Jurisprudenţă

  • Detalii privind cazul
    • ID național: County Court, Bucharest, Section II for administrative and fiscal law, Judgement no 284/2022
    • Statul membru: România
    • Denumire comună:N/A
    • Tipul de decizie: Decizie a Curții care face obiectul unui recurs
    • Data deciziei: 26/01/2022
    • Instanţa: Tribunalul Bucuresti, SECŢIA A II-A DE CONTENCIOS ADMINISTRATIV ŞI FISCAL
    • Obiect:
    • Reclamantul:
    • Pârâtul:
    • Cuvinte-cheie: package travel, package, travel, fee, refund, unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, contravention, sanction
  • Articole din directivă
    Package Travel Directive, Article 12, 2. Package Travel Directive, Article 12, 4.
  • Notă preliminară

    ECLI:RO:TBBUC:2022:032.______


    Absent any pertinent proofs, the state of necessity cannot be invoked by the travel agent in order to eliminate the tortious character of its conduct of refusal of reimbursement (after the termination of the contracts) of the sums perceived from the tourists.

  • Fapte

    Following a control, a travel agent was sanctioned for the violation of art. 13(6) of the GO 2/2018 (after the termination of package travel contracts in the summer of 2020, due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the trader offered its clients a rescheduling of the trips or vouchers and refused the reimbursement of the sums). The trader contested the contravention report; the Court of First Instance rejected the claim. The trader launched an appeal.

  • Chestiune juridică

    Whether the state of necessity cannot be invoked by the travel agent in order to eliminate the tortious character of its conduct of refusal of reimbursement (after the termination of the contracts) of the sums perceived from the tourists.

  • Hotărârea

    A contravention report which does not mention the localization of the contravention can be annulled if the trader proves an effective prejudice that can be eliminated only through that annulment; failing to prove such a prejudice, the trader cannot criticize that contravention report. The mentioning of the contravention date was not essential, since the facts sanctioned are omissions from the trader (who did not reimburse to the tourists the sums paid by them for the terminated contract).

    On the merits, based on the presented proofs, the conduct of the trader is a clear violation of art. 13(6), which obliges him to reimburse the sums paid by the tourists for the terminated contracts, if they do not accept other alternatives proposed by the travel agent.

    The whole pandemic context, which clearly fell under the definition of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, would have allowed a legitimate discussion about the state of necessity, that might have eliminated the tortious character of the trader´s conduct. Nevertheless, the travel agent did not advance any evidence to prove that its patrimony would have been exposed to an immediate danger for the avoidance of which he needed to hold onto the money received from its clients on the basis of previous contracts, terminated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consequently, the criticisms related to an eventual state of necessity that would have justified its conduct cannot be accepted.

    As regards the sanction applied – since it was oriented to the minimum of the possible fine, despite the fact that the travel agent’s conduct affected a significant number of tourists, a replacement with a mere warning is not justified.

    Text integral: Text integral

  • Cazuri conexe

    Nu există rezultate disponibile

  • Doctrină

    Nu există rezultate disponibile

  • Rezultat

    Confirming the first-instance judgement, the Court upheld the validity of the contravention report sanctioning the travel agent for his refusal to reimburse the sums paid by the tourists after the termination of the package travel contracts. The decision is final.