Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1202 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE the relevant authorities and the trade, since the rules are difficult to interpret and therefore are likely to cause future problems. In Article 25 of the Directive it is stipulated that the Member States shall lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive. In Chapter 5, article 3 and 4, the sanctions for not complying with the provisions regarding linked travel arrangements are laid down. If a trader facilitating a linked travel arrangement does not comply with the information requirements or does not provide security in accordance with the Travel Guarantees Act, the trader assumes liability for the combination of travel services, as if it had been a package travel. The National Enforcement Body may also issue an injunction at penalty to comply with the regulations. In chapter 5 there is also a provision regarding the liability for booking errors for a trader that facilitates a linked travel arrangement (article 21 of the Directive). Chapter 6 – Supervision The chapter includes the provisions in the Directive regarding supervision and the right to appeal against decisions made by an authority under the Package Travel Act. The Swedish Consumer Agency is designated as the National Enforcement Body. The provisions of the chapter include an obligation for a trader to provide information about the business, that the authority requests for its supervision. There is also a right for the National Enforcement Body to perform an inspection at the premises of the trader to get the information needed. The National Enforcement Body may also issue an injunction at penalty in order to get the requested information. Standard forms of information In the new act, references are made to the standard forms of information in Annex I and II of the Directive (Chapter 2 article 1 – package travel and chapter 5 article 1 – linked travel arrangements). These articles stipulate that the information should be communicated to the traveller through standard forms laid down by the Government. The Government has issued a regulation stating that the standard forms shall be equivalent to the standard forms in Annex I A-C and Annex II A-E of the Directive. Furthermore, it states that the forms shall be made available by the Swedish Consumer Agency. The authority has made the forms available on its website, https://www.konsumentverket.se .