Jurisprudenţă

  • Detalii privind cazul
    • ID național: County court, Bucharest, Civil Section VI, Judgement no 4488/2021
    • Statul membru: România
    • Denumire comună:N/A
    • Tipul de decizie: Decizie a Curții care face obiectul unui recurs
    • Data deciziei: 21/10/2021
    • Instanţa: TRIBUNALUL BUCUREŞTI SECŢIA A VI-A CIVILĂ
    • Obiect:
    • Reclamantul:
    • Pârâtul:
    • Cuvinte-cheie: package travel, package, travel, fee, refund, unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances
  • Articole din directivă
    Package Travel Directive, Article 12, 2.
  • Notă preliminară

    ECLI:RO:TBBUC:2021:017

    The occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic is an exceptional extraordinary and unavoidable circumstance that may justify the termination of the package travel contract by the consumer, before the start of the package, without payment of any termination fee.

  • Fapte

    A package travel contract concluded by a consumer should have been performed in May 2020. During the second half of March 2020, considering the risks generated by the Covid-19 disease and despite the willingness of the trader to perform the contract, the tourist requested the annulment of the invoice and the restitution of the advance paid. The travel agency refused to proceed with this restitution, so the tourist brought court proceedings and obtained a favourable decision in first instance. The travel agency launched an appeal.

  • Chestiune juridică

    Whether in the context of the occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourist was entitled to withdraw from the package travel contract, without paying any termination fee, despite the fact that the travel agency did not affirm that it was not possible to perform the contract.

  • Hotărârea

    Art. 13(3) of the OG 2/2018 allows the tourist to terminate the contract before the start of the package, without any fee for termination, in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and significantly affecting the performance of the package. The occurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic is such an exceptional and extraordinary and unavoidable circumstance; it is able to affect both the carriage of passengers and the performance of the contract at the final destination, because of the risks that the virus presents for the human health and the risks related to the limitation of travels (more and more present in the second half of March 2020). Even if the Emergency status was instituted by Decree only until 16 April 2020 (and the contract was to be performed in May 2020), the corresponding Act recognised the negative effects of the pandemic in Romania, its risks for human safety and the gravity of the situation. Even in the context of the information available in March 2020, it was clear that the pandemic was likely to continue for a longer period of time.

    The affirmation of the trader that, if the safety measures were respected, the voyage could have been taken with no risk for the traveller, cannot be accepted since, as it is well known, there is not 100% efficient way of avoiding the virus. Also, art. 13 does not cover, as the trader alleges, only the possibility to realise the transport of travellers or organise their accommodation; on the contrary, it may also be applied when the package travel cannot be performed in safe conditions for the traveller.

    Text integral: Text integral

  • Cazuri conexe

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  • Doctrină

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  • Rezultat

    Founding that the lower court had realised a sound interpretation of the legal provisions regarding the traveller’s right to terminate the package travel contract, the Court rejected the appeal and upheld the contested judgement. The decision may be contested with an appeal on points of law.