Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1136 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE fact that the subject of the bank guarantee letter (as a guarantee instrument for the package of tourist services) represents only the refund of the sums paid by travellers for packages of tourist services which can no longer be provided by the organiser because of his insolvency. Moreover, according to article 4 of the Order of the Minister of Tourism no. 156/2019, the issuer of this guarantee instrument is the bank, the organiser is the orderer of the bank guarantee letter, and the beneficiary is the Ministry of Tourism! Therefore, in the event of the insolvency of an organiser holding such a guarantee instrument, requests for refunding of the paid amounts will be addressed directly by the travellers to the Ministry of Tourism, which will request them from the issuing bank of the bank guarantee letter. The reasonable expenses incurred by the traveller for repatriation are settled by the ordering officer of the bank guarantee letter under conditions of convenience similar to those contracted. These costs will not exceed the purchase value of the package. The orderer of the bank guarantee letter (the organiser) shall submit his original copy to the Ministry of Tourism and may request the return only after the completion of the execution of all packages of travel services and/or associated travel services contracted during the validity period of that bank guarantee letter and guaranteed by it. 3. Fiduciary contract The fiduciary contract is the third instrument allowed by the Romanian legislation to guarantee the touristic services packages in case of insolvency of the organiser. It involves a notarized form, signed between the organiser, as a constituent, and the fiduciary, for the benefit of the travellers, observing the provisions of articles 773-791 of the Romanian Civil Code 19 . In the event of the insolvency of the constituent (organiser) the beneficiary of the fiduciary contract can be: • the traveller who has purchased travel packages guaranteed by the fiduciary contract in question and who can not be provided with these services as a 19 Article 773 of the Romanian Civil Code: “Fiducia is a juridical operation by which one or more constitutors are transferring real property rights, rights of claim, guarantees or other patrimonial rights, or a group of such rights, present or future to one or more fiduciaries, who exercise such rights with a given purpose, to the benefit of one or more beneficiaries. These rights constitute a distinct patrimonial mass, separate from the other rights and obligations that the fiduciaries have.”.