In the case C 134/11 Jürgen Blödel-Pawlik against HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung AG the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) passed on February 16, 2012 a judgment in which it interpreted Article 7 of the Council Directive 90/314/EWG of June 13, 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours.

Article 7 of the Directive stipulates that in the event of insolvency the organizer and/or retailer party to the contract shall provide sufficient evidence of security for the refund of money paid over and for the repatriation of the consumer.

In the case in question, the German organizer of the travel had been paid by Mr Blödel-Pawlik for a future travel without any intention whatsoever to organize the travel in the first place and then the organizer announced its insolvency. That being the case the insurance company of the organizer refused to refund Mr Blödel-Pawlik the money for the cancelled  travel as it decided that Article 7 of the Directive 90/314 did not apply. The CJEU did not agree with that interpretation. In the opinion of the CJEU, the Article should be interpreted in such a way that it applies in cases when insolvency of a travel organizer has been caused by its actions bearing the attributes of a fraud. In Poland, tourists’ rights are protected in case of insolvency of travel agencies under the Act on Tourist Services to which provisions of the Directive 90/314 have been implemented.

Contact person: Mirosław Stefanik, ms@pnplaw.pl

www.pnplaw.pl