This time, it is the Court of Justice of the European Union – and not only its Advocate General – who says it: the organizer of a package holiday who cancels a contract “must reimburse the traveler”and this reimbursement “means only restitution in the form of money”. Imposing a refund in the form of a credit note, or “voucher”, amounts to violating European law.
It was at the indirect request of two consumer associations that the Court of Justice delivered this judgment, Thursday, June 8, 2023. The UFC-Que Choisir and the confederation Consumption Housing Living Environment (CLCV) had, on July 7, 2020, requested that the Council of State cancel a arrangementadopted by the French government on March 25, 2020, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This text, intended for ” to safeguard “ the cash flow of travel professionals allowed them to defer reimbursement for customers whose trips were canceled for eighteen months. However, the package travel directive (article 12) requires them to repay them within a period of “fourteen days at the latest”.
The Council of State had preferred to question the Court of Luxembourg. He had asked him if the directive really imposed reimbursement in cash and if, if necessary, the health crisis and its consequences on travel operators could “justify a temporary exemption”.
To both questions, the Court answers in the negative. (C-407/21). It considers that the Member States “cannot invoke force majeure to release, even temporarily, package travel organizers from this obligation to refund”as this would lead to a reduction in the level of passenger protection provided for by the guideline.
Exceptional circumstances
Professional organization Travel companies (EDV) indicates that this stop “has no practical consequences, since the assets issued during the first confinement have all been used or reimbursed for a long time”.
The UFC-What to choose considers, however, that it could have an impact on disputes between agencies and clients who have themselves canceled a stay booked abroad, for fear of falling ill or not being able to return, and who do not have not been reimbursed.
There guideline states that the traveler has the right to terminate his contract free of charge if “exceptional and unavoidable circumstances”which occur “at the place of destination or in the immediate vicinity thereof”have some “significant consequences on the performance of the contract”. Professionals in the sector, the tourism and travel mediator, as well as a number of judges consider that the traveler can only be reimbursed if he succeeds in proving that the three conditions were met on the precise date of his cancellation (and not a few days later).
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