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In the case which I had referred to in Rostock as “Frozen Antarctica Dreams” and which regarded a couple who had missed their Antarctica cruise following of a delayed departure of their feeder flight to Frankfurt caused by snow covered runways at the Vienna airport had sued the carrier and the airport for damages but […]

With regard to a reference for preliminary ruling filed by the Austrian Civil Supreme Court, ECJ Advocate General Cruz Villalón in his opinion delivered on May 24, 2012 suggested that Article 15 of the Brussels I Regulation should not be interpreted as requiring a distance contract between the consumer and the entrepreneur. The reference had

The Austrian legislator has recently passed the follwoing acts related to travel and tourism:amendment of the law regadring the hygiene of bathing waters requiring public information close to the water and access of the authorities for that purpose (BGBl I 42/2012);law concerning airport fees in international air travel, implementing Reg. 2009/12/EC (BGBl I 41/2012);amendment of

The European Commission has adopted its strategic vision for EU consumer policy for the years to come which aims to maximise consumer participation and trust in the market. Built around four main objectives theEuropean Consumer Agendaaims to increase confidence by: reinforcing consumer safety; enhancing knowledge; stepping up enforcement and securing redress; aligning consumer rights and

On May 15, 2012, ECJ Advocate General Bot has delivered his opinion in two pending cases where the national courts sought a review of the “Sturgeon”-Judgement. In this judgement, the Court of Justice had ruled that passengers whose flights are delayed may be treated, so far as the right to compensation is concerned, in the

The European Commission will hold a half-day stakeholders’ conference on the revision of the Package Travel Directive (90/314/EEC) on 05 June 2012. The conference will take place at Charlemagne, room Jenk –– Rue de la Loi 170 – 1049 Brussels. It will primarily aim at hearing and collecting stakeholders’ views on certain key issues related

In a decsion of Sep. 8, 2011, the German Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) decided that the sale of hotel vouchers qualifies as a procurement of hotel accommodation rendered in exchange for an advance payment of the customer, which service has to be taxed in the month in which the sale of the voucher (and not

On June 5, 2012, the German Civil Supreme Court (BGH) will hear two cases involving flight cancellations due to airline personnel strikes. In one case the appelate court (LG Köln) had held that the operating carrier may not refer to a strike of its own personnel as an “extraordinary circumstance”, in the other case the

The Institute for Human Rights and Business and Tourism Concern are convening a multi-stakeholder roundtable to explore the challenges and human rights responsibilities faced by the Tourism Industry. The event will take place in London on May 29, 2012.The event will explore what corporate human rights due diligence means for the tourism industry. For detailed

A hotel owner has paid the price for ignoring fire safety laws and been hit with a £210,000 fine following a successful prosecution by London Fire Brigade. The case was a landmark hearing for the UK fire and rescue service, believed to be the first time that a jury – rather than magistrates or an