Rechtsleer

Package Travel Directive, Article 3, 9.

“Reisbemiddelaar en doorverkoper”.

In his contribution, the author discusses the judgement of 17 September 2020 of the Court of Appeal in Brussels. In that judgement, the Court allowed an action brought by a traveller against his travel organiser, thereby overruling the lower court’s judgement of 2014 that prohibited such action because the travel retailer gave the impression that he was the travel organiser. The judgement was based on the Belgian implementation of the previous Directive 90/314/EEC that provided a different definition of ‘retailer’. The author highlights the differences between the old and new regime for travel retailers as a result of the new definition, and particularly focuses on the rights and obligations of the retailer under the current Directive in comparison to those of the travel organiser. Lastly, he argues that the legal relationship between retailer and organiser remains a matter of national law.