Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1162 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE Instead the term “trader” used in the Directive, the Consumer Protection Act uses the term “undertaking”, the definition of which, however, corresponds to the definition of trader as contained in the seventh paragraph of Article 3 of the Directive. It follows from the Consumer Protection Act that an undertaking (in the meaning of the trader of the Directive) is any legal or natural person engaged in a gainful activity, irrespective of its legal and organisational form or ownership status, which is whether acting in the capacity of organiser, retailer, trader facilitating a linked travel arrangement or as a travel service provider 24 . This terminological choice is again introduced to ensure consistency with other parts of the Consumer Protection Act, which generally refer to relations between consumers and undertakings. Furthermore, a minor deviation from the wording of the Directive can be found in the definition of a durable medium. While the Directive requires that an instrument considered as a durable medium enables to store information in a way accessible for future reference for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the information 25 , the Consumer Protection Act adopted a stricter approach, which requires a permanent storage and access to the information. Due to the lack of (publicly available) case law on this issue, it is not yet clear how these provisions will be interpreted by Slovenian courts in the future. However, since they do not substantially change the Directive’s wording nor substance, they should not endanger the aim of maximum harmonisation, especially when taking into consideration the duty of consistent interpretation. 3.2. Information Obligations and Content of the Package Travel Contract In order to strengthen the travellers’ rights, the Directive introduced a list of pre- -contractual information and documents which must be provided by the organiser before the start of the journey together with a more comprehensive and detailed content of the contract. The incorporation of these requirements into Slovenian law is adequate. However, one deviation from the Directive’s wording can be pointed out concerning the content of the package travel contract, more precisely the requirement linked to the insolvency protection 26 . In accordance with the Directive, package travel contract or confirmation of the contract must include “the name of the entity in charge of the insolvency 24 Article a57.b(1), Nr. 9 of the Consumer Protection Act. 25 See Article 3(11) of the Directive. 26 Article 7(2) c) of the Directive.