Revision of the Package Travel Directive

In 2013, the European Commission made a proposal to revise the Package Travel Directive. The European Parliament adopted its position which introduces some improvements and clarifications to the Commission proposal; however, our general assessment is that the Resolution does not add value to the current Directive.

Clarity and legal certainty have been further compromised as regards the scope. Moreover, the Parliament's adoption of the principle of maximum harmonisation as a default rule for most issues will reduce some national consumer rights, particularly in the field of national contract law.

Therefore, we advocate widening the scope and clarification in order to guarantee future-proof legislation which appropriately addresses consumer detriment in the travel sector.

We equally believe that the proposal should follow the principle of mixed harmonisation - minimum harmonisation should be the default rule and maximum harmonisation applied only when possible and necessary, without lowering
current levels national consumer protections in particular with contract law issues. We urge legislators to improve the overall level of consumer protection