Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

HUNGARY | ANDRAS SALAMON 871 109) Based on Section 21(2), the type of the termination fee may be as follows: • standardised termination fee: “ The package travel contract may specify reasonable standardised termination fees based on the time of the termination of the contract before the start of the package and the expected cost savings and income from alternative deployment of the travel services.”. • or non-standardised termination fee: “ In the absence of standardised termination fees, the amount of the termination fee shall correspond to the price of the package minus the cost savings and income from alternative deployment of the travel services.”. At the traveller’s request, the organiser must justify the amount of the termination fee. 110) Based on Section 21(3) the traveller may terminate the contract without the payment of termination fee, in the event the target country named in the package travel contract has been included in the list of travel destination countries and regions “not recommended for travel” on the website of the Ministry headed by the minister responsible for foreign policy (currently the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) 27 . (A similar stipulation was included in the former, repealed Government Decree No. 281/2008. (28 December) Korm with the deviation that a traveller was only entitled to withdrawal without the payment of termination fee, if the target country was included in the “not recommended for travel” list of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the conclusion of the travel contract. This stipulation was omitted from the Decree in force, and the Hungarian text can also be interpreted that a traveller may terminate the contract without the payment of termination fee, if the target country was included in the list “not recommended for travel” prior to the conclusion of the contract. 27 Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), the traveller shall have the right to terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity which significantly affect the performance of the package, or which significantly affect the carriage of passengers to the destination, provided that the destination, or its immediate vicinity have been included in the list of travel destination countries or regions “not recommended for travel” on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the event of termination of the package travel contract under this paragraph, the traveller shall be entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package, but shall not be entitled to additional compensation.