cancellation fee in those situations. In a number of ARN-cases, travelers have referred to high age or risk group afliation as a basis for cancellation. However, ARN has noted that “the fact that travelers belong to a so-called risk group does not mean that these travelers easier fall ill than other travelers, but that those travelers risk having more severe symptoms than others in the event of an illness. The fact that the travelers belong to a risk group can therefore for that reason alone not mean that the travelers have the right to cancel the trip at no extra cost." 2.2.7 The cancellation fee must be reasonable In cases where ARN has concluded that the traveler has not proved that there were UEC signifcantly afecting the destination at the time when the package was to take place, ARN notes that a traveler always has a right to cancel a package before departure and that the organizer in those cases has the right to charge a cancellation fee if he has reserved this right in the contract and the cancellation fee is reasonable. In these cases, ARN has therefore examined whether the organiser’s cancellation rules may be considered reasonable. To the extent the traveler has not objected to the reasonableness of the fee, the examination has usually consisted of a decision that the fee, in view of how long before departure the cancellation was made, may be considered reasonable. 2.2.8 Refund of the total price paid by the traveler If a traveler is entitled to a refund for a package that has been cancelled by the organiser or cancelled by the traveler due to UEC, the PTA states that the organizer must refund without undue delay and within 14 days at the latest. Due to the large number of packages that were canceled during the spring and early summer and for which the travelers were entitled to refunds, it was often not possible for organisers to refund within the prescribed period. For most travel services the organiser receives the payment from the traveler just to forward it to the supplier of the services. For an organiser to refund, it must frst receive a refund from the service provider. Many suppliers, especially airlines, did not refund the payments at all or did so after several months. In many cases suppliers issued vouchers to the organiser instead of refunding payments. Many organisers therefore lacked the means to refund the travelers within 14 days. ARN has received a large number of reports concerning cases where the package was canceled and where the organiser had informed the traveler that the traveler would receive a refund, but that the refund would take some time. ARN has rejected most of these cases. As justifcation for this, ARN has stated that the board shall resolve disputes between consumers and traders. Since the organizer in these cases has confrmed that the traveler is entitled to a full refund, there is no dispute in these cases. Since there is no dispute ARN does not have the authority to try these cases.
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