limit the compensation to be paid by the travel organiser, provided that that limitation does not apply to personal injury or damage caused deliberately or negligently and is not less than three times the total price of the package travel”. (16) One of the most serious problems from the point of view of assessing the correctness of the implementation of Directive 2015/2302 is Article 50(5) of the A.P.T. According to it, “If specific provisions limit the scope or the conditions under which compensation or an appropriate amount of money is paid by a travel organiser which is part of a package, the same restrictions shall apply to the travel organiser”. Such limitation of liability is broader than the regulation of Directive 2015/2302, which does not contain a general limitation of liability on the basis of “special provisions” 38 . Similarly, there is an urgent need for legislative change in this matter. (17) Directive 2015/2302 introduced the possibility of regulating the right of a traveller to withdraw from a contract within 14 days without giving any reason – Article 12(5) states “With respect to off-premises contracts, Member States may provide in their national law that the traveller has the right to withdraw from the package travel contract within a period of 14 days without giving any reason”. The Polish legislator introduced such a possibility, but to a limited extent. Pursuant to the first sentence of Article 47(1)(1) of the A.P.T.: “A consumer who has concluded a package travel contract negotiated away from business premises within the meaning of Article 2(2) of the Act of 30 May 2014 on Consumer Rights may, within 14 days of its conclusion, withdraw from it without giving any reason or incurring any costs, unless the oral negotiations on the basis of which the agreement was concluded were conducted on the basis of an earlier order placed by the consumer”. 38 This problem is discussed in more detail in the article: P. Cybula, W sprawie oceny dopuszczalności powoływania się przez organizatora turystyki na przepisy szczególne ograniczające zakres albo warunki na jakich odszkodowanie lub zadośćuczynienie jest wypłacane przez dostawcę usług turystycznych (czyli o potrzebie zmiany art. 50 ust. 5 ustawy o imprezach turystycznych i powiązanych usługach turystycznych) , internetowy “Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny” 2018, No. 4, p. 35 et seq.