Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1088 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE of 8 March. Since its publication took place only on 8 March 2018, there was no compliance of Article 28(1) NPTD, which required the Member States to “adopt and publish, by 1 January 2018, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive”. However, this would not be the most significant deficiency of the Portuguese legislator. In terms of transparency, the transposition of Directive 2015/2302, in Portugal, had one of the worst performances compared to the other Member States, because secrecy prevailed in all stages of the process. Despite being an essential set of travel legislation produced by the European Union, a benchmark for the protection of tourists worldwide, it did not allow any participation of stakeholders, becoming monopolised by two associations while excluding any other significant intervention. The preliminary draft of transposition was not disclosed on any website or in any way communicated to companies or universities.The Portuguese government never released it directly. Its disclosure occurred strictly through the Portuguese Confederation of Tourism, only to its members and within a tight time frame of six working days. It took place in one of the worst possible periods, immediately after Christmas and with New Year’s Eve coming in between – from 26 December 2017 to 4 January 2018 –, being forwarded directly to the Council of Ministers, where it was approved on 25 January 2018. 2. THE PORTUGUESE LEGISLATOR’S QUESTIONABLE OPTION OF HOLDING THE RETAILERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PACKAGE The NPTD, while reinforcing the protection of consumers, currently labelled as “travellers”, expressly allows retailers not to be held responsible: “Member States shall ensure that the organiser is responsible for the performance of the travel services included in the package travel contract, irrespective of whether those services are to be performed by the organiser or by other travel service providers. Member States may maintain or introduce in their national law provisions under which the retailer is also responsible for the performance of the package. In that case the provisions of Article 7 and Chapter III, this Chapter and Chapter V which are applicable to the organiser shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the retailer.” (Article 13/1 NPTD).