Tourism

While tourism continues to grow, the problems faced by injured tourists and the lawyers seeking redress for them do not diminish. The Tourism EEG aims to help exchange information and know how to assist lawyers acting in tourism and travel claims.

Any existing or prospective members of the Tourism EEG who are keen to develop the group further are urged to contact admin@peopil.com

Aviation Claims

Claims arising from domestic or international aviation incidents can raise a range of complex legal issues. This is a topic which will feature at the forthcoming PEOPIL conference in Antwerp on 26 & 27 May 2006.

Key materials which may be relevant to aviation claims include

CONVENTIONS:

• Warsaw Convention 1929 as amended
• Montreal Convention 1999

EC REGULATIONS:

• REGULATION  concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach
  transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004

• Regulation 2027 / 1997 – Air carrier liability in the event of accidents
• Regulation 323/1999 – TicketsRegulation 261 / 2004 – Denied Boarding / Delays

CASE LAW:

• Air France v Saks – U.S. Supreme Court
• King v Bristow Helicopters

90/314/EEC- The Package Travel Directive

Regulation 90/314/EEC introduced a regime for regulating rights and duties relating to Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours. Member states have implemented the regulations and in some members states their effect has been profound.

The PEOPIL Tourism EEG is keen to gather the implementing legislation used in the various states which can then be used not only as a data base for PEOPIL members but also to consider comparative law issues in this field. PEOPIL members are invited to forward to Wolfgang Resch a copy of the legislation implementing directive 90/314/EEC in their jurisdiction.

Likewise, if there are any Court decisions in relation to Regulation 90/314 that may be of

interest to members of the Tourism EEG please forward details to Wolfgang Resch.

Key issues which are of interest to members of the Tourism EEG include:-

How the courts interpret:-

• The meaning of a “Package” – in particular the meaning of “pre arranged” and “inclusive price” (see regulation …)
• The effect of regulation 15(2) Does this create strict liability subject to the statutory defences? If not how does the liability regime function?
• The application of international or other standards in assessing whether there has been a breach of the regulations?
• Some of the most important cases from the European Court and English Court are available if you click on the following links.

EUROPEAN COURT - KEY CASES:

• Club Tour Vaigens e Tourismo S.V. v A.C. Lobo Goncalves Garrido

Maritime Claims

Personal injury claims arising from International Carriage by Sea are largely governed by the Athens Convention and related legislation. If any anybody has any materials which they think may be of interest to members of the Travel and Tourism EEG in relation to maritime claims please provide details to Clive Garner at clive.garner@irwinmitchell.com

Materials which may be of interest:-

ATHENS CONVENTION AND RELATED PROTOCOLS:

• Athens Convention 1974

• Athens Convention 1976 Protocol
• Athens Convention 1990 Protocol
• Athens Convention 1996 Protocol

OTHER CONVENTIONS:

• Convention on limitation of liability for Maritime claims 1976
• Convention on International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972

ANTICIPATED REFORMS:
The international Conference on the revision of the Athens Convention took place in London in 2002. The agreed revisions in the form of the 2002 Protocol are not yet in force and will not come into force until 12 months after such time as 10 State Parties signify their acceptance. Amongst other things, any revisions are likely to increase the personal injury damages limitations.

SKIING AND LEISURE PURSUIT CLAIMS

The conduct of skiers is governed by the rules of the International Ski Federation and a link to the rules can be found below:-

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/rulesandpublications/fisgeneralrules/10fisrules.html