International Travel Law Network conference: Lawyers from across Europe Continued from page 32 A second scenario, based


on continuing restrictions and “incompatible regulations” in many long-haul destinations, would leave traffic in 2025 below the 2019 level, while a third scenario – in which there is a resurgence of the virus and renewed restrictions – would see “traffic grow weakly” and remain “well below” the level of 2019 in 2025. However, the AOA warned


the reality could be worse. It noted: “This analysis does not take into account the renewed lockdown and travel restrictions of late December and January.” The report found airports


now “carry high levels of debt” and have “radically cut capital investment and let go of many staff”. The AOA has previously estimated 110,000 UK aviation jobs could disappear. AOA chief executive Karen


Dee called for “a comprehensive aviation recovery package”, warning: “This summer must be a success for aviation if airports are to survive.” Transport secretary


Grant Shapps defended the government’s record on aid last week, telling the transport select committee: “We’ve provided £7.2 billion to aviation. We provided furlough to 52,000 aviation staff, worth £1.2 billion. We provided the Covid Corporate Financing Facility scheme worth £3 billion. We provided guarantees for loans through UK export finance of £3.4 billion – £1.4 billion to easyJet and £2 billion to British Airways. These are large numbers.” Shapps promised a long-


awaited Aviation Recovery Plan would appear “later this year” but declined to give a date.


France ‘will still permit seasonal UK ski workers’


UK ski operators may be able to post UK staff to France next winter just as they did prior to Brexit despite the EU Posted Workers Directive no longer applying to the UK. Stephane Fressard of French


law firm Armand-Chat & Associés told an International Travel Law


Network videoconference: “In the Alps, 10,000-12,000 UK seasonal workers come every winter, so it’s important. Countries had until the end of January to stop workers entering. In France, there was lobbying of politicians to accept UK staff. We heard unofficially it [the outcome] is positive. Secondment will continue.” He said: “Other EU countries


decided to stop staff secondment. But secondment will continue [in France] as in the past.” UK operators will still need to obtain work permits for


Skiers in the Alps


staff working in EU countries, including France. There had been no confirmation


of the French government decision as Travel Weekly went to press.


UK firms ‘can sell in EU with European bonding’


Ian Taylor


UK travel firms selling package holidays in the EU do not need to establish a business in the EU to comply with Package Travel Regulations post-Brexit so long as they meet the necessary bonding or insurance requirements in at least one EU state. That is according to EU lawyers


specialising in package travel law, who insist there is no need to register a business formally in the EU despite the UK Department for Business (BEIS) advising UK travel businesses they need an EU place of establishment to sell package holidays in EU markets. However, UK businesses can’t


carry on selling into the EU under an Atol licence and financial protection arrangements they have in place in the UK as they could up until the end of last year. Addressing a virtual conference of the International Travel Law


30 11 FEBRUARY 2021


Network (ITLN) of lawyers, Klaus Siebert of German law firm Engels Siebert Rechtsanwalte explained: “You can start [work] as a non-EEA [European Economic Area] operator just with insolvency bonding. “You need only the insurance


provider to be established in the EU and to follow the EU Package Travel Directive [PTD] rules. You don’t need your establishment to be anywhere in the EU. You need bonding and you need to honour the PTD. If you do that, you can do business as usual [and] you can sell across the EU.” Siebert noted his firm “handles


UK, US, Canadian and Australian operators who send customers to the EU”. He insisted: “It is a question of having European bonding insurance in place, not Abta bonding, not Atol.” Samantha Bradbury, membership


director of the UK’s Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust, told the conference: “That is not our understanding following conversations


European Parliament


with BEIS – it is that mutual recognition [of financial protection arrangements] no longer exists.” However, Michael Wukoschitz


of Austrian law firm KWC, agreed with Siebert. He said: “In Austria, if a [non-EU] third-country holiday provider directs business into Austria it needs protection with an insolvency protection scheme valid for EU countries. You only need the [one] insolvency protection scheme.” The ITLN network of lawyers includes UK law firm Travlaw.


travelweekly.co.uk


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