Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 16 | VALÉRIE AUGROS 379 such an obligation will give rise to liability of the organiser, as this was exactly the case for two travellers who had their airlines tickets and passports robbed. Even if the traveller’s insurance policy did not cover this specific risk, the court observed that such an event was not unforeseeable to the organiser. For the court, the organiser of a travel package in Canada should have done his best to assist the travellers in difficulty. In fact, the travellers were helped by other members of the group. They were awarded damages, given the organiser’s failure to assist them 21 . The assistance to be provided by the organiser or the retailer is not limited to making alternative arrangements or taking care of repatriation, which will always arise in case of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. The Directive lists various concrete measures that the professionals will have to undertake. Assistance under the Directive includes the provision of information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance. This would mainly concern cases where travellers are victims of minor difficulties (illness abroad, robbery of their travel documents, offence, etc.). It also includes the possibility to make long distance communications, as well as finding other travel arrangements. This may be very important, seeing as professionals are generally in the best position to supply this. Given their experience and knowledge of the local destination, it is indeed assumed that they can easily be in contact with foreign offices and official and local authorities to help their clients. However, the list of assistance measures is not exhaustive (whether in the Directive or in the French tourism code) and courts may decide that other types of measures had to be offered, depending on the circumstances of each case. Under French case law, for example, assistance can consist in helping travellers who need to attend hospital or to be repatriated for medical reasons or after an accident, but also in assisting the travellers in making an appropriate claim within the time limit 22 . Nevertheless, such an assistance has a cost. And it will be necessary to establish who will ultimately support the costs for travellers’ assistance. 21 CA Paris, 5 February 1992, n°90/12953. 22 Cass. Civ. 1, 27 October 1970, n°69-11185.