Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

SLOVENIA | MATIJA DAMJAN AND KARMEN LUTMAN 1159 the Slovenian National Assembly on two sessions in February and March 2018. The discussion did not bring any significant concerns about its content. However, some issues concerning nomotechnical inconsistencies 9 have been raised by the Legislative Service of the National Assembly and the proposed amendments were taken into consideration when adopting the final version of the Act. The Act Amending the Consumer Protection Act was adopted in April 2018 and published inMay2018, therebyexceeding thedeadlinebymore thanfourmonths.Nevertheless, the application of new rules started on 1 July 2018, which is within a time frame set in the Directive. At the same time the Rules on information forms for package travel contracts and linked travel arrangements 10 came into force, implementing the standard information forms set out in the Directive’s annexes. Additionally, more detailed rules concerning insolvency protection were enacted in the Decree on security provided by travel organisers and companies providing linked travel arrangements due to liquidity problems 11 , which was adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in July 2018 and entered into force on 1 January 2019. 3. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE 2015/2302 IN SLOVENIA The adoption of the New Directive aims to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market in the EU and to achieve a high and as uniform as possible level of consumer protection in the field of package travel contracts and linked travel arrangements concluded between travellers and traders. In order to achieve these goals the Directive requires maximum harmonisation, according to which Member States must not maintain or introduce, in their national law, any provisions diverging from those laid down in the Directive, including more or less stringent provisions which would ensure a different level of traveller protection, unless otherwise provided for in the Directive 12 . This chapter analyses to what extent the Slovenian legislature complied with the requirement of maximum harmonization when implementing the Directive in the Slovenian law and presents some of the more distinctive features of this implementation. 9 Proposed amendments available on: http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO7754 (17.7.2019). 10 “Pravilnik o obrazcih za informacije pri pogodbah o paketnem potovanju in povezanih potovalnih aranžmajih”, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, Nr. 43/18. 11 “Uredba o jamstvu zaradi likvidnostnih težav organizatorja potovanja in podjetja, ki omogoča povezane potovalne aranžmaje”, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, Nr. 52/18. 12 Article 4 of the Directive.