NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
replace the three currently issued for package, flight-plus and flight-only bookings. From July 1 there will be a ‘package’ Atol certificate, ‘package – multiple contract’ certificate and a ‘flight-only’ certificate. He asked: “Are all three necessary? The point of the Atol certificate is to tell the consumer whether they bought a package and what their rights are. Why do we need a middle category? The idea is to make life clearer for consumers. This makes it complicated.” Mason added: “The CAA has slipped in other proposals. It will publish clauses which must appear in the wording [of corporate travel agency contracts] to benefit from the business travel exemption [to the Package Travel Regulations], but these have not yet appeared. “The CAA proposes Small Business Atol-holders report quarterly. This increases paperwork – the government is supposed to be cutting red tape. “It proposes a three-month deadline for [Atol-holders to comply with] amendments to agency agreements. “It proposes the CAA issues
Atol certificates, suggesting that consumers will have more confidence in the certificate and that the CAA will be able to hit the ground running if there is a failure because it will have all the information.” Mason insisted: “I’m unaware of any lack of confidence among consumers in the certificate at the moment.” He added: “The CAA also wants
new civil enforcement powers. It’s a CAA power grab – it will give them extensive new powers.” The two-day seminar
highlighted how many issues around the regulations remain unresolved. Abta director of legal services Simon Bunce said: “Things get more and more complicated as you go through the detail.”
Abta’s 20th Annual Travel Law Seminar: New Package Travel Regul
Government to issue PTR guidance in next few days
The government is finally poised to issue guidance on compliance with new Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) due to come into force from July 1.
Robert Scott, head of
European consumer policy at the Department for Business (BEIS), said the guidance should be available this week or next. He told last week’s Abta Travel
Law Seminar: “The regulations should be passed into law next week. We have developed guidance and should be able to get it out alongside. We are very conscious we need to get this out quickly.” The regulations should have been passed last year and BEIS guidance should have been made available well in advance of now. Abta director of legal services Simon Bunce said: “The timeframe we have left for this is woefully short.” The regulations will make all travel bookings comprising two or more services – such as a flight and accommodation or car hire –
Abta to canvas agents on impact of new regime
Abta will contact all members to assess the impact of the new financial protection regime on businesses in anticipation of the new Package Travel Regulations and amended Atol Regulations being issued. John de Vial, director of financial
protection and financial services, told the seminar: “We will write to all members. The time has come to draw a line under this, to give people at least a month to look at
62
travelweekly.co.uk 31 May 2018 Where the existing regulations
state only that package providers must “provide sufficient evidence of security for the refund of money paid and for repatriation”, the new PTRs require insolvency protection: “Cover any payments made [and]…the estimated cost for repatriations in the event of insolvency and to pay for any necessary accommodation prior to repatriation.” Traders need to ensure the
BUNCE: ‘Timeframe to get guidance out is woefully short’
a ‘package holiday’ by law, meaning many travel agents will take on the liabilities of a tour operator for the first time. Scott told the seminar: “The
new regulations are a lot more specific [about the insolvency requirements for packages].”
what they are doing and engage with us.”
Members will receive an online document, and De Vial said: “We’ll ask you to estimate what [protected] business you do and if you have revenue moving from Flight-Plus [Atol protection] to package [protection]. “I would ask everyone to respond as quickly as possible. If you’re not changing anything, just say that.” De Vial said: “These will be best-guess forecasts. We may need to revise forecasts as we get into trading in this new environment. Once we have a year under our belts, we will all be more comfortable.”
protection is available as soon as “travel services are not being performed fully, it becomes evident they will not be performed fully or the travellers have to pay for the services themselves”. They must “refund travellers without undue delay” and “benefit travellers regardless of their place of residence, place of departure or where the package is sold”. Scott said: “We expect the new
regulations to raise standards across the UK and the directive to raise standards across the EU.”
DE VIAL: Agents urged to respond ‘as quickly as possible’
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