25 February on the Protection of Consumers and Users in Situations of Social and Economic Vulnerability. This law justifies its approval in the necessary adaptation of Spanish legislation to the provisions set out by the European Commission in the New Consumer Agenda of 13 November 2020, which recognises the need for greater protection for consumers and, above all, for vulnerable consumers, a variable concept of a non-permanent nature, as consumers may be vulnerable with regard to certain consumer relations and not with regard to others and which, in general, includes not only economic factors, generally includes not only economic factors but also other factors such as "age, sex, national or ethnic origin, place of origin, people with allergies or food intolerances, victims of gender-based violence, single-parent families, the unemployed, people with any kind of disability, the sick, ethnic or linguistic minorities, people temporarily displaced from their habitual residence, migrants or people seeking international protection, as well as people in economic need or at risk of exclusion, or any other circumstance that may have a negative impact on their consumer relations” (MS). Now, in contrast to this broad protection for a large part of the population in their consumer relations, the new wording of Art. 161. 1 of the TRLGDCU, since it is more favourable to the interests of the operators than to those of the consumers themselves, without the preamble of the regulation giving a proper explanation for this, since the preamble does not require any adaptation to the new concept of the vulnerable consumer that would correspond to or lead to a significant modification of the current liability of the tour operator, especially when this tends to be less protective than its predecessor. From the above it can be concluded that this latest amendment does not respond to a clear improvement in consumer protection, so what is the reason for it? In my opinion, it is a strategy that balances the interests of the various parties, especially after the serious problems that organisers and, above all, retailers, as well as transport companies - especially air transport - have had to face with the paralysis of travel during the lockdown and de-escalation across Europe . 26 Thus, while the consumer's protection is initially reduced, since he is prevented from taking direct action against the retailer to hold him liable for In fact, the CNMC, in its report on the preliminary draft law amending the consolidated text of the 26 General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users and other ancillary laws (File No. IPN/CNMC/ 027/21), p. 16, welcomes it when it states: "From the point of view of competition, this modification of the guarantee system is considered appropriate because it could encourage suppliers to offer their services in package holidays, with the consequent benefit for consumers, who will have greater choice. In other words, the relaxation of the conditions for access to the package travel market may facilitate the participation of a certain profile of operators who have not previously provided services in the package travel market.
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