Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

184 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE 2. THE CONCEPT OF DEFINITIONS IN LEGISLATION Legal definitions are different from descriptions or explanations and serve a very important purpose; they identify the particular meaning of a term within a certain legal framework 4 . While almost every term has a wide scope of potential meanings, the purpose of a ‘definition’ is to limit this scope by drawing a border line that separates a particular meaning of the term within the respective law from other potential meanings of the same term. Each element of a definition should therefore have a limitative character in order to contribute to the purpose of the definition. The legal relevance of a definition is that: • anything that falls within the definition is covered by the particular meaning of the term within the respective law; and • anything that does not fall within the definition is not covered by the meaning of the term. The purpose is to attach certain legal consequences to situations or facts covered by the term, while these legal consequences shall not apply to situations or facts outside the particular meaning of the term. Therefore, the definition is decisive for the application of the legal consequences attached to the respective term. 3. “UNAVOIDABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES” AS A NEW TERM USED IN THE PTD 2015 Other than the PTD 1990 5 the PTD 2015 uses the term “ unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances ”. This new term is used in: • Article 12 concerning the termination of the contract and the right of withdrawal; • Article 13 concerning the responsibility for the performance of the package; 4 See again Voltaire [1764]: “ Define your terms, you will permit me again to say, or we shall never understand one another . ( Définissez les termes, vous dis-je, ou jamais nous ne nous entendrons. )”. 5 Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours; referred to as “PTD 1990”.