Sustainable Tourism Law

A NEW DRAFT REGULATION OF PACKAGE TRAVELS IN SPAIN 551 The new Directive aims to achieve full harmonization of the national regulations. However, it considers some specific exceptions that have been taken into account by the Spanish draft bill. In our opinion, the Spanish legislator uses these possibilities too broadly to deviate from the rules of the Directive. The Spanish draft bill evinces that the legislative works have mainly followed two principles: the allegiance to the European text and the need to limit as much as possible the reform of the current regulation. The allegiance principle has been followed to the extent that the draft bill is almost a literal transcription of the Directive in many articles. The proposed legislation, however, makes use of the possibilities of choice allowed by the Directive. The Spanish regulation is not a good example of how the goals of the Directive should be achieved. During the economic crisis, the insolvency situation of many travel agencies led to the interruption of the holidays for many passengers. In some cases, the insolvency situation also prevented them from going back to their point of origin. The need for an in-depth reform of the regulation and a broader protection of travellers has faced serious obstacles. Many norms and European Directives have been approved in a short period of time. Besides that, in Spain the shared legislative powers on this topic by the State and the Autonomous Communities have also made the process more difficult. Finally, the economic problems suffered by organizers and purchasers have also made more complex the factual situation of the market in which this regulation must be implemented. Because of all these reasons, in Spain the duty to provide guarantees to face the insolvency of travel agencies in the commercialization of travel packages, as stipulated by the 1990 Directive, has not been fulfilled. IV.2. The legal protection of tourists in the event of insolvency of the purchaser before the publication of the draft bill Article 7 of Directive 90/314/EEC stated that the organizer and the retailer shall provide sufficient evidence of security regarding the refund of money that has been paid and for the repatriation of the consumer in the event of insolvency 21 . 21 This was one of the most controversial provisions during the draft of the regulation. The content of the proposal was quite different from the final approved text. The proposal considered that agencies should have an insurance to cover the duties arising from the breach of the travel package contract. It also requested to establish a guarantee fund for the payment of unpaid compensations. See, GÓMEZ CALLE, E., El contrato de viaje combinado , Madrid, Civitas, 1998.