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Step closer to package holiday law reform
The movement to overhaul laws on brochure pricing and holiday bonds has been given a boost thanks to a scholarship from the Trading Standards Institute (TSI).
The scholarship will provide financial assistance to the TSI lead officer package travel, Bruce Treloar, who is leading the fight to lobby the European Commission on rules governing package holidays.
Mr Treloar told TravelMole his aim was, “to make sure it [the Package Holiday Directive] isn’t watered down so that it is no good to anyone.”
Mr Treloar told TravelMole that the laws, called the Package Holiday Directive, created by the European Commission ten years ago, need updating. He said he is carrying out extensive research on prosecution cases relating to package holidays that are taking place in Europe. He mentioned an ongoing case in Portugal where prosecutors were seeking to make agents liable for individual holiday components sold as a package holiday.
The Package Travel Regulations, part of the Directive, are being reviewed by the European Commission in the middle of next year. Mr Treloar told TravelMole that he hopes to become involved in the consultation process, which will start in early 2003. Mr Treloar is talking with the Department of Trade and Industry and with ABTA, who also hope to be involved in the European Commission’s consultation process.
The main complaints that the TSI have with the package holiday industry is that pricing is not transparent and holidays that are sold under split contracts are not always bonded. Mr Treloar told TravelMole: “Consumers are not as protected as they should be…We [TSI] want pro-active powers and the law made clear. As it stands we can only act after a complaint has been made. We want to pick up these problems beforehand”.
The TSI said it received 28,000 holiday complaints last year, up 16,000 from the previous year.
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