Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

884 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE 1 July 2018, at which point the measures became applicable. As Ireland had not met this deadline, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the Irish government on the 22 March 2018, followed by a reasoned opinion, in November, 2018 17 . In a press release on the 7 March 2019, the Commission announced that it was referring Ireland to the European Court of Justice for its failure to transpose the Directive 18 . Ultimately, the Directive was transposed into Irish legislation by way of S.I. No. 80, published on the 15 March 2019 and S.I. No. 105, published on the 26 March 2019, which amended the 1982 Act, the 1995 Act and the 2001 Act 19 . In 2017, as part of the transposition process, the CAR appointed an external consultancy firm, Indecon to advise on the impact of the Directive and make recommendations to the CAR as to a set of arrangements that would meet the relevant requirements of the Directive. Indecon prepared a report for the CAR 20 , much of which informed the Department’s approach to the transposition. Further, the CAR engaged another consultancy firm, Europe Economics, to undertake an assessment of the consumer protection provided by the current scheme of bonding in the travel trade industry. Europe Economics submitted its report to the CAR in December 2017 21 . Further changes are anticipated to the licencing scheme 22 . 3. CHAPTER I – SUBJECT MATTER, SCOPE, DEFINITION AND LEVEL OF HARMONISATION 3.1. Scope 3.1.1. Article 2(b) – not-for-profit packages and linked travel arrangements Article 2(2) of the 1990 Directive defined an organiser as “ the person who, other than occasionally, organises packages or offers them for sale, whether directly or through a retailer” . 17 https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-18-6247_en.htm. 18 https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-1478_en.htm. 19 See footnote 4. 20 https://www.aviationreg.ie/_fileupload/Indecon%20report%20on%20Directive%202302%20of%202015 %20on%20package%20travel%20and%20linked%20travel%20arrangements(1).pdf. 21 http://www.europe-economics.com/publications/bonding_of_the_irish_travel_trade_industry_-_final_ report.pdf. 22 See further Section 8 of this Chapter.