Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

THE PROVISIONS OF EXPLICIT TAX RELEVANCE 631 3. THE REVISION OF THE PRICE Article 10 is dedicated to price revision. The rule reads as follows: “ Member States shall ensure that after the conclusion of the package travel contract, prices may be increased only if the contract expressly reserves that possibility and states that the traveller is entitled to price reduction under paragraph 4. In that event the package travel contract shall state how price revisions are to be calculated ” 15 . It is specified in the standard that price increases are only possible as a result of changes in specific elements, including some of fiscal significance. In point (b), in fact, reference is made to the “ level of taxes or fees on the travel services included in the contract imposed by third parties not directly involved in the performance of the package, including tourist taxes, landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports ”. Once again, inorder to avoid repetition, reference shouldbemade to the comments made on the back of paragraph 1 relating to Article 5 of EU Directive 2015/2302. The concept and type of taxes, duties and charges have been clarified there. However, it should be pointed out that for the purposes of the price review, some new and recent forms of taxation that are spreading in Europe and specifically the so-called road pricing 16 and entry taxes in cities of art may also take on specific importance 17 . 15 In contrast to the current Directive, the 1990 Directive did not devote such detailed regulation to the revision of the price of the tourist package. There was, in fact, only one annex to the Directive containing the elements to be included in the contract if they were relevant to the package concerned, under point (h), “the price of the package, an indication of any revision of the price within the meaning of Article 4(4) [...]”. The latter provision stated in point (a): “The prices laid down in the contract may not be changed, unless the contract expressly provides for them to be increased or decreased, and specifies the precise methods of calculation, only to take account of variations [...]”.; to point (b) that: “the price stipulated in the contract shall not be increased during the 20 days preceding the scheduled date of departure”. As regards the Italian legislation, the previous one was contained in art. 40 of Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23 May 2011, which introduced more precise conditions and limits than the European Directive. To date, the tourism code has been amended by Legislative Decree no. 62 of 21 May 2018, which has instead inserted the discipline concerning the revision of the price in art. 39, adapting to Directive 2015/2302 and inserting stricter rules. On this point see G. Ciurnelli, Cap. XVI, I contratti del turismo organizzato , in Franceschelli, Morandi (a cura di), Manuale di diritto del turismo , Torino, 2017. 16 This is a toll system with entrance ticket to be paid by tourist buses and motorists not resident in a certain city in order to take advantage of its road network or to access restricted traffic areas (ZTL). It is one of the main measures of sustainable mobility. 17 As regards the entry tax to the cities of art charged to tourists with daily access, this has been introduced in the city of Venice, with the Law of 30 December 2018, n. 145, relating to the “Budget of the State for the financial year 2019 and multiannual budget”. On this point see the contribution of A. Quarto, La politica fiscale nel settore turistico: un confronto internazionale , in Scienze del turismo – 1-2/2013; The author explains how among the many types of taxes charged to tourists, there are the so-called eco-taxes, which aim to reduce congestion in historic cities or in places particularly sensitive from the environmental point of view, based mainly on access to transport. These include precisely that for access to the ZTL and the entrance fee to the cities of art mentioned above (specifically see: 45-46).