Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

ITALY | FRANCESCO MORANDI 947 reference to the Consumer Code provisions 129 .The solution is also in line with the current competences of the Authority and enables to avoid unequal treatment between the subjects involved in the various preliminary activities that could be generated by a conduct considered in violation of obligations introduced by the new discipline and already provided for by the Consumer Code 130 . The Guarantor is thus entitled to intervene, of its own motion or at the initiative of every relevant person or organization, in order to ascertain the violations of the provisions of art. 51- septies of the Tourism Code, inhibit the continuationof incorrect behaviour, eliminate the effects and impose administrative fines and ancillary administrative penalties, while making use, for this purpose, of the tools, including sanctions, provided for by the Consumer Code. 11. A FEW BRIEF CONCLUDING REMARKS In conclusion, the contents of the Directive have been carefully and rigorously transposed into the Tourism Code, following the EU legislator’s intention to create a European Union travel space capable of effectively dealing with the profound changes in the market while offering an adequate response to the new challenges imposed by the online marketing of package travels and tourist services. In the logic of the EuropeanUnion Parliament and of the Council, overcoming the supranational legal fragmentation will ensure a high level of protection for travellers and guarantee an appropriate balance of the interests of the parties, increasing the transparency of the regulatory framework while strengthening legal certainty for users and for companies in the sector. The objective of implementing a full harmonization of the regulations regarding package travel and linked travel arrangements is also emphasized by the imperative nature of the Directive (EU) 2015/2302 and the nature of 129 Consider, by way of example only, the transposition of Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013, on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms (so-called CRD IV), or Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015, on payment services in the internal market (so-called PSD2). 130 The provision supplements (but does not replace) the sanctioning system currently envisaged by art. 27 of the Consumer Code, which therefore assigns to the Antitrust Authority the competence to intervene in the case of unfair commercial practices and in the event that the professional provides misleading information on the methods of the service offered, on the price and on the other elements of the contract, whatever the means by which this information is communicated to the traveller; see G. Sebastio, La disciplina giuridica in materia di pubblicità nel settore dei viaggi e turismo e profili dell’intervento dell’autorità , in Giust. civ ., 2001, p. 2291.