Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 13 | ANTONIA PANIZA FULLANA 315 correct information on different products or services’ and article 13 regulated their right to information about the product or service that should meet the requirements of veracity, efficacy and sufficiency; terms in which, equally, judgement is given by the current text of the Consumer Protection Act approved by Legislative Royal Decree 2007 of 16 November in articles 8.d and 18.2, reaching our autonomous regional legislation in its Regulations regulating the activities of tourism intermediaries approved by Decree 60/2007 of 24 May (repealing 311/1988 of 18 February regulating travel agencies), in article 21.1, stating that the Agency is under the obligation to provide information on the applicable conditions on matters of passports, visas and health formalities when the service is provided abroad. Therefore, in consequence, as it is undisputed that the respondent did not provide the information on the need of a visa to be able to use the ticket offered for sale, it is clear that there was negligence in the provision of the service, this being the reason for which, effectively, the travel could be undertaken in the expected conditions...”. 3. RETAILER LIABILITY IN CASE OF PACKAGE TRAVEL CONTRACT According to article 2, section 9, the retailer is “a trader other than the organiser who sells or offers for sale packages combined by an organiser” . The proposed Directive gave the definition as an operator other than the organiser who sells or offers for sale packages or facilitates the procurement of travel services which are part of an assisted travel arrangement by assisting travellers in concluding separate contracts for travel services with individual service providers. The second part has now disappeared and now it is a “trader” who provides linked travel arrangements, which extends the subjective scope in this type of service. What is happening in the Directive? What role does this regulation grant the retailer? In general terms, and following the reading of the proposed Directive and final version of the text, it can be said that it diminishes the prominence of the retailer over that of a “trader”, which in a very broad sense, includes practically all tourist traders. According to article 3, section 6 of the proposed EU Directive (2015/2302), a trader is: “Any natural person or any legal person, irrespective of whether privately or publicly owned, who is acting, including through any other person acting in his name or on his behalf, for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession in relation to contracts covered by this Directive, whether acting in the capacity of organiser, retailer, trader facilitating a linked travel arrangement or as a travel service provider”.