Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

746 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE business plan and security against insolvency. Decisions on (non-)compliance with the conditions for obtaining the relevant authorisation – a special trade permit – are made by trade authorities, subject to an affirmative opinion of the Ministry for Regional Development. In the Czech Republic, tour operators are also deemed to include those who have their registered office or place of business in another Member State of the European Union or another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (hereinafter the “country of establishment”) at the time of execution of the relevant package contract or facilitation of LTA, provided that given person’s activities are aimed in some way towards the Czech Republic, including online sales. Such a tour operator – if it does not wish to establish a branch in the Czech Republic – may operate a business in the Czech Republic on the basis of an authorisation to operate as a tour operator issued by the country of establishment provided that it meets the conditions laid down by the country of establishment in case of insolvency. Before the transposition of PTD2 in the Czech Republic, the authorisation to facilitate one or more travel services belonged to entrepreneurs designated as travel agencies/agents (“cestovní agentura”) . Unlike the operation of a tour operator (“cestovní kancelář”) , facilitation was an unqualified trade, which did not require a proof of professional qualifications, a business plan or security against insolvency. In connection with the transposition of PTD2, the regulated trade of a tour operator was divided into two branches: “a tour operator – organisation of packages” and “a tour operator – facilitating linked travel arrangements”. An entrepreneur may apply for a trade licence either to the full extent or in part. It is up to each entrepreneur how he will define the objects of his business in this field – this is a manifestation of his narrow specialisation, i.e. a focus on the sale of packages and/or on facilitating LTA. Since LTA differ from a package, an authorisation to organise packages does not cover facilitating LTA and vice versa . Similarly, it holds that security against insolvency related to the organisation of packages does not cover facilitation of LTA. Existing tour operators were allowed one month to decide, during the month of July 2018, whether they would continue to operate their business as a tour operator within the scope of organisation of packages or ask for supplementation of their licence to also include facilitating LTA or whether they would rather exchange the organisation of packages for facilitating LTA. Those tour operators that did not notify the relevant changes free of charge in July 2018 were