site.btaBulgaria Objects to Italian Proposal on EU Tourist Services

Bulgaria Objects to Italian Proposal on EU Tourist Services


Brussels/Sofia, December 5 (BTA) - Bulgaria shares the opinion
that the EU should review its rules for protecting tourist
service users, but the changes should not weaken the protection
already available, Bulgarian Economy Minister Bozhidar Loukarski
 said in Brussels, as quoted by his ministry on Friday.
Therefore, Loukarski said, Bulgaria cannot support a relevant
proposal by the Italian EU Presidency, because it offers lower
protection to tourist service users than that available to
Bulgarians.

The proposal by the Italian EU Presidency was to update the
bloc's regulations on package tourist travel and intermodal
passenger transport. It was considered at a regular meeting of
the EU Competitiveness Council which was attended by Loukarski.

The Bulgarian minister noted that the laws in his country allow
a tourist service user to terminate a tourist service contract
unilaterally if the price of the service is increased by more
than 5 per cent, while the Italian proposal says that this
should apply when the price is increased by more than 8 per
cent. This means that if the Italian proposal is approved, it
will create less favourable conditions for Bulgarian consumers
than those which are effective at present.

Loukarski further commented on another aspect of the Italian
initiative which aims to give tourist service providers more
leeway to change the price of a tourist service package without
adequate protection for the users. Under Bulgarian law, the
price of a trip cannot be increased in the last 20 days before
the trip, but the Italian EU Presidency proposed a shorter
period.

This, again, would weaken the protection of Bulgarian tourist
service users, which is particularly unwelcome at a time when
the share of tourist services sold via the Internet is
increasing, the minister argued.

He stressed that Bulgaria has made serious efforts and agreed to
 a number of compromises in order to facilitate the adoption of
a common approach to the proposed EU directive. The country
supports the stated goals, but unfortunately, the Italian
proposal is not fully consistent with those goals, he said.

Fourteen of the 28 EU member states had substantial objections
to the proposed directive, with Bulgaria and eight other
countries insisting that the draft provisions should be improved
 before the start of negotiations with the European Parliament
on the future directive. The fears are mainly about the
protection of consumer rights and the impact of the directive on
 businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.