More specifically the evaluations identified three main groups of problems. The first group of problems relates to the challenges with refunds for cancelled travel packages, in particular during major crisis7. The second one is that in case of organiser’s insolvency advance payments made by travellers are not adequately protected8. The third one regards difficulties in implementing the PTD. In particular, the evaluation reports states that certain provisions are insufficiently clear, contain gaps or are too complex. This situation contributes to divergent levels of consumer protection in practice and distortions of competition. As far as relevant here, critical issues also raise the rules on termination of the contract in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances9. In view of the drafting of the proposal for the revision of the Directive10, the Commission drawn on relevant academic literature and Court of Justice case law. The Commission then conducted numerous consultation activities, including public and targeted stakeholder consultations11. In addition commissioned external experts to produce a «Study to support the preparation of an evaluation of the Package Travel Directive back-to-back with an impact assessment on its potential revision»12. 7 The report of the proposal explains that: «(t)he main drivers are the practice of advance payments, the lack of liquidity of organisers when faced with many concurrent refund requests and legal uncertainty in relation to the use of vouchers. Since organisers use downpayments received from travellers to pay in advance for certain services included in a package, they depend on refunds from service providers in order to be able to reimburse travellers if the package is cancelled. During the pandemic, many organisers did not receive (swift) refunds from service providers (e.g. airlines and hotels) and thus were unable to reimburse travellers within the mandatory 14-day period. The PTD does not contain business-to-business rules on refunds in the event of cancellations. It also lacks rules governing the use of vouchers. In fact, during the pandemic, organisers often imposed vouchers on travellers instead of a refund for cancelled packages, and the rights of travellers in relation to vouchers were unclear» (Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2015/2302 to make the protection of travellers more effective and to simplify and clarify certain aspects of the Directive, 29.11.2023 COM(2023) 905 final, p. 5). 8 «Insolvency protection for vouchers and the refund rights stemming from a cancellation varies in the Member States. There are also significant differences between national insolvency protection systems. In some Member States, package organisers find it difficult to obtain insolvency protection or insurance solutions can be expensive, especially during a crisis» (Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2015/2302 to make the protection of travellers more effective and to simplify and clarify certain aspects of the Directive, cit., p. 6). 9 Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive (EU) 2015/2302 to make the protection of travellers more effective and to simplify and clarify certain aspects of the Directive, cit., p. 6. 10 An evaluation and review of ‘the PTD’ is listed also in the ‘New Consumer Agenda’ of 13 November 2020: see Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, New Consumer Agenda - Strengthening consumer resilience for sustainable recovery, COM(2020) 696 final, 13.11.2020, p. 4. 11 In the ‘New Consumer Agenda’, COM(2020) 696 final, 13.11.2020, the European Commission indicated that an in-depth analysis of the Package Travel Directive (PTD) would be conducted by 2022 on the basis of the application report published in February 2021, with the aim of establishing whether the protection framework provided by the current directive was still up-to-date. 12 Study to support the preparation of an evaluation of the Package Travel Directive back-to-back with an impact 21 TERMINATION OF THE PACKAGE TRAVEL CONTRACT DUE TO UNAVOIDABLE
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