From 01 January 2011 local councils in the Ukraine may introduce a tourism tax which according to the Tax Code of Ukraine applies to citizens of Ukraine, foreigners as well as stateless persons who temporarily stay in their territory.Persons who permanently rent residential property, disabled individuals, handicapped children and persons ...

The main purpose is to identify common legal principles on collective redress. The consultation should help examine how such common principles could fit into the EU legal system and into the legal orders of the 27 EU Member States. To read the consultation document, click here.

You can now follow IFTTA on Twitter. Sign up for Twitter to follow IFTTA and get the latest updates on travel and tourism news and IFTTA events.You can find Twitterhere.

Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian has quietly started offering Row 44's in-flight high-speed Internet service to passengers on a single Boeing 737-800, becoming the first carrier to provide airborne broadband on European routes."We went live with our first Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft, LN-DYC, yesterday evening," Norwegian communications manager Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen confirms to ATI ...

European Parlament's Internal Market Committee (IMCO) agreed (22 pro, 16 against, 1 abstention) on a amended proposal (COM [2008] 614 final) for a new Consumer Rights Directive including fully-harmonised information rules and delivery deadlines. 1600 amendments had been taken into account. All documents related can be found here Source: EP ...

The Swiss Hotel Association started using one to five stars as symbols for hotel categorisation in 1979. In 2005 it registered according trademarks with the Swiss Trademark Register. GastroSuisse, another trade association of the Swiss hotel and gastronomy industry, could not reach an agreement with the Hotel Association on cooperative ...

Almost 150 former employees of Japan Airlines sued the company in Tokyo District Court demanding their jobs back. The airline underwent major restructuring in 2010 and cut nearly 30% of its workforce under a court-approved restructuring plan.Source: CNN.com; find article here>>.

The law tightens anti-smoking restrictions introduced in 2006. While the 2006 anti-smoking law prohibited smoking in the workplace, the new law also bans smoking in enclosed public spaces, which includes office buildings, bars, restaurants, hotel lobbies, casinos, clubs, open-decked tourist buses and airports. However, smoking remains permitted in open-air stadiums, ...

Within a consultation process on the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a means to resolve disputes related to commercial transactions and practices in the EU, the European Commisson has invited all citizens and organisations to contribute. The purpose is to consult on the difficulties identified in relation to ...

International tourism recovered strongly in 2010 according to the Advance Release of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. International tourist arrivals were up by almost 7% to 935 million, following the 4% decline in 2009 – the year hardest hit by the global economic crisis. The vast majority of destinations worldwide ...

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sued the federal government over the body scanner images taken at security checkpoints in airports. The center wanted the government to release images which were created to give officials at the Transportation Security Administration an idea of the effectiveness of its detection technology. The ...

Plaintiff sued for compensation under Reg. 261/2004 against a US carrier after his flight from FRA to the US had been cancelled due to a technical defect. First instance court (AG Frankfurt/Main) dismissed the claim because of lacking international jurisdiction. The appelate court (LG Fankfurt/Main) reversed the judgement and and ...

The Obama administration last Friday eased restrictions on travel to Cuba. The changes allow Americans to travel to Cuba by academic, religious and cultural groups and also allow charter flights from more American airports. Moreover, the new measures permit Americans to send money to Cuban citizens. However, the embargo against ...

The plaintiffs Sabre Inc. and Sabre International Inc. claimed damages and other relief from the International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) for breach of confidence, in respect of booking related data provided by Sabre to the Billing and Settlement Plan for Canada/Bermuda (“Canada/Bermuda BSP”) and to the other Billing and Settlement ...

As bed bugs have infested hotels across the country, the Federal Government is convening a second national bed bug summit on February 1 and 2, 2011. The goal for this summit is to review the current bed bug problem and identify and prioritize further actions to address the problem.Source: EPA; ...

The European Schengen visa-waiver liberalization for Republic of China passport holders officially went into effect. European countries hope to lure more Taiwanese tourists.

Claimants issued a notice of action against Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), and others regarding the destruction of documents contained in an Air France jet that overran the runway and caught fire at Pearson International Airport. The notice of action was issued within the two-year limitation period. However, the respondents were ...

The State Department has announced that it will roll out new US passport applications in February. According to the State Department website, these new passport forms will be available beginning February 1, 2011. Before February 1, submit your passport application using the current form . The new forms should be ...

After he was denied boarding on a flight from Zaventem/Belgium to Cairo on Sep 25, 2008, Adly Messiha sued TUI Airlines Belgium. The law suit was served on Jan 29, 2010, 16 months after the incident.The claimant argued that the two years limitation period of the Montreal Convention applied while ...

American Airlines (AA) filed a lawsuit in in Tarrant County Court, Texas, against Sabre. The lawsuit alleges that Sabre was biasing AA's services in all Sabre flight displays and thus violated the agreements between AA and Sabre and harmed AA, the travel agent community, and the traveling public.A a temporary ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Aviation Enforcement Office provided guidance to airlines and ticket agents about the requirement for notifying passengers if a flight they are selling is being operated under a code-sharing arrangement.The new law makes it clear that when a consumer requests an airline itinerary on the ...

Plaintiff went with her son to the American Airlines terminal at JFK airport, New York, to take a flight to the Dominican Republic. After she checked her baggage she went to the security checkpoint. She presented her passport to a TSA employee at the checkpoint, but before going through the ...

Air France agreed to pay a $100,000 penalty to the Department of Transportation (DOT) for improperly advising passengers that it was not responsible for valuable or fragile items in checked baggage. The disclaimer was in claer contradiction to the Montreal Convention, which prohibits airlines from denying liability for "any class ...

Plaintiff purchased a return ticket with Lufthansa in India for a flight from New Delhi to Toronto via Frankfurt. She stated that during the flight before arrival in Toronto, she had requested that Lufthansa should provide a wheelchair on arrival. The carrier was alleged to have not complied with this ...

In a unanimous decision, the Fourth Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has confirmed the payment of compensation for moral damages, the sister of one of the victims of air crash involving an airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA and Legacy. The ministers of the Class, following the ...

In Travelport, LP v. American Airlines, Inc., the Circuit Court of Cook County,Chicago ruled in American Airlines' favor, denying Travelport's request for a preliminary injunction against AA and its efforts to pull its fares from Orbitz, an online travel agency of which Travelport is a part owner.Travelport had filed the ...

On September 29, 2003, a group of Egyptian businessmen, their wives and a Brazilian fiancée, boarded Alaska Airlines Flight 694 in Vancouver, British Columbia.The nine plaintiffs took up all but three of the first class seats. According to an American passenger who sat next ot one of the plaintiffs, the ...

The Office of Fair Trading has just set out a long-term strategy to protect consumers shopping online in the UK. Online shopping in the UK is worth approximately £50bn i.e. €58.8bn/$77.9bn. The OFT investigation discovered that only around one in five firms are fully complying with consumer law for online ...

The Prussian Castles and Gardens Foundation is managing more than 150 historcial buildings and more than 800 gardens (as for instance Sanssouci), most of them acknowledged as world heritage by UNESCO. The Foundation refuses to accept that these cultural possesions are photographed or filmed for commercial purposes without permission. The ...

The European Consumer Centres' Network (ECC-Net) published a survey on European Ski Resorts to support consumers when choosing the most suitable ski resort for their personal winter vacation by to giving an overview of the different offers relating to skiing across Europe. The report “Ski Resorts in Europe 2010/2011” is ...