Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1138 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE As a EU general rule, such a fund is organized on the principles of mutualism. In the case of Romania, such a fund would be organized as a joint stock company, so as to obtain profit, although the same Tourism Minister’s Order no.156/2019 states that “the Fund does not distribute dividends”. The minimum size of the Fund is determined by the largest exposure of a Fund member. The guarantee fund would have the following categories of financial resources: • the initial contributions of the shareholders – these contributions may also cover operating expenses; • annual / quarterly / monthly contributions – depending on the Fund’s revenue – are used exclusively to guarantee travel packages, including repatriation; • special contributions: payments made by members to the Fund if the Fund’s resources are not sufficient for compensation. These special contributions shall be paid according to the market share of the members of the Fund; • agency/trader’s fees for the Fund’s administration and operation expenses and late payment increases. These contributions are equal for all members of the Fund; • revenue from the recovery of claims backed by the Fund, resulting from subrogation to the rights of the agencies/traders; these sort of revenues are used exclusively to guarantee travel packages, including repatriation in the event of insolvency; • short-term loans exclusively covering temporary needs arising from the payment of compensation; • bank guarantee letters issued in favor of the Fund submitted by all members registering large exposures or those with additional exposures to those reported for the reference period. They can only be used to guarantee travel packages, including repatriation; • donations, sponsorships, financial assistance; • other revenue, including income from investing resources; • contributions paid by members of the Fund shall not be refunded, including in the event of judicial liquidation or dissolution of members of the Fund. Regarding the expenses that can be made with all those revenues, these are shared in only 3 categories: