Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

80 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE The organiser may terminate the package travel contract and provide the traveller with a full refund of any payments made for the package, but shall not be liable for additional compensation, if: (a) the number of persons enrolled for the package is smaller than the minimum number stated in the contract and the organiser notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract within the period fixed in the contract, but not later than: – 20 days before the start of the package in the case of trips lasting more than six days; – seven days before the start of the package in the case of trips lasting between two and six days; – 48 hours before the start of the package in the case of trips lasting less than two days; or (b) the organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances and notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract without undue delay before the start of the package. With respect to off-premises contracts, Member States may provide in their national law that the traveller has the right to withdraw from the package travel contract within a period of 14 days without giving any reason. The novelty introduced by the Directive is that additional termination rights are granted to travellers before the start of the package. Regarding the withdrawal, we have several examples that have ruled the Spanish provincial courts; as an example: SAP Tarragona November 11, 2010 dismissing the appeal brought by the travel agency, who contests the delivery of the judgment requiring it to repay the amount invoiced and paid as a penalty for the cancellation of the subscribed trip. It is not available as an exception to relieve the agency, as the plaintiffs decided to cancel the trip to make another they preferred and, having taken out an insurance that assumed the expenses of this cancellation, the loss of the payment of the price was accepted by the actors. For its part, the SAP Malaga July 14, 2014 considers that the consumer has the right to unilaterally cancel the contract but he must compensate the organizer of the trip of all management and cancellation costs, if any, and also pay a penalty of 15%, when the cancellation occurs 4 days before the date of the departure.