Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 14 | MICHAEL WUKOSCHITZ 359 4. Spain In Spanish law, the implementation of Article 14 can be found in Artículo 162 of the Consumer Protection Act 51 . The implementation follows the wording of the Directive. Like Malta, Spain made use of the option to extend liability under the directive to retailers but did not make use of the option of a limitation of the organiser’s liability according to international conventions which are not binding for the Union. 5. United Kingdom Despite “Brexit”, the United Kingdom has implemented the Directive in the PackageTravel and LinkedTravel Arrangements Regulations 2018 52 . The content of Article 14 can be found in Reg. 16, the first paragraph of which states that the provisions of this regulation constitute an implied term in every package travel contract. The further paragraphs follow the wording of the directive with only minor amendments which mainly seem to serve a structure of legislation which is more clear and comprehensible than the wording of the Directive. The main difference to the other aforementioned member states seems to be the concept that the provisions do not directly apply as a law but rather are regarded as an implied part of the contract. To avoid that a traveller could be forced to waive his rights by contractual agreement, Reg. 30 states that a traveller may not waive any of the rights granted to him by the Regulations and any such waiver or circumvention of the Regulation is not binding on the traveller. VIII. CONCLUSION The new liability regime according to Article 14 probably will bring substantial changes for some member states. The concept of a right to appropriate price reduction in case of a lack of conformity was not common in the whole Union but rather a particularity of Austrian and German law which is now extended to the other member states. 51 Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios y otras leyes complementarias, aprobado por Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, de 16 de noviembre, modificado por Real Decreto-ley 23/2018, de 21 de diciembre, de transposición de directivas en materia de marcas, transporte ferroviario y viajes combinados y servicios de viaje vinculados. 52 SI 2018/634 .