Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

Electronic Commerce 15 , Distance Marketing Directive 16 , Consumer Rights Directive 17 and in the Flight Compensation Regulation 18 . Since the choice of penalties remains within the discretion of Member States, the national penalty mechanisms inevitably vary from one to another. In France and Belgium, breaches of consumer protection are traditionally sanctioned by criminal penalties, whereas this is an issue of administrative law in Great Britain and in several other Member States 19 . In Germany, consequences of such breaches are regulated within the civil law, mostly by conferring compensatory remedies on individual consumers and consumer organisations 20 . However, the EU law does not preclude Member States to combine mechanisms of criminal, civil and administrative law 21 . In such cases, the criteria of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness are assessed by taking into consideration the overall effect of imposed sanctions 22 . Additionally, factors such as the length of the procedure and the interaction between different competent authorities should also be considered. It should be noted, however, that the criteria of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness are still rather vague. While the EU legislation does not provide for a definition of these concepts, some guidance can be found in the case law of the CJEU. Nevertheless, these criteria are to an important extent interrelated and should be interpreted in relation one to another. 15 Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market, Art. 20. 16 Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services and amending Council Directive 90/619/EEC and Directives 97/7/EC and 98/27/EC, Art. 11. 17 Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Art. 24. 18 Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, Art. 16. 19 H. W. Micklitz, P. Rott: Verbraucherschutz in: M. Dauses (ed.), Handbuch des Europäischen Wirtschaftsrechts, C. H. Beck, Munich, 2019, para 714. 20 H. W. Micklitz, P. Rott: Verbraucherschutz in: M. Dauses (ed.), Handbuch des Europäischen Wirtschaftsrechts, C. H. Beck, Munich, 2019, para 714. 21 Opinion of Advocate General Kokott delivered on 14 October 2004 in joined cases C-387/02, C-391/02 and C-403/02 Silvio Berlusconi and Others  2005  , para 121. 22 Ibidem, para 122. ARTICLE 25 | MATIJA DAMJAN AND KARMEN LUTMAN 529