Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ITALY | FRANCESCO MORANDI 941 9. LIABILITY DUTY OF INSURANCE AND PROTECTION IN THE EVENT OF INSOLVENCY OR BANKRUPTCY The issue regarding the protection of the traveller in the event of insolvency or bankruptcy of the organiser and the retailer has long been the focus of attention of the European Union legislator. Applying art. 7 of the Directive 90/314/EEC, concerning package travel, package holidays and package tours, had encountered objective difficulties, both in terms of the harmonization of the legislation of the individual Member States and in terms of the effective protection of users 110 . In line with the provisions of the Tourism Code, the new regulation of the package travel contract and the intermediate travel contract confirms yet again, above all, that the organiser and the retailer are required to take out insurance for civil liability in favour of the traveller regarding compensation for damages deriving from the violation of the specific obligations taken on through the respective contracts (art. 47, par. 1, of the Tourism Code) and to indicate the details in the pre-contractual information to be provided to the traveller (art. 34, par. 1, letter i, of the Tourism Code). This is a general provision which is entirely consistent with the legislative policy choices already made by the national legislator through art. 19 of the Tourism Code, whereby it establishes that, in order to carry out their activity, the travel and tourism agencies are required to stipulate adequate insurance policies to guarantee the exact fulfilment of the obligations taken on towards customers through the travel contract in relation to the total cost of the services offered 111 . 110 The implementation of art. 7 of the Directive 90/314/CEE has been at the center of the international debate and has repeatedly been the subject of interventions by the Court of Justice of the European Union, starting with the first decision on the matter, pronounced in the leading case Dillenkofer : see EC Court of Justice, 8 October 1996, in jointed Causes C-178/94, C-179/94, C-188/94, C-189/94 and C-190/94, in Riv. it. dir. pubbl. comunit. , 1997, p. 112; among others, see also EC Court of Justice, 14 May 1998, in Cause C-364/96, Verein für Konsumenteninformation , in Contr. , 1998, p. 628, with a comment by A. Corrado, Rischi di insolvibilità o fallimento dell’organizzatore e tutela del viaggiatore . 111 All the Italian Regions had already intervened, since a long time, by regulating the activity of travel and tourism agencies, providing the obligation for tour operators and travel agents to ensure civil liability towards their customers. according to Constitutional Court, 5 April 2012, No. 80, the subject must be traced “for prevalence, to the sphere of exclusive state legislative competence in the matter of civil law” and is therefore removed from regional legislative autonomy. In synthesis, see M. Malo – C. Colaluca, Competenze normative e fonti , in V. Franceschelli – F. Morandi, Manuale di diritto del turismo , cit., p. 39; see also C. Giunta, L’art. 76 Cost. nei giudizi in via d’azione: il Codice del turismo in cerca di delega , in www.federalismi.it , 2012; L. Righi, Il turismo nel “tiro alla fune” Stato-Regioni: la ridondanza dell’eccesso di delega , in Riv. it. dir. tur ., 2012, p. 29; P. Sabbioni, Il codice della normativa statale in materia di turismo, ovvero: ma a cosa è servita la riforma del criterio di riparto della potestà legislativa tra lo Stato e le Regioni?, in www.forumcostituzionale.it, 2012; L. Saltari, Inflazione regolativa nel turismo , in www.astrid-online.it , 1/2013; S. Mangiameli, Come risolvere un assetto oscillante e confuso tra Stato e Regioni: il caso del turismo , in Italiadecide, Rapporto 2014. Il Grand Tour del XXI secolo: l’Italia e i suoi territori , Il Mulino, Bologna, 2014, p. 189; L. Grimaldi, La potestà legislativa regionale in materia di turismo nella Costituzione (prima e dopo il 2001), nella giurisprudenza costituzionale e nel progetto di riforma “Renzi-Boschi” , in www.dirittifondamentali.it , n. 2/2015.