Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

328 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE Five of the Directive concerning insolvency have been implemented and, among other things, via the intervention of third parties, operators must guarantee the possible reimbursement of the amounts paid by travellers, should the services have not been carried out due to their economic difficulties. The choices made by Spain and Portugal are quite similar. In art. 161 of the Royal Decree, dated 16 November 2007, n. 1, amended by the Royal Decree dated 21 December 2018, n. 23 23 , the Spanish legislator has defined the organiser and the retailer as jointly liable for the provision of services. On the contrary, it has proven to be more cautious in implementing the provisions of art. 13 of the Directive. The retailer was not always mentioned next to the organiser, rather, through the use of specific phrasing, it was specified that the association presupposes factual conditions evaluated by the interpreter. Thus, by way of example, according to art. 157 of the Royal Decree, dated 16 November 2007, n. 1, concerning contractual modifications, the traveller must give notice of the transfer of the contract to the organiser or even to the retailer, should this be necessary based on the situation. In the event of insolvency, according to art. 164, paragraph 1, of the Royal Decree, dated 16 November 2007, n. 1, if the organiser or the retailer of a third State sells or offers packages in Spain, they must provide the same guarantees required by local operators and, according to art. 164, paragraph 4, travellers benefit from the same opportunities in the event of insolvency by the retailer or the organiser, regardless of their residence, place of departure, sales place or Member State where the institution in charge of providing protection has been established. Hence, Spain acted, overall, more prudently than France and, although it took advantage of the opportunity of a specific regulation regarding the retailer’s responsibility, it avoided a complete homologation with that of the organiser, leaving room for the reconstruction of the particular case. Through decree 8 March 2018, n. 17, Portugal did not deviate much from this arrangement. Only in some cases was the activity defined, distinguishing the function of the retailer from that of the organiser. Thus, according to art. 35, paragraph 3, the two subjects are identically responsible for the execution of the package. Through art. 12, paragraph 1, of the decree dated 29 January 2018, n. 12, Greece established the organiser’s responsibility for the execution of the contract, and art. 12, paragraph 1, second paragraph, provided that art. 6, Chapter Two, relating to the content of the agreement of the package travel, the provisions 23 With Royal Decree of 21 December 2018, No. 23, Spain amended the law relating to consumer protection and other complementary laws, approved by Royal Decree 16 November 2007, No. 1, in order to make them consistent with Directive (EU) 2015/2302.