Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 17 | PATRICIA BENAVIDES VELASCO 401 There is no doubt about the problems that may arise when activating the securities provided in other Member States, whenever necessary, even when they conform to the regulation of the place in which the travel package is commercialized. That is why, along with the provisions considered in article 18 of the Directive – that will be considered in the next chapter of this book – the regulation has also considered the possibility of having internal regulations to impose obligations on the organisers. Amongst these, we can consider the request to provide travellers with, besides the contract documents, a certificate granting the right to directly claim to the guarantor in cases of insolvency 42 . The protection against the insolvency of the organiser will benefit any traveller who has contracted a travel package. That is why the place of residence of the contracting party will not be considered, neither the place of beginning of the travel nor the place in which the travel package has been commercialized. As noted above, this protection is extended independently of the Member State in which the insolvency guarantor’s company is established. The contrary situation, that is to consider that the guarantee must be contracted with a financial company established in the territory where the travel package is commercialized, might produce restrictive and deterring effects for the companies established in other Member States, as it would prevent them from directly offering to the organiser of travels the securities requested in the same conditions as a guarantor located in the national territory 43 . This interpretation would imply a restriction on the free provision of services that would entail that the supplementary costs are reflected in the price of the travel package, harming the travellers’ interests. Member States must also consider in their internal regulations that the guarantee can be activated free of charge for repatriations and, when needed, for the payment of the accommodation before the repatriation takes place. In the cases in which the travel services have not been executed, pending disbursements must be made without delay, at the traveller’s request. 42 Article 155.2, c) of the Spanish Consolidated Text of the General Act on the Protection of Consumers and Users considers that among the documents to provide the contracting parties in a travel package the name of the guarantor company in cases of insolvency must be indicated. 43 On this issue, see, the Judgement of the Court of Justice of 1 December 1998, in issue C-410/96, Anbry , ECLI:EU:C:1998:578.