Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

798 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE But the rest of article L.211-16, as well as article L. 211-17, refers to “the organiser OR the retailer”. In future legal proceedings, it will be up to the traveller, on the one hand, to choose whether to pursue the two professionals together or individually, and then the judge, on the other hand, will have to determine the responsibility for the situation, even being able to order joint and several liabilities. In addition, the organiser develops (“ combines ” in the PTD article 3-8) and sells or offers for sale, while the retailer sells or offers for sale the tourist services (packages and travel services) according to the definitions given in article L. 211-2-IV of the Tourism Code. However, article L.211-16 – which still deals with strict liability – refers only to “the professional who sells” a package or travel service. Therefore, this seems to exclude the organiser who also combines the service... This inconsistency is incorporated in the action brought by the French employers’ union Les Entreprises du Voyage against Order No. 2017-1717 of 20 December, 2017, for over transposition of the Directive. By over transposing the Directive and satisfying professionals on the issue of retailers also being responsible, the French legislator has not, however, correctly amended all the relevant texts and has forgotten to mention the responsibility of the organiser. This is a point which will undoubtedly give rise to discussion until the expected decision of the Conseil d’Etat . Strict liability also applies to services other than tourist packages. STRICT LIABILITY ALSO APPLIES TO “ISOLATED” TOURIST SERVICES From now on, the new article L.211-16 will grow in scope, seeing as it details with more precision the contours of this strict liability. Thus, rather than referring to the “operations mentioned in article L.211-1”, it distinguishes, after the tourist package, the travel services of article L.211-1-I-2°, which are also covered by the strict liability, by also stipulating the professional’s right of appeal against the service provider. Note here that these travel services correspond to “ transport ” – even if in reality the transport sold autonomously is excluded from the provisions of the Code (article L.211-7) – “ accommodation, vehicle rental or other travel services ” that professionals do not produce themselves.