Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1180 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE To the extent that international conventions considered as binding on the European Union limit the scope or conditions of payment of compensation by travel service providers included in a package trip, the same limitations shall apply to organisers and retailers. In other cases, including where international conventions that are not binding on the Union limit the compensation to be paid by service providers, the contract may limit the compensation to be paid by the organiser or the retailer, provided that this limitation does not apply to bodily harm or injury caused intentionally or by negligence and that its amount is not less than triple the total price of the trip. This takes into account that the Spanish norm establishes that the limitation period for filing claims will be two years. Moreover, the LVC provides for the possibility of contacting the organiser through the retailer, recognising the right of the traveller to send messages, petitions or complaints concerning the execution of the package directly to the retailer through which it was acquired. The retailer shall transmit such messages, requests or complaints to the organiser without undue delay. Similarly, it proclaims, like Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2015/2302, the obligation of the organiser and the retailer to provide adequate and prompt assistance to the traveller in difficulty, especially in cases of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Thus, the organiser and, where appropriate, the retailer may charge a reasonable surcharge for such assistance if the difficulty has been caused intentionally or by the negligence of the traveller, taking into account that this surcharge shall in no case exceed the actual costs incurred by the organiser or the retailer. 6. GUARANTEES The regulation of guarantees is much broader than the previous one and is structured in two areas. First, the guarantee of contractual liability indicates that organisers and retailers must provide a guarantee to meet the obligations arising from the provision of their services with respect to contractors. In any case, passengers may claim the guarantee directly from the insurance scheme. Secondly, the insolvency guarantee, so that organisers and retailers will have to provide a security to respond to the failure to fulfil their obligations, especially for the repayment of advance payments and the repatriation of passengers in the event of their insolvency. Consequently, the Spanish rule states that insolvency shall be deemed to have occurred as soon as it is clear that, owing to the lack of