Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

1260 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE in which these are secured. In accordance with Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market 25 , in cases where insolvency protection may be provided in the form of a guarantee or an insurance policy, such security may not be limited to attestations issued by financial operators established in a particular Member State. (35) In order to facilitate the free movement of services, Member States should be obliged to recognise insolvency protection under the law of the Member State of establishment. To facilitate the administrative cooperation and supervision of businesses which are active in different Member States with regard to insolvency protection, Member States should be obliged to designate central contact points. (36) As regards assisted travel arrangements, beyond the obligation to provide insolvency protection and to inform travellers that individual service providers are solely responsible for their contractual performance, the relevant contracts are subject to general Union consumer protection legislation and sector-specific Union legislation. (37) It is appropriate to protect travellers in situations where a retailer arranges the booking of a package or an assisted travel arrangement and where the retailer makes mistakes in the booking process. (38) It is also appropriate to confirm that consumers may not waive rights stemming from this Directive and organisers or traders facilitating assisted travel arrangements may not escape from their obligations by claiming that they are simply acting as a service provider, an intermediary or in any other capacity. (39) It is necessary that Member States lay down penalties for infringements of national provisions transposing this Directive and ensure that they are enforced. The penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. (40) The adoption of this Directive makes it necessary to adapt certain consumer protection acts. Taking into account that Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights 26 in its current form does not apply to contracts covered by Directive 90/314/EEC, it is necessary to amend Directive 2011/83/EU to ensure that it applies to assisted travel arrangements and that certain consumer rights laid down in that Directive also apply to packages. (41) This Directive should be without prejudice to Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) 27 and national contract law for those aspects that are not regulated by it. Since this Directive aims to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market and to the achievement of a high level of consumer 25 OJ L376, 27.12.2006, p. 36. 26 OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 64. 27 OJ L 177, 4.7.2008, p. 6.