Cass. (1st Ch.) AR C.05.0378.F, 26 May 2006 (Eagle Travel / V.B.F., D.V.A)    [View]

EU Parliament: New Directive on Time Share More deals covered by consumer protection rules

Time share deals, which allow buyers to occupy holiday accommodation for specific periods in alternation with others, have won millions of takers worldwide since the 1970s. They are often sold as a cost-effective alternative to renting, hotels or a second residence. According to data from the Organization for Timeshare in Europe (OTE), in 2001 there were 1.452 million holiday centres in 25 European countries, 1.4 million families using this kind of accommodation and 200,000 Europeans employed in this sector, with sales totaling € 2.3 billion per year.

Court of Appeal Liege, 28 November 2006 [view]

This particular case concerned someone who organized two journeys for a group of people on a voluntary basis. His intervention was not sufficient to talk about a ‘professional activity’ or a ‘commercial practice’ in the sense of Art. 1 of the law of 14 July 1991, regarding the commercial practices. As such he is not a ‘vendor’ in the sense of the law of 1991 and consequently he cannot be seen as a travel agency or travel intermediary. The Court decided that to be recognized as a ‘travel agency’ or a ‘travel intermediary’ in the sense of the law of 16 February 1994, (regarding the formation of a contract with a travel agency or the contract with a travel intermediary) and to be submitted to this law and the law of 21 April of 1965 (regarding the position of travel agencies), you first have to establish the quality of ‘vendor’ in the sense of the law of 14 July 1991.

This update provides a sector-based overview of hotels and leisure news.¨[view].

Nights spent in hotels rose by 3.1% in 2007 in EUROPEAN UNION. [view].

The Court of Justice today confirmed that Greece has failed to comply with a Commission decision adopted in 2005 finding that it had granted illegal and incompatible aid to Olympic Airways Services and Olympic Airlines, and asking for such aid to be recovered

Vice-President Jacques Barrot, Commissioner in charge of transport, said in a statement: 'I take note of this ruling, which follows several rulings by the European Courts and decisions by the Commission in this dossier. It confirms the urgent need for a viable and legally sound solution to this file. This is in the interest of the European aviation sector, of Greek consumers and tax-payers, but also of the employees of Olympic Airways Services and Olympic Airlines and is indispensable in order to preserve a continuity of service to remote areas in Greece. Should it be the case that swift compliance is not achieved, I would have no choice but to propose to the College to file a new action with the Court of Justice, asking for the imposition of fines and periodic penalty payments.” [view]