(AGENPARL) – gio 12 gennaio 2023 Dear All,
Please find attached the press release in respect of Case C-396/21:
Travellers whose package travel has been affected by measures to fight the COVID?19 pandemic may be entitled to a reduction in the travel price
The directive on package travel provides for strict liability on the part of the organiser
Kind regards,
Georgios Georgopoulos
Trainee
Press and Information Unit, Ireland / Malta
Communication Department
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Testo Allegato:
Communications
Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

PRESS RELEASE No

7
/23

Luxembourg, 12

January 2023

Judgment of the Court in Case C
–
396/21 | FTI Touristik (
Package travel to the Canary Islands
)

Travellers whose package travel has
been affected by measure
s

to fight
the COVID
–
19 pandemic may be entitled to
a
reduction in
the
travel price

The directive on package travel provides for strict liability on the part of the organiser

Two travellers bought a two
–
week package holiday

in Gran
Canaria

beginning
on
13

March 2020

from a German
travel organiser. They
are
request
ing

a 70%
price reduction on account of the

restrictions that were imposed on that
island on 15

March 2020, in order to fight the spread of the COVID
–
19 pandemic,

and

their
were closed and a curfew was put in place, with the result that the travellers were only
permitted

to leave their hotel
room to eat. Access to the swimming pools and sunbeds was prohibited and the entertainment programme was
disco
ntinued. On 18

March 2020, the two travellers were informed that they should be ready to leave the island
at
any moment

Taking the view that it could not be held liable for what constituted a â??general lif
e riskâ??, the organiser refused to grant
them that price redu
ction. The two travellers then brought
the matter

before the German courts.

The Regional Court, Munich I,
hearing the matter on appeal
,
asked
the Court of Justice
to
pac
kage travel. That directive provides that
the

traveller is entitled to an appropriate price reduction for any period
during which there was lack of conformity, unless

the organiser proves that

the

lack of conformity is attributable to
the traveller.

By
its
judgment

delivered
today
, the Court
states that
a traveller is entitled to a reduction in the price of his or
her package where a lack of conformity
of

the travel services included in
the
package is due to restrictions
that have been imposed at the tra
vel destination to fight the spread of an infectious disease, such as
COVID
–
19.

The cause of the lack of conformity

of

the travel services and, in particular, whether it is attributable to the
organiser, is irrelevant, since the directive provides,
with
re
gard
to

entitlement to a price reduction, for strict liability
on the part of

the organiser. It is exempt from that liability only where the failure to perform or
the
improper
performance of the travel services are attributable to the traveller, which is n
ot the case here.
However,
it
does not
matter

that restrictions such as those at issue were also imposed in the travellerâ??s place of residence and in
other countries due to the worldwide spread of COVID
–
19.

In order
for the price reduction
to b
e appropriat
e,
it
must be assessed in the light of the services included in
the package concerned and must correspond to the value of the services for which a lack of conformity has
been found.

The Court states that
the organiserâ??s obligations arising from
the package

travel

contract include not only
those explicitly stipulated in the contract, but also those linked to it as a result of the purpose of that

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contract.

It will be for the Regional Court, Munich I, to assess, on the basis of the services that the organiser
concerned had to
concerned, the lack of an entertainment programme in that hotel or even the fact that
it was not possible to access
the beache
s of Gran Canaria or to visit that island following the adoption of measure
s

taken by the Spanish
authorities could constitute failures to perform or improper perf
ormances of that contract by that

or
ganiser.

Once that assessment is
made
, the reduction in the price of that package must correspond to the value of
the travel services
for which a
lack
of
conformity

has been found
.

NOTE:

A reference for a preliminary ruling allows the courts and tribunals of the Member States, in disputes
which
Union law or the validity of a European Union act. The Court of Justice does not decide the dispute itself. It is for the
national court or

tribunal to dispose of the case in accordance with the Courtâ??s decision, which is similarly binding on
other national courts or tribunals before which a similar issue is raised.

Unofficial document for media use, not binding on the Court of Justice.

The
full text

of the judgment is published on the CURIA website on the day of delive
ry.

Press contact: Jacques René Zammit
â??
(+352) 4303 3355

Pictures of the delivery of t
he judgment are
available from
â??
Europe by Satellite
â??

â??
(+32) 2 2964106