Sustainable Tourism Law

A NEW DRAFT REGULATION OF PACKAGE TRAVELS IN SPAIN 543 The draft bill has been presented by the Spanish Health, Social Services and Equality Ministry. At that moment, the General Secretary for Health and Consumers of this Ministry had only started a public hearing 6 , trying to take into account the opinion of those undertaking the legislation and the most representative organizations that may be affected by the regulation. Considering the international character of this publication, we have to point out that in Spain the legislative competence in tourism issues is shared by the State and the Autonomous Communities. The State legislator holds exclusive power on the regulation of private and commercial matters (art. 149.1.6 th and 8 th of the Spanish Constitution, henceforth SC). In this particular topic, consumer protection must be covered by the national regulation. Besides, those Autonomous Communities that have assumed regulatory competences in touristic matters within the framework of their Statutes of Autonomy may provide a regulation about the promotion and organization of tourism within their geographical scope (art. 148.1.18 th SC). These duplicated regulations can be easily seen with regard to package travels. State legislator must provide a regulation to reform the Consolidated Text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users. This Act regulates travel packages. The legislative initiative has nowadays been assumed by the General Secretary for Health and Consumers of the Ministry for Health, Social Services and Equality. The national legislator has opted for a reform of the Consolidated Text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users instead of enacting an ad hoc regulation for travel packages. This latter option had been used frequently regarding other touristic topics in the Spanish legal system. We cannot support the option adopted by the Spanish legislator. In our opinion, even when these norms relate to consumers, they have such an economic and legal character that they should be addressed in an independent regulation 7 . The need for an independent regulation is also justified by the fact that some of the general rules for the protection of consumers and users do not apply to this contract. In other aspects, the regulation of this contract provides specific rules that are different from the general ones 8 . 6 The public consultation was open on the Ministry’s website until last 19th April 2017. 7 BENAVIDES VELASCO, P., “La directiva de viajes combinados: perspectivas de futuro”, in El impacto del derecho de la Unión Europea en el turismo , (Coords. Aguado I Cudolà, V. and Casanovas Ibáñez, Ó), Atelier, Barcelona, 2012, p. 146 so as “La obligación de las agencias de viaje de prestar las garantías contempladas en la Directiva de viajes combinados”, International journal of scientificic management and tourism , Vol. 4, no. 2, 2018. 8 GONZÁLEZ FERNÁNDEZ, M.ª B., ¿Nueva regulación de los viajes combinados?, Revista de Derecho Mercantil , no. 269, 2008, p. 1063.