346 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Ministry of Tourism on an existing line called “FUNGETUR - Fundo Geral do Turismo” (Tourism General Fund), with an investment of 5 billion R$, which is currently being regulated by financial institutions to be used by companies. 5. MEASURES FOR RELATIONS BETWEEN CONSUMERS AND SUPPLIERS The Travel & Tourism sector would suffer from a major problem during the COVID-19. How to deal with all the bookings and trips acquired by consumers, which were either unable to happen, due to closed airports, hotels, places and destinations? This, in addition to the passengers’ vulnerabilities, such as advanced age or other diseases they might have, thus being considered people of risk. Therefore, we were faced with countless cancellations of reservations and trips and that, necessarily, needed their own regulation, because only the application of the Brazilian consumer protection law, or even the special aviation legislation, would not be enough to resolve all questions. So, on 18 March 2020, Provisional Measure No. 925/202012 was published to regulate situations involving airline tickets, referring to Brazilian civil aviation. The norm, in its Article 3, stated that: “The term for the reimbursement of the value related to the purchase of airline tickets will be twelve months, observing the rules of the contracted service and material assistance maintained, under the terms of the current regulations. § 1 Consumers will be exempt from contractual penalties, by accepting credit for use within twelve months, counted from the date of the contracted flight. § 2 The provisions of this article apply to air transport contracts signed until 31 December 2020”. These would then be the rules for consumers and, consequently, for travel agencies, presented by airlines, when requests from their customers, consumers, for rebooking air travel, or even for cases of reimbursement of amounts. Obviously, this norm did not solve the context for travel agencies, as they are sometimes involved in numerous other services, which were offered and intermediated for customers, including accommodation reservations, transfers, sea cruises, car rentals, amusement park tickets, among many others, that were 12 Source: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2019-2022/2020/Mpv/mpv925.htm.
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