Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

666 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE 8. Retailer’s responsability. In line with the old law of 16 February 1994 and established case law, Belgium has chosen not to make the retailer responsible for the proper execution of the package. Only the organiser is responsible for the performance of the travel services included in the package travel contract (irrespective of whether those services are to be performed by him or by other travel service providers). When comparing the new Law with the old one, it is striking to observe that the retailer has almost no legal responsibilities any more. The role of the retailer has been diminished considerably. Even his obligation to provide assistance to travellers has disappeared. According to articles 43 and 44 of the Law, assistance must only be provided by the organiser. Evidently, retailers will always try to help their customers when they face difficulties during their trip, but this cannot be enforced any more under the Law. This could have considerable consequences in practical terms, for instance in case of natural disasters or other crisis situations. One can think of the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, which also had a massive (economic) impact on retailers. Under the new Law, the retailer’s responsibility is now in fact limited to (1) a precontractual and contractual information duty (which basically means that the retailer has the obligation to eventually provide the terms and conditions and the standard form supplied by the organiser to the traveller) and (2) a liability for booking errors, which are defined in article 45 as “errors due to technical defects in the booking system which are attributable to him and, where the trader has agreed to arrange the booking of a package, for the errors made during the booking process”. 9. Insolvency protection for retailers. As allowed by the PTD in its preamble (41), Belgium has opted to require retailers to take out insolvency protection. According to article 54 of the Law: “Organisers and retailers established in Belgium shall provide security for the refund of all payments already made by or on behalf of travellers insofar as the relevant services are not performed as a consequence of their insolvency. If the carriage of passengers is included in the package travel contract, organisers and retailers shall also provide security for the travellers’ repatriation. Continuation of the package may be offered.”.