Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

FRANCE | VALÉRIE AUGROS 809 For instance, it is currently admitted under French case law that particular requests or needs have to be raised by the client to the package seller before the conclusion of the contract. French lower courts ruled that disabled persons had to inform the organiser or retailer of their special needs when entering into the package travel contract 11 , unless the seller already had knowledge of this. Following the implementation of the new PTD, French organisers and retailers will have to provide extensive information about the accessibility of the various travel services contained in a package. As regards “specific needs”, the travellers will now have to make an enquiry before concluding the package travel contract, should they wish them to be included into the contract and done at the latest 48 hours before the start of the package. However, the organiser or the retailer may be well advised to take some steps to anticipate some possible needs or issues with regards to the proposed travel package. Themain issue for French organisers will be the level of detail of the information to be communicated to the travellers regarding special needs or situations. Currently, with regards to case law and in particular the hostages of the Jolo Island case 12 , general information about the destination was held to be insufficient. Following the new obligations set out in the Directive, the organisers will have to provide very detailed information, even if it is not relevant to all their customers. The organisers cannot limit the information provided about destinations and possible special needs to basic information. Information has to be detailed, as French travel agents are severely judged if it appears that information was not sufficient. ii. Changes and termination of the contract before the start of the package Changes to the package travel contract, as well as termination, were already specified under certain circumstances by the Directive of 1990 and implemented in the French tourism code. The new PTD extended the scope of changes to the contract or termination before the start of the package. Changes or termination can be initiated either by the organiser or by the traveller. With regards to changes to the contract and termination of the package contract initiated by the organiser, the Directive maintains cases set out in the previous directive. Indeed, changes are admitted only regarding the alteration of 11 TGI Paris, 10 June 2004, nr.04/03428 (Marmara). 12 CA Paris, 23 January 2009, JCP G 2009 II 10083.