The Package Travel Act and the Covid19 pandemic by Jonas Thyberg

the destination. Further, ARN has accepted statements and recommendations from authorities in Sweden and at the destination, that has been referred to by travelers. For example, in one case ARN based its decision on, among other things, a recommendation from the US Foreign Ministry against travel for American citizens to the destination in question, which was referred to by a Swedish consumer. ARN further noted that, in line with the normal principles for the burden of proof in litigation, if a party claims a fact and the other party does not contest this fact, the frst party does not have to prove it. Thus, if a traveler, uncontested, claims that there was a major spread of Covid 19 at the destination, ARN has considered it to be a fact in the case, without any further proof. A number of claims by travelers has therefore been approved by ARN, without any actual proof for UEC at the destination. 2.2.2 Extraordinary circumstance On March 5, 2020, the European Commission published a document on the guidance of the interpretation of PTD in connection with Covid-19 . In the guidelines 8 the European Commission states that ”[s]ignifcant risks to human health, such as the outbreak of a serious disease like the COVID-19 at the travel destination or its immediate vicinity usually qualify as such unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances.” However, it must be born in mind that such guidelines from the European Commission regarding the interpretation of EU legislation is not legally binding. It merely refects the views of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. On February 11, 2020, the Swedish foreign department issued an advice against all travels to the Hubei province in China and an advice against non-essential travel to the Zhejiang province in China. On March 6 an advice against non-essential travel to nine regions in Northern Italy was published. Four days later the advice against travel to parts of Italy was extended to all of Italy. Finally, on March 14, an advice against non-essential travel during the period until April 15, to all countries was adopted. The latter travel advice has been extended at several times since then. With regard to the question of whether the pandemic constituted an extraordinary circumstance, ARN states, i.a. in the light of the Commission's statement and information from WHO and from the Swedish Public Health Agency, that the Information on the Package Travel Directive in connection with the Covid-19. The document was 8 frst published on March 5, 2020. A revised version was published on March 19, 2020.

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