Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

5. In the event of a price decrease, the organiser shall have the right to deduct actual administrative expenses from the refund owed to the traveller. At the traveller’s request, the organiser shall provide proof of those administrative expenses. Chiara Tincani 1 1. The structure of the last directive on travel packages concerning modification of the negotiating clauses; 2. The ius variandi and the new regulations on price review. 1. THE STRUCTURE OF THE LAST DIRECTIVE ON TRAVEL PACKAGES CONCERNING MODIFICATION OF THE NEGOTIATING CLAUSES The latest directive 2 seeks to strengthen consumer protection, overcoming the gaps in the previous European legislation 3 , these gaps are even more evident in a time dominated by the use of electronic means through which tourist services are offered as an alternative to traditional distribution channels 4 . The directive “aims at introducing a high and standardised level of consumer protection that takes into account the massive use of online bookings by tourists who (.) are among the largest buyers of services offered through these distance communication means ” 5 . This exact observation leads to the search for maximum homogeneity 6 in laws and 1 University of Verona. 2 See Directive 2015/2302/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 25, 2015. 3 See Council Directive 90/314/EEC of June 13, 1990. 4 See Torres, A new paradigm in the protection of travellers in the digital age, in Aa. Vv., The New Package Travel Directive, Eshte, 2017, 307 and following; Masseno, On the relevance of big data for the formation of contracts regarding package tours or linked travel arrangements, according to the New Package Travel Directive, in Aa. Vv., The New Package Travel Directive, Eshte, 2017, 275 and following. 5 See Rossoni, La direttiva UE 2015 / 2302 relativa ai pacchetti turistici e ai servizi turistici collegati: una prima lettura (The EU Directive 2015/2302 on tourist packages and related travel services: a first reading), in Riv. it. dir. tur., 2016, 88 and following. 6 See Fuhrich, The implementation of the New Package Travel Directive in Germany and its critical issues, in Aa. Vv., The New Package Travel Directive, Eshte, 2017, 104 and following, according to which “the greatest problem of the Directive is its approach of full harmonization. The Directive will forces some Member States to lower their high protection standards”.