Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

BELGIUM | ILSE MEYERS 683 A. Anomalies 26. New organisers – With the broadening of the scope of the definitions of the package travel, the number of new organisers suddenly increased. Under the new definitions of the Travel Law, hoteliers that, for many years, had been offering wellness weekends are now also likely to sell a package to their target audience. The question arises as to whether these new providers of this type of package have taken out financial insolvency protection and are observing the regulations of the new Travel Law. Providers of the types of travel packages, stipulated in Article 2, 2°, b.5), such as Bongo gift vouchers 21 , must also comply with the package travel regulations. In Belgium, retailers of gift vouchers must also take out insolvency protection and comply with relevant information duties. These players, who are in fact acting as new organisers, do not yet comply with current legislation and urgently need to be made aware of their obligations in this respect. In such cases, Belgian travellers do not realise that they can call upon rights, as stipulated in the new Travel Law. Despite the expansion to include new players, compliance with the obligations of the newTravel Law is only targeted at the traditional organised travel market. The European Directive’s objective to take into account these new distribution channels, and adapt the extent of the protection provided for travellers to these new developments, is consequently merely an accomplishment on paper. In practice, the new players all too often still manage to avoid any kind of control. 27. Interpretation of article 11 paragraph one Travel Law as opposed to article 7.2 of Directive 2015/2302/EU – Article 11 of the new Travel Law stipulates: “The package travel contract or confirmation of the contract shall set out the full content of the agreement which shall include all the information referred to in Article 5, §1, 1° to 8°, and the following information: …”. The content of this paragraph presents an interpretation issue when compared to Directive 2015/2302/EU. The intention of standard information forms is to provide the traveller with information on their basic rights during the pre- -contractual phase. Reading Article 11, in combination with Article 5, §1, 1° to 8°, one could conclude that in Belgium the standard information form must also be submitted to the traveller, in the contractual phase, because Article 11 refers to the first paragraph in Article 5 in its entirety. 21 www.bongo.be .