Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

496 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE The juridical instruments used by the States to enforce regulations and to impose mandatory conducts are criminal penalties and administrative sanctions. When included in the administrative sanction framework, these regimes are almost a third gender of hybrid penalties, which is a cross between administrative and criminal sanctions 16 , a “blurring” between administrative and criminal law 17 . According to the principle of loyal cooperation 18 , “the interests of EU requires that Member States apply effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions to those who prejudice or endanger them even where EU law does not explicitly call for sanctioning instruments” 19 . This principle demands a national sanctioning framework to enforce EU regulations, although it does not specify the nature of such penalties 20 . 5. ENFORCEMENT WITHIN NATIONAL TRANSPOSITIONS Analysing national transpositions, we can observe different kinds of enforcement rules for the Directive. We will review provisions on some Member States on key enforcement areas of the Directive: penalties, existence of public body with powers to investigate and prosecute infractions to the provisions of the Directive, security systems protecting the traveller from insolvency. Austria has transposed the Directive onto Federal Act 50, thus adopting a Federal Act on package travel and linked travel arrangements (Package Travel Act) and amending the Consumer Protection Act, the Distance Selling and External Business Act and the Consumer Authorities Cooperation Act, in chapter 7, section 19, which provides the penalties for violation of the basic rules of the Directive. The fines stated in this provision are quite low, when applicable to traders, up to €1,450.00, which does not prevent the infractions from being committed. We cannot find a direct entity in Austrian Law with powers to inspect and prosecute infractions to the law. Insolvency is merely mentioned in this law, 16 Brown. R (1992) Administrative and Criminal Penalties in the Enforcement of Occupational Health and Safety Legislation, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Volume 30, Number 3, Impact of the Charter on the Public Policy Process, p. 693. 17 Caeiro, P. (2014) , “The influence of EU on the ‘blurring’ between administrative and criminal law” Do labels still matter? blurring boundaries between administrative and criminal law the influence of the EU, Galli, F. Weyembegh, A (Eds.) Editións de l’Université de Bruxelles, p. 172. 18 Regulated on the new Package Travel Directive on its article 25. 19 Caeiro, P. (Ob.Cit.), p. 177. 20 The EU does not take part in the option between administrative or criminal sanctions.