10:04 PM Package Travel - European Commission | ||||
#european travel packages # Package TravelRevision of the Package Travel DirectiveOn 28 May 2015 the EU Council backed the new Package Travel Directive. bringing it up to date with the developments in the travel market. The agreement was achieved after the Commission made a proposal in July 2013 (IP/13/663 ), which received the support of the European Parliament in March 2014 (MEMO/14/184 ). Ministers in the Council had reached agreement on a General Approach in December 2014. Following publication in the EU's Official Journal in the autumn 2015, Member States will have two years to implement the new rules and traders a further period of 6 months to adapt to the new rules. Scope of the DirectiveThe rules will extend protection of the 1990 EU Package Travel Directive to cover not only traditional package holidays, but also give clear protection to 120 million consumers who book other forms of combined travel, e.g. a self-chosen combination on a website of a flight plus hotel or car rental. There will always be protection where travel services are advertised as a package or where they are offered at a total or inclusive price. The the proposed legislation broadens the concept of package and now will apply to 3 different sorts of travel combinations: pre-arranged packages - ready-made holidays from a tour operator made up of at least 2 elements: transport, accommodation or other services, e.g. car rental; customised packages - selection of components by the traveller and bought from a single business online or offline; linked travel arrangements - if the consumer, after having booked one travel service on one website, is invited to book another service through a targeted link or similar, the new rules offer some protection provided that the second booking is made within 24 hours. Benefits for ConsumersThe new Directive is expected to reduce damages to consumers by about 430 million a year, due to the following reinforced rights:
Benefits for BusinessesThe new Directive will reduce the administrative burden on businesses and bring down compliance costs for traders from 11 to 8 per package sold. The main advantages for market operators consist in:
The Review ProcessThe directive is a result of thorough analysis of the main regulatory problems in the area of package travel and multiple stakeholder consultations: Against this background, the Commission launched a public consultation on the revision of the Directive in November 2009. While the consultation in 2007 sought to identify the problems with the existing Directive, this consultation focused on possible ways of solving the identified problems. On 22 April 2010 the Commission held a full-day stakeholders' workshop on the revision of the Package Travel Directive. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the policy options identified during the revision process. On 5 June 2012 the Commission held a further conference with stakeholders and Member States on the revision of the Package Travel Directive ( agenda (12 kB) ). The purpose of the conference was to discuss and clarify some key issues for the presentation of the new proposal.
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