188 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY epidemiological state of emergency, the counter-performance already received may be returned through a voucher of the same amount, valid for one year from the date of issue. Nonetheless, according to Article 12 of the Directive (EU) 2015/2302 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, both the traveller and organiser may terminate the package travel, with the latter having to provide the traveller with a full refund when is prevented from performing the contract due to the same circumstances. In this context, the regulation introduced by the Italian law provides for remedies that are partially different from the rules established by European sources and introduces an exception to Article 41 of Italian Tourism Code, by which the Directive has been transposed. The organiser has the choice to offer a full refund of the price, within fourteen days of the notification sent by the traveller, or issue of a voucher of the same amount to be used within a year, or offer an alternative package travel. It is partially in contrast with the Directive granting to travellers the right to obtain “a full refund of any payments” in case of withdrawal from the package travel contract, in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, and the Government seems aware of the problem, since it established that the provisions referred constitute mandatory rules of law (see Article 88-bis, par. 13, Law No. 27/2020). Thus, they prevail over foreign laws and any different agreements, since the implementation of those rules was deemed crucial to protect national economy. There are, therefore, some serious doubts about the capacity of this discipline to resist in a possible lawsuit brought by travellers who require a full refund instead of the voucher or the alternative package offered by the organiser. The new legislative framework is supplemented by the provisions of Article 88-bis, par. 12, Law No. 27/2020, according to which the issue of the voucher fulfils the related refund obligations and does not require any form of acceptance by the recipient. The provision in question was introduced expressly to clarify, beyond any interpretative doubt, that the potestative right of choice is attributed to the organiser of the package travel and not to the traveller. This means that the law introduces a further derogation from the arrangement of relations between the parties established by Directive (EU) 2015/2302 and by the Italian Tourism Code norms of transposition. The contrast between the rules of the European Union and the new provisions of Article 88-bis Law No. 27/2020 is twofold. On the one hand, the recognition of the possibility of issuing a voucher instead of a cash refund in
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