Expert Webinar | Risky Business – Collective Redress in the Tourism Industry
On 23rd March ETOA, in collaboration with its partner ECTAA, delivered an expert webinar on collective redress through representative action (sometimes referred to as ‘class action’). A new EU directive must be implemented across all EU27 to ensure collective redress mechanisms are in place. This is an EU response to perceived consumer detriment, for example ‘Dieselgate’ where hundreds of thousands of consumers were affected but had insufficient or impractical legal recourse.
National variation will remain, particularly with regard to how big a group must be in order to qualify, and who may initiate the action on behalf of affected consumers (a ‘qualified entity’). There is still an opportunity to influence domestic implementation.
The expert consensus is that it seems unlikely that the new arrangements will give rise to significant volume of speculative litigation (a group tour whose delivery caused consumer detriment is highly unlikely to meet the requirements for action). However, as the travel and tourism sectors are within the directive’s scope, the discussion was a timely reminder to businesses and professional advisers, and it takes place within the broader context of consumer protection review within the EU. The impact of the pandemic on the performance of financial protection mechanisms has sharpened the regulators’ attention.
On 24th March, ETOA will participate in the Commission’s expert working group on package travel regulation.
Panellists:
- Olivier Dugardyn, Dugardyn & Partners, Brussels, Travel and tourism sector legal specialist
- Dorottya Gyenizse, OTP Travel Ltd, Head of Inbound DepartmentKatsumi Shimizu, Senior Vice President, JTB Europe
- Benoit Chantoin, ECTAA, Director Legal And Consumer Affairs
- Tim Fairhurst, ETOA, Secretary General
Presentations from the webinar can be found via below links: