The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. This is a UK-wide statute which I have discussed on the IFTTAwebsite before. It replaces the current common law and ancient statutory provisions regarding bribery and corruption. The Act creates offences of bribing another person and of being bribed, ...

The Procurator Fiscal, Aberdeen v Thomas Scott Forrester, [2011] HCJAC 71The respondent, a police chief Inspector, was charged with dangerous driving after allegedly instructing a police constable driving a police car, in which he was travelling to catch a plane, to put the sirens on and move to the wrong ...

The German court "Amtsgericht Geldern" has referred the following questions to the ECJ:Does the right to compensation laid down in Article 7 of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation constitute a claim for damages which is subject to the limits of liability set out in the Montreal Convention, by virtue of ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected a constitutional challenge to the government's use of body-imaging scanners at the nation's airports, ruling that the need to detect hidden explosives outweighs the privacy rights of travelers. The judgement noted that passengers may avoid the scans by opting ...

The Czech court Nejvyšší Správní Soud referred the following questions to the ECJ:Does Article 306 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax refer only to supplies made by travel agents to end users of a travel service (travellers) or also to ...

In its recently published Annual Safety Review, EASA confirms that 2010 is "the first year that no fatal accident in commercial air transport operations occurred in the history of aviation in Europe both for helicopter and aeroplane operations". In global terms, the accident rate in aviation has been declining steadily ...

According to proposals adopted by the Civil Liberties Committee of the EU Parliament, anyone guilty of child abuse or who watches child pornography online could face from 1 to 10 years behind bars. The legislation calls for all web pages containing child pornography to be removed at source, meaning member ...

Upon request of two consumers, the Defendant (an Austrian travel agent) offered them a package consisting of a tiger shark scuba diving trip to the Bahamas organized by a Florida based scuba diving company and the flights from/to Austria. The concept of the diving trip was based on watching tiger ...

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has put passenger travel companies on notice to change misleading debit and credit card surcharging practices or face enforcement action under consumer protection laws.Publishing its findings on these surcharges, following a super-complaint from U.K. Consumer Rights Association Which?, the OFT also calls for the ...

In its reference for preliminary ruling of March 4, 2011, the OLG Köln referred the follwoing question to the ECJ:Does Article 23(1) of the Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 on common rules for the operation of air services in the Community, according to which optional price supplements are to be communicated ...

The deadline for EU Member States to enact legislation implementing the newEU Timeshare Directive expired on February 23, 2011. However, such legislation is still not in force in Belgium, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Spain.

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourist arrivals grew by 4.5 percent in the first four months of 2011, despite new challenges to the travel market. Growth was positive in all regions except the Middle East.The UNWTO expects destinations currently facing difficulties will recover towards the end ...

The Office of Fair Trading has issued new guidelines to help businesses comply with EU and UK Competition Law. There is also a helpful videoSee http://www.oft.gov.uk/news-and-updates/press/2011/75-11

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined three online ticket agents for failing to adequately disclose to consumers when flights were being operated under a code-sharing arrangement. Two of the companies also were cited for violating the Department's rules prohibiting deceptive price advertising in air travel. Apple Vacations was ...

In her opinion in case C- 83/10 (Sousa Rodríguez) delivered on June 28, 2011, ECJ Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston came to the conclusions thatthe term "cancellation", as defined in Article 2(l) of Reg. 261/2004 covers cases in which a flight departs but then returns to the airport of departure and ...

Lawmakers pushing a bill to ban invasive searches of airline passengers without a reason to think they have committed an offense said they were steaming ahead despite a decision by the federal Transportation Security Administration to reduce pat-downs of children. The Texas legislation, as drafted, would make it a crime ...

The approval by the World Heritage Convention secretariat of Cambodia's management plan for the Preah Vihear temple, a magnificent ancient structure from the 11th-12th century, located just on the demarcation line between Thailand and Cambodia, prompted Thailand to withdraw from the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. The temple is on Cambodian ...

To all participants of the ETLF + IFTTA Workshop in Salzburg: Tomorrow Wednesday evening after 7pm IFTTA members and speakers are going to meet for an informal come-together at Restaurant Sternbräu <sternbraeu.at>, located at Griesgasse 23 - 25, but easily reachable via famous Getreidegasse, follow a Sternbräu-sign near Mc Donald's ...

Kenya wants the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to intervene and help end travel conditions by western states that act as barriers to growth of the tourism industry in developing countries. Kenya's Tourism Minister said the Air Passenger Departure tax introduced by European countries such as the UK, Austria ...

Airlines are increasing their opposition to the consumer protection rules the Department of Transportation announced in April, with two carriers (Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air) filing separate suits in a U.S. Appeals Court in Washington, D.C.Allegiant has asked the court to review the plan to change the way airline fares ...

China Airlines Fined for Violating DOT Price Advertising RulesTuesday, June 21, 2011The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today assessed a civil penalty againstChina Airlines for violating the Department's rules prohibiting deceptive advertising of airfares.The company was assessed an $80,000 civil penalty.“When passengers shop for air transportation, they have a right ...

According to a press release by British human rights group "Liberty", a lesbian couple had booked accommodation at a Brighton hotel by telephone but when they arrived they were told by the manager that ‘no rooms were available' and that the hotel only accepted ‘couples and families'. When they explained ...

In October 2005, the Plaintiff and her husband went on a tour through Europe which the Plaintiff had booked with the Defendant. While travelling by coach from Prague to Budapest, the Plaintiff got out of her seat to get something from a bag she had stowed in the overhead luggage ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined the German airline Lufthansa $50,000 for limiting reimbursements for delayed baggage to less than consumers were entitled under the Montreal Convention.Based on a consumer complaint, the Department's Aviation Enforcement Office investigated Lufthansa's handling of claims for delayed baggage and found that the carrier ...

The Committee onInternal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) of European Parliament adopted a compromise negotiated with the Council, after the draft has been returned to committee's charge by the Plenary in March.The final vote by Parliament (still withinCodecision procedure, first reading)shall take place next week on June 23 during a ...

EU transport ministers reached an agreemnet today on new rules setting out how competition on the rail market must work in practice by:ensuring fair access to rail infrastructure and rail-related services; strengthening the power of national regulators; and improving the framework for investment in rail.The proposed directive aims toincrease competition ...

U.S. airlines have asked the Department of Transportation for an extra six months to prepare for compliance with the DOT's new consumer-protection rules introduced in April, which include a requirement that advertised fares and air-inclusive packages include all taxes and fees, in print and online. The requirement of full-fare advertising ...

Dear IFTTA friends,as the European Workshop on the Review of the Air Passengers' Rights Regulation comes nearer I would like to remind you gently to have a look to the updatedtopics to be discussed.I kindly ask everyone to choose one or more topics an to circulate the drafted input until ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in separate cases assessed civil penalties against Continental Airlines and US Airways for violating the Department's rules prohibiting deceptive price advertising in air travel. A review of Continental's website revealed instances in which the carrier failed to include fuel surcharges in its listed fares. ...