Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

332 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE Annex 1 – Legislative Decree 23 May 2011, No. 79, of the so-called “Tourism Code” 28 . Taking into account the reduced margin of discretion given to the Member States through art. 4 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2302, in the rare cases in which the possibility of choice was offered, the Italian legislator has completed a very complex implementation process 29 . In line with the traditional approach, the Tourism Code maintains the organiser’s position separate from that of the package travel retailer, regulating the obligations and responsibilities of the operators in a different manner, depending on the stipulation of a package travel contract or an “intermediate travel contract”. Worth highlighting is the clear separation between the position of the organiser and that of the retailer of the package travel, which definitively resolves all questions regarding the relative liability regime – supportive or partial, supportive but subsidiary or “structurally differentiated” 30 – arising after the defective formulation of art. 14, par. 1, of Legislative Decree No. 111/1995 31 , 28 For a first analysis of the new articles from 32 to 51- novies of the Tourism Code, see A. Finessi, La responsabilità del professionista nella nuova disciplina dei contratti di viaggio (d.lgs. 21 maggio 2018, n. 62) , in Nuove leggi civili comm. , 2018, p. 1307; G. Grisi – S. Mazzamuto, Diritto del turismo , II ed., Giappichelli, Torino, 2018, p. 202; R. Santagata, Diritto del turismo , IV ed., Utet, Torino, 2018, p. 267; comment to the D.lgs. 23 maggio 2011, n. 79, Codice del turismo , in V. Cuffaro (ed.), A. Barba – A. Barenghi (ccord.), Codice del consumo , V ed., Giuffrè, Milano, 2019, p. 1159. 29 For a first overview see the contributions published in Juris tourisme , 213/2018, p. 21, and in particular V. Augros, L’expérience européenne: tour d’horizon et réflections sur la transposition de la directive , ivi, p. 21; C. Torres, L’Europe à l’avant garde de la protection des touristes: l’example portugais , ivi, p. 24; Morandi F., L’expérience italienne , ivi, p. 28; F.S. Melgosa Arcos, Application de la directive en Espagne: una transposition tardive , ivi, p. 31. For a first analysis of the discipline introduced in Austria and Germany see, respectively, S. Keiler, Bundesgesetz über Pauschalreisen und verbundene Reiseleistungen (Pauschalreisegesetz – PRG) , in S. Keiler – A. Klauser (eds.), Österreichisches und Europäisches Verbraucherrecht. Kommentar , Verlag, Österreich, 2018, and E. Führich, Das neue Pauschalreiserecht. Umsetzung der Pauschalreisertchtlinie (EU) 2015/2302 in deutsches Recht , in Neue Juristische Wochenschrift , 2017, p. 2945; E. Führich, Basiswissen Reiserecht Grundriss des Pauschal und Individualreiserechts , Vahlen, München, 2018; E. Führich – A. Staudinger, Reiserecht. Handbuch des Pauschalreise–, Reisevermittlungs–, Reiseversicherungs- und Individualreiserechts , C.H. Beck, München, VIII ed., 2018; A. Staudinger – R. Ruks, Das neue Pauschalreiserecht – Auswirkungen für Veranstalter und Vertrieb , in ReiseRecht aktuell , 2018, p. 2. The French experience is analyzed in L. Jégouzo – C. Lachièze (eds.), La directive “travel” made in France (I) e (II) , in Juris tourisme , 212/2018, p. 16, and 213/2018, p. 15. 30 See G. Silingardi – F. Morandi, La “vendita di pacchetti turistici” , cit., p. 128. 31 Pursuant to art. 17, par. 1, Legislative Decree No. 111/1995, “in the event of failure or inadequate fulfillment of the obligations assumed with the sale of the package, the organiser and the retailer are required to pay damages, according to their respective responsibilities, if they do not prove that the failed or incorrect fulfillment has been determined from the impossibility of the service deriving from a cause not attributable to them [...] The organiser and the retailer are exempt from the responsibility referred to in articles 15 and 16, when the failed or inexact execution of the contract is attributable to the consumer or it depended on the fact of a third party of an unforeseeable or unavoidable nature, or of a fortuitous event or of force majeure”.