Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

Francesco Torchia 1 1. The concept of competition between economic freedom and fairness; 2. Competitiveness and unfair commercial practices; 3. Tourist withdrawal by condition change: package travel cancellation; 4. Innovative capacity of the Directive (EU) 2015/2302. 1. THE CONCEPT OF COMPETITION BETWEEN ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS The aim of this work is to highlight the close connection (also noticed by the EU legislator) between contractual solutions, set up to protect the consumer/ recipient’s interest regarding products and/or tourist services, and those aimed to protect and guarantee the freedom to conduct a business, as well as a proper implementation that is free from unfair practices. It is clear that the unfair commercial practice does not represent exclusively something damaging to the interest of every “loyal” entrepreneur, as it also directly damages the product and/or service client. Especially in the tourism sector, where the user’s interest is predominantly personal and not purely patrimonial. Therefore, from this perspective the tool used by the EU legislator after issuing Directive 2032/2015, which states a framework of solutions for termination and withdrawal from the sale of package travel contracts with stricter standards, also arises completely as a solution to protect the proper implementation of business activities. By expressing this brief clarification of its methodological character, there is no doubt that in order to identify the presence of several entrepreneurs on the market (the main function of the market), whose goal is to ensure a proper functioning of the market that is free from unfair competition, the Italian Constitution establishes with Article 41, Paragraph 1 the freedom of private economic initiative. This recognition materialises not just the guarantee of a competitive market structure, but mainly the right of entrepreneurs to access and stay in the market, and the right to a correct and fair functioning of the competition. This happens because the entrepreneur, to which there is a duty to recognize a wide freedom of actions to pursue its best economic success, cannot be allowed to derogate from the general interest. Which is the foundation of an economic initiative’s freedom, requiring a proper and fair 1 Università della Calabria.