Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ARTICLE 17 | PATRICIA BENAVIDES VELASCO 403 territory with the same or, at least, similar legal requirements 47 . This common approach has also allowed insurance companies to be able to design products – by ways of securities or insurances – to cover the requested guarantees. The regional regulation recognizes that the mandate given by the Directive may be assumed in different legal formulas. Thus, this security may have the form of an individual guarantee, a collective guarantee and it is also possible for it to be determined for every single commercialized travel package 48 . The first one may be formalized by contracting insurance, obtaining an endorsement or any other financial guarantee. During the first year of exercise of the financial activity it must cover a minimum amount of one hundred thousand euros. From the second year on, it must be at least equivalent to five percent of the turnover from income that results from the sale of travel packages by the company during the previous economic year and, in any case, will exceed one hundred thousand euros 49 . The collective guarantee may be constituted by means of business associations and by means of contributions made to a several and joint guarantee fund. In these cases, the amount of the guarantee will be of at least fifty per cent of the sum of the guarantees, according to the value considered by organisers or retailers 47 During the long period for the transposition of the Directive into the Spanish regulation, travel agencies have held several meetings, seminars and conferences, along with insurance companies and the different regional legislators with the aim to unify criteria. The Board of General Directors of Tourism proposed a harmonized text to be considered by the different regional regulations. 48 So is considered in Andalucía by the Decree 60/2018, 27 February, modifying the Decree 301/2002, of 17 December, on travel agencies, article 11 (BOJA of 7 March 2018). In the Baleares Islands, Act 6/2019, of 8 February, on the modification of the Act 7/2013, of 26 November, on the regulation of the installation, access and exercise of activities in the Baleares Islands (BOIB of 16 February), modifying the Act 8/2012, of 19 July on Tourism of the Baleares Islands. In the Canary Islands, Decree 124/2018, of 6 August, modifying the Decree 89/2010, of 22 July, regulating the activity of tourism mediation (BOIC of 18 August 2018). In Madrid, Decree 151/2018, of 16 October, of the Government Council, modifying the Decree 99/1996, of 27 June, regulating the exercise of the activities of Travel Agencies in the Community of Madrid (BOCM of 23 October 2018). In the case of Catalonia, the Act 5/2017, of 28 March, on fiscal, administrative, financial and public sector measures and on the creation and regulation of the taxes on big commercial establishments, on accommodation in tourism facilities, on radiotoxic elements, on sweetened bottled beverage and on emissions of carbon dioxide (DOGC of 30 March 2017) in article 220 considers the adding of article 252-10 to the Act 22/2010, of 20 July, on the Code of Consume of Catalonia, where the guarantees of travel packages are considered, even when it does not make this distinction of three possibility, it admits them as the rule stablishes that the guarantee may be created by any adequate legal business. 49 This has been considered in the regulations of the Autonomous Communities of Andalucía, Baleares Islands, Canary Islands, Madrid and Catalonia.