182 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY 2. VOUCHERS ACCORDING TO LAW-DECREES NO. 9 AND NO. 18/2020 In order to avoid the collapse of both the sectors, air transport and tour operator, in particular, the Italian Government adopted, on 17 March, Law- -Decree No. 9/2020. First of all, this law expressly provides that the COVID-19 emergency constitutes a case of supervening impossibility of performance. As such, according to the general principles of the Italian Civil Code, the consequence should be the termination of the contract and the right to the user to obtain a cash refund. However, Article 28 introduced an exception for air, rail, maritime, road and inland transport contracts (par. 1 & ff.), as well as to package travel contracts (par. 5 & ff.) to be carried out in favour of people who are unable to use the services during the pandemic or in the areas affected by COVID-19. The same provision has been extended to lodging contracts by Article 88, par. 1, of Law-Decree No. 18/2020 (Decree “Cura Italia”, in English “Cure Italy”) and, again, to admission tickets for shows of any nature, including film and theatre performances, and entrance tickets to museums and other places of culture. Nevertheless, car rentals, restaurants and other tourist services were excluded, probably due to the market characteristics and/or the absence of an organised lobby able to inform the Government decisions. In short, as an alternative to a cash refund, the Law enabled operators to provide customers requesting a refund with a voucher that had to be used within twelve months after the date of issue. This voucher is an acknowledgement of credit towards individuals who have booked directly or through travel agencies or booking platforms and find themselves in one of the conditions of impossibility set forth by the Law. This provision applied to all contracts, irrespectively of the customer’s nationality or the registered offices of the travel agency, intermediary or website through which the booking was made. Based on the provisions above, customers were required to notify the provider about the occurrence of one of the conditions qualifying as supervening impossibility, no later than 30 days after the expiry impediment, cancellation, suspension or postponement of the event. Within 15 days of said notification, the provider should have made the reimbursement of the amount paid for the service or issue a voucher for an equivalent value that had to be used within a year from the issue date. In this regard, despite some initial doubts, it is now clear that the option of using vouchers as an alternative to a cash refund is attributed to the carrier,
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