Sustainable Tourism Law

554 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW The consequences for the breach of this guarantee duty by the travel agency were left to the existing legislation. The remission had to be made to the tourism administrative regulation in force. This regulation sanctioned the lack of replacement of the financial guarantee with the revocation of the license entitling the performance of the activity. A breach of this duty at the beginning of the agency’s business does not seem to be possible, as the proof of the deposit of this financial guarantee is required to get the license enabling the operation in the market. Besides the Directive and the Spanish transposition regulation, there was another regulation in Spain about travel packages at the time: The Royal Decree 271/1988 and the Ministry Order of 1988. The Package Travel Act referred to both regulations with regards to the formalization of the guarantees against insolvency. These rules required travel agencies to establish a financial guarantee, whose amount varied according to the wholesaler, retailer or wholesaler-retailer character of the agency. This financial guarantee might be individual or collective. In both cases it had to be formalized by means of a bank guarantee, a guarantee policy or a security from public issuers. This title had to be placed at the disposal of the relevant tourism administrative body. As noted above, agencies or associations had to refund the financial guarantee within 15 days if it had been executed. This financial guarantee could not be cancelled, not even when a proceeding for the revocation, waiver or withdrawal of the business license was pending. In these cases, this guarantee had to be kept for one year after the final decision of such proceedings was adopted. Neither could these guarantees be cancelled until the pending civil claims had been settled. Travel agencies had the duty to inform the relevant tourism authorities about these facts. In 2007, the Law applicable to package travels was amended in Spain. Considering that the regulation arises from the transposition of a European Directive on consumers protection, Spanish authorities decided to repeal the 1995 Act and to regulate package travels within the IVth Book of the Legislative Royal Decree 1/2007, of 16 th November, approving the consolidated text for the General Lawon the Protection of Consumers andUsers and other complementary Acts 30 . In particular, this act considers the offering, contracting and execution of package holidays, package tours and package travels. 30 Henceforth, GLPCU.