Several important topics were discussed this week in the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg. One of them was about the package travel directive which, as a tourism-orientated country, affects us directly and, moreover, is intended to safeguard the rights of millions of tourists from all over Europe.

This directive is one of the eight covered by the Consumer Acquis aimed at protecting the European consumer. Over recent years, given the fast development of the internet, the entry of low-cost air carriers and with consumers forming their own travel packages by booking different components of their holiday from different sources, there has been a substantial decline in the tour operator business and an increase in dynamic packaging through the world-wide web. Unfortunately, though, many a time consumers seem to be unaware even of the limited rights they enjoy when they book their packages online when compared to package tours that qualify for protection under the package travel directive. The package travel organisers, on the other hand, are burdened with the cost of compliance with the directive while other travel service providers are not, thus putting the first at a disadvantage.

The present directive needs to be amended because, as it stands now, it fails to protect the consumer on the one hand and creates an unlevel playing field for businesses in the holiday market on the other. In order to ensure fair competition among all stakeholders and guarantee consumer protection, I and others in the European Parliament have insisted that the European Commission extends equal protection to all consumers, whether they purchase their travel services as a package holiday or not.

A review of the directive should also ensure that definitions and crucial terminology are clarified and updated. This should be inclusive of the definitions of consumer, retailer, organiser, essential terms of the contract and the scope of the directive.

The directive also covers the content of the brochure of the particular holiday, information for clients and the terms of the contract, consumer remedies in the event of failure to deliver and compulsory refund and repatriation in case of insolvency.

I am of the opinion that it is only the organiser who should comply with the directive irrespective of how the package is sold, be it directly or through a retailer. In most cases, the retailer is not responsible for the organisation of the components of the package. The organiser should be the person who sells, or offers for sale, at least one of the combined services included in the package in their own name and who gives access by whatever means to the other travel services in the combination.

For this reason a contract should be between an organiser and a consumer, whether the agreement is made directly with the consumer or through an intermediary retailer. In this respect, the definition of "contract" requires review and the provisions on liability should be clarified. I also believe that the removal of cross-border barriers in the form of differing or additional requirements at national level should be treated as a priority. In addition to all this, I am also of the view that the directive should provide proper instruments for both consumers and organisers to have effective recourse against the organiser and provider respectively in cross-border claims.

I welcome the Commission's initiative to review the directive. In order for legislation to remain effective and continue to provide adequate protection to the European consumer, we must be able to keep up with an increasingly dynamic business environment and also shifting consumer trends resulting from the advancement of technology and the internet. The consumer should be top priority, but we should also protect those who are providing the services and I think that this directive strikes a good balance between both.

david.casa@europarl.europa.eu
www.davidcasa.eu

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.