Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

694 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE tourists, yet. The fact that no specific issues in regards to the transposition and implementation have been raised so far should not be interpreted as lack of any. Bulgaria and the other Member States are facing the same challenges when implementing the regulations of the New Package Travel Directive. Some of the key points that need further assessment and clarification include: • The newly-introduced term “linked travel arrangements”. This term covers predominantly travel services booked online, or so called “click-through” bookings. Depending on the booking process the “click-through” travel services can be defined either as packages with full protection, linked travel arrangements or stand-alone services not covered by the new Directive. The difference between the three types of travel arrangements is well distinguished in the Law on Tourism but the term “facilitation in a targeted manner” related to the linked travel arrangement has not been clarified. • Another issue that needs further discussion about linked travel arrangements is the obligation for exchange of information between the trader facilitating the linked travel arrangement and the other one not facilitating it. The Law on Tourism requires before the traveller is bound by any contract for linked travel arrangement to be informed by the trader facilitating it that he will not have the same rights as if booking a package, and that each service provider is responsible only for the performance of his service. Once a contract is concluded between a traveller and a trader who does not facilitate the linked travel arrangement, the latter one should inform the trader facilitating the linked travel arrangement about its existence. Some additional texts might be included in the law providing guidelines for the purpose of better tracking of the bilateral exchange of information between the parties. • Standard information forms have been included as additional provisions in the Law on Tourism but further attention should be paid to the rules on penalties applicable for not implementing the regulations set by the new Directive. As per Article 173(1) Law on Tourism representatives of the Commission for Consumer Protection should be given access to all the documentation related to the implementation of the New Package Travel Directive and should have the right to request provision of information about any divergence in its transposition. These representatives should take all the necessary measures to ensure that the violator removes the discrepancies.