EU Council backs new EU rules giving more protection to over 120m holidaymakers

29 May 2015 11:58 AM

Yesterday, Ministers in the Competitiveness Council reached a political agreement on new rules that will bring protection for package holidays up to speed with the digital age.

VÄ›ra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said: "If you plan your holidays you should not have to worry about insufficient legal protection. This is why new EU rules will soon cover over 120 million holidaymakers who book combined travel online: adapting the EU rules on package travel to the digital age. Travellers will clearly know what they are buying and what their rights are, especially if something goes wrong during their holidays. These new rules also support the travel industry that will benefit from less administrative burden and much-needed legal clarity."

The 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.

Less administrative burden, easier cross-border transactions and legal certainty will at the same time benefit businesses.

In addition to existing rights being given to more consumers, travellers will also benefit from reinforced rights:

Businesses will also benefit from modernised rules and less administrative burden, bringing down compliance costs from €11 to €8 per package sold:

Next steps

The European Parliament will vote in Plenary in June to endorse the agreement between the EU institutions. The Council of the European Union will then also give its formal approval of the agreed text in September or October. Following publication in the EU's Official Journal in the autumn, 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.

Background

The Commission made the 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 reached a General Approach in December 2014.

The proposed legislation will apply to 3 different sorts of travel combinations:

How will it work in practice? See here

Annex

Annex 1: Extension of the 1990 Package Travel rules scope

Annex 2: Distinction between combined travel arrangements, pre-arranged packages and linked travel arrangements (all covered by the new Directive)

 

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