Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1208 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE UK’s then Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced that the country would be holding a meaningful referendum on whether or not to remain in the EU at all. As a result, work on transposing any outstanding EU legislation effectively shut down as the country concentrated on the more fundamental questions relating to its future relationship with the EU and its individual Member States. On polling day, 23 June 2016, the electorate voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU, so-called “Brexit”. There followed a period of legal and political upheaval, as David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister, and various legal challenges to the result were mounted within the courts of England and Wales. During this period, on 28 October 2016, a partial consultation regarding the implementation of the new Directive was launched by the Department for Transport. The consultation was limited to how the UK ATOL scheme should be altered in response to the Directive so as to protect consumers in the event of a covered trader’s insolvency. It was fiercely criticised at the time because interested parties had only four weeks in which to respond to the call for comment, no doubt as a result of the delay caused by the uncertainties around Brexit, and because of the very narrow focus of the questions considered. The delay resulting from Brexit meant that only the most superficial consultation could be conducted in the time available; the government had wanted to consider a widespread review of the ATOL scheme and how it works to protect consumers, but instead all parties had to be content with consideration of only the barest of changes to the scheme in order to render it compliant with the Directive. Further consideration of root and branch reform was promised at some point in the future, but for now it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that an opportunity for reflection on how best to protect consumers proportionately was missed during this phase of implementation. On 24 January 2017 the Supreme Court held that the UK government must obtain the approval of the Westminster Parliament before commencing the withdrawal process. This it duly did, and on 29 March 2017 it triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, commencing the Brexit process. Less than a month later, 18 April 2017, the new Prime Minister, Theresa May, called a General Election, which resulted, on 9 June 2017, in a hung Parliament after the government lost its majority. On 19 June 2017 Brexit negotiations formally began. The second part of the consultation on the implementation of the newDirective began on 14 August 2017 and ended on 25 September 2017; again, a much truncated period. Consultations on the implementation of such legislation usually take about 12 weeks in the UK; this one lasted for six. It may be readily understood, however, why, having started the consultation only on 14 August 2017, and with