Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ROMANIA | ILIE DUMITRU 1137 result of the insolvency of the organiser; in such circumstances, the fiduciary will be able either (i) to return to the traveller the equivalent of the sums paid by him to the organiser or (ii) to pay the equivalent of travel services not paid by the organiser for the traveller to be able to benefit from the contracted travel package or (iii) to pay the repatriation of the traveller, respectively transport and accommodation, if applicable; • both the constituent and the traveller, when, after the insolvency of the organiser, some of its passengers will not be able to benefit from all or some of the travel services included in the purchased packages; the fiduciary will use the amounts ofmoney received fromthe constituentmainly for the repatriation of passengers, then for the reimbursement of money to travellers who will no longer be provided with the contracted travel services and who have requested refunding; the remaining unused amounts will be refunded to the constituent. In the case of fiduciary guarantee, all compensation procedures are carried out through the fiduciary. 4. Travel package guarantee fund Although it is provided in Romanian legislation as a fourth instrument for guaranteeing travel packages in the event of insolvency of the organiser, it does not enjoy exhaustive regulation, like the other three. The Romanian legislation sets out only the principles for the organization of such a fund. Unfortunately, this law, though brief, does not match what, in other European states, is understood as a “guarantee fund” 20 . In the case of Romania, the principles of organization and operation of a “fund” guaranteeing travel packages against risk of the organiser’s insolvency are set out in the Annex to the Order of the Minister of Tourism no. 156/2019. Unfortunately, these principles disagree 21 with the rules of organization and the functioning rules of such a guarantee fund in other EU states, be it a private fund 22 or a fund managed by a state authority 23 . 20 For example, in Belgium, there is the Belgian Travel Guarantee Fund (GFG), founded in 1995, by the Belgian travel industry as a mutual insurance company to protect travellers against bankruptcy of tour operators or travel agents. 21 Although it is a basic regulation of the guarantee fund for travel services packages, the Tourism Minister’s Order no.156 / 2019 contains statements that contradict even the Law on commercial companies, namely those concerning the organization and operation of a joint stock company. 22 In Switzerland, the Guarantee Fund was created by the Swiss Federation of Travel Agencies FSAV, with the support of the largest tour operators, in the form of an independent foundation. The Board of Trustees comprises: seven representatives of travel companies of all sizes from different niches and regions, as well as advisers. The Guarantee Fund has around 1600 tour operators or resellers of Swiss or Liechtenstein package tours. 23 See case of Malta, Package Travel Insolvency Fund Regulations, 2016.