Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

366 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE directly with the retailer through which they purchased the package…”. Finally, Germany adopted the rule according to which the retailer shall be considered to be authorised by the organiser to accept notifications of defects and other declarations by the traveller concerning the performance of the travel services. In contrast to other formulations, which clearly provide the traveller with the ius optionis as to whom he may address the messages, requests or complaints, with the right to communicate directly with the retailer through which they purchased the package, it seems that the German legislator tried to balance out the interests of the traveller on the one hand and the organiser and retailer on the other. This wording raises questions about whether the intention of the German legislator was to protect the interests of organiser by requiring that the retailer should be explicitly authorised by the contract to accept notifications, and consequently to relativize the traveller’s right to contact the retailer through which he purchased a package. If we keep in mind that the PTD obliges Member States to ensure that the traveller may address messages, requests or complaints directly to the retailer through which it was purchased, the answer to the question raised above should be negative. This rule should be interpreted in accordance with its purpose, which is to provide the traveller with the possibility to contact the organiser via the retailer, who, as part of themandate to sell packages on behalf of the organiser, has implicit authorisation to accept notifications from the traveller. Nevertheless, any uncertainties with regard to the interpretation of the transposed rules will eventually have to be resolved by the European Court of Justice. Regarding the second paragraph of the Art. 15 PTD, Member States kept the wording of the PTD whereby, for the purpose of compliance with time-limits or limitation periods, receipt of the messages, requests or complaints by the retailer shall be considered as receipt by the organiser. As the limitation period for introducing claims for price reduction and compensation for damages shall not be less than two years (Art. 14, para. 6 PTD) in theory is argued that the shorter limitation period for the exercise of these rights would be beneficial for both the traveller and the organiser, in terms of preserving the evidence and the traveller’s chances to file a successful claim 15 . 15 Prior to the implementation of the new PTD in Germany, travellers used to have one-month deadline for submitting any claims for compensation after the end of the travel. See: Führich, E., The Implementation of the New Package Travel Directive in Germany and its Critical Issues , in: Franceschelli, V., Morandi, F., Torres, C., (ed.) The New Package Travel Directive, Estoril, Lisbon, 2017, p. 106.