Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

840 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE only reference in the Directive to a percentage of a value of the combination of tourist services is in recital 18, according to which “if other tourist services account for 25% or more of the value of the combination, those services should be considered as representing a significant proportion of the value of the package or linked travel arrangement”. According to paragraph 3 of article 3 of P.D. 7/2018, “ if other tourist services account for 25% or more of the value of the combination, those services should be considered as representing a significant proportion of the value of the package or linked travel arrangement”. Furthermore, according to paragraph 3 of article 2 of P.D. 7/2018 “the companies that carry out the activities falling within the scope of the Presidential Decree 7/2018 are obliged to meet the legal requirements set for tourist offices” (travel agencies) (under Greek legislation) 2 . Besides, according to paragraph 3 of article 2 of Directive (EU) 2015/2302, “this Directive does not affect national general contract law such as the rules on the validity, formation or effect of a contract, insofar as general contract law aspects are not regulated in this Directive.”. Moreover, in the new Package Travel Directive, the liability regime changed in relation to the previous regulation. For packages, the organiser is liable (a liability that Member States may extend to the retailer) 3 , whereas for individual services, the liability lies with the service provider. The previous Directive 90/314/EEC has given discretion to the Member States to determine whether retailers, organisers or both retailers and organisers are liable for the proper performance of a package. That flexibility has led to ambiguity in some Member States as to which trader is liable for the performance of the relevant travel services. Under the new legal framework, the main characteristic of a package is that there is one trader responsible as an organiser for the proper performance of the package as a whole, irrespectively of whether the travel services included in the package travel contract are to be performed by the organiser or by other travel service providers 4 . Recital 22 of the new Package Travel Directive differentiates between the responsibility of the organiser and that of 2 Law 393 of 27 / 31.7.1976: “Establishing and operation of tourist offices”, currently in force. 3 According to paragraph 2 of article 13 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2302, “ Member States may maintain or introduce in their national law provisions under which the retailer is also responsible for the performance of the package. In that case the provisions of Article 7 and Chapter III, this Chapter and Chapter V which are applicable to the organiser shall also apply mutatis mutandis to the retailer”. 4 Article 13 paragraph 1 of Directive (EU) 2015/2302 provides that “Member States shall ensure that the organiser is responsible for the performance of the travel services included in the package travel contract, irrespective of whether those services are to be performed by the organiser or by other travel service providers”.