- Статьи
- Society
- Controversial train: tour operators will be relieved of responsibility for the mistakes of travel agents
Controversial train: tour operators will be relieved of responsibility for the mistakes of travel agents
The travel agent must be responsible for failure to provide the necessary information about the trip, non—transfer of funds to the tour operator and inconsistent travel conditions, and the tour operator must be responsible for incorrect information and inconsistencies in the services included in the product. Amendments to the legislation delineating the areas of responsibility were developed by the Ministry of Economic Development at the request of the tourism business. As explained in the department, cases have become more frequent when a travel agent enters into contracts with travelers, takes payment from them, but does not notify the tour operator about this and does not transfer funds to him. However, the responsibility in such cases is still often borne by the tour operator, the ministry said and lawyers confirmed.
What is the travel agent responsible for?
The zones of responsibility to travelers on the part of all representatives in the field of tourism business are planned to be strictly delimited. Such amendments were developed by the Ministry of Economic Development, and they will be submitted for public discussion in the near future, the document is available to Izvestia.
"The bill was developed on the initiative of the professional community," the Ministry of Economic Development told Izvestia.
The explanatory note clarifies that cases have become more frequent when a travel agent enters into contracts with clients, charges them for a tour, but deliberately does not notify the tour operator of the concluded contracts and does not transfer funds.
"Responsibility in such cases is assigned to tour operators, which not only contradicts the current legislation of the Russian Federation, including the Civil Code, but also leads to significant financial costs for tour operators and jeopardizes the further work and fulfillment of obligations of the tour operator company to other tourists," the document says.
Therefore, the draft law lists specific cases of liability for each business entity — a tour operator, travel agent, and third parties providing individual services.
Thus, the tour operator's list includes failure to provide the travel agent and the tourist with the necessary and reliable information about the product and travel conditions, non—compliance with services, actions and inaction of travel agents, as well as violation of the ban on the inclusion of hotels and other accommodation facilities in the product, services of guides, information about which is not included in the relevant registers. Such a ban is introduced by the same amendments.
The travel agent is responsible for non-transfer of funds received from the customer to the tour operator, non-agreement of the travel conditions based on the customer's request, failure to notify the tour operator of the conclusion of a contract for the sale of the tour, failure to provide the necessary and reliable information about the travel conditions and the tourist product.
At the same time, the travel agent is not responsible for losses and harm caused to the client, which arose due to the failure to provide him with information from the tour operator. The person who directly provided such a service should be responsible for harming the life, health and property of a tourist, the bill says.
As noted in the Ministry of Economic Development, for tour operators, such changes to the law "On the basics of tourism activities" will reduce unreasonable financial risks and protect against other people's mistakes.
"Tourists will receive more guarantees: claims on the quality of services can now be made directly to the guilty party — the one who provided substandard service or violated the contract," the department said. — All this will increase the general confidence in the activities of tour operators, as everyone will be responsible for their actions. This will make the market more honest and predictable, which will inevitably reduce the number of conflicts and protect the interests of end users."
Why is there a legal imbalance?
The amendments remove the issue of the tour operator's responsibility for the unfair actions of the travel agent, Ilya Umansky, president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), told Izvestia.
— Unfortunately, the current judicial practice leads to absurd situations when a tour operator is forced to bear full financial responsibility for the actions of a travel agent, which he might not have known about and from which he did not receive income, — he confirmed.
Ilya Umansky gave an example of a case where a tour operator was specified in the contract, money was taken from the client, but no services were provided. And the tour operator found out about this when the victim went to court.
— The bill proposes to introduce a simple and understandable rule: if the travel agent has not transferred funds to the tour operator according to the terms of the contract, then he is responsible to the tourist, — the PCT president explained.
The document also removes questions about harming tourists by third parties.
— For example, a man fell in a hotel and was injured. What does this have to do with the tour operator? — Ilya Umansky argues. — Now, claims are primarily brought to the courts against the tour operator as the most solvent entity, although the culprit is often the direct contractor of the service. In addition, the general provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation state that the causer of harm or its perpetrator must bear responsibility.
However, according to the expert, the provisions on the distribution of responsibility between the tour operator and third parties for services included in the tourist product should be finalized.
— The proposed changes actually leave the existing legal regime: the tour operator will be responsible, unless otherwise established within the legal framework. If you do not name specific market participants — carriers and so on, it seems that judicial practice will not change," the specialist said.
Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), told Izvestia that the new developments would eliminate the imbalance that often arises when determining the responsibility of the parties to a contract for the sale of a tourist product.
"ATOR positively assesses the work of the Ministry of Economic Development to improve industry legislation and adapt it to the modern realities of the tourism market," she said.
Yana Muromova, Deputy General Director of the Anex tour operator, called the significant amendment that the travel agent is responsible for providing complete information about the product and its possible changes.
— Despite the fact that the tour operator requests the customer's contact information from the travel agent at the time of booking in order to inform about possible adjustments, travel agents persistently leave their information in these fields, fearing that the tour operators will "take away" the tourist for direct interaction, — she said. — Thus, we cannot verify whether possible changes in the flight and other components of the tour have reached the consumer.
Also, according to her, there are cases of changing the concepts of hotels purchased at the early booking stage.
— For example, the hotel decided to change its concept from Adult-Only to family holidays for the season. And then tourists who do not receive timely changes face disappointment on the spot," she said.
She called making an advance payment to the current account of the tour operator the fact of "including" the responsibility of the tour operator.
"And even if the payment was not made in full by an unscrupulous travel agent, the changes in legislation make it possible to fully bring the travel agent to justice," she said.
Partner, Head of Private Client Practice at Mitra Law Firm Alina Laktionova also confirmed that "there is a significant gap in current legal realities."
"Travel agents are not actually directly responsible to consumers, although they are the ones who most often interact with tourists," she said. — A critical situation occurs when a travel agent accepts money from a tourist, but does not transfer it to the tour operator. The consumer remains without a paid ticket, and without the opportunity to return their funds. At the same time, judicial practice in most cases places responsibility on the tour operator, turning him into a "scapegoat" for the actions of unscrupulous intermediaries.
Anna Laktionova recalled that tour operators had already tried to absolve themselves of responsibility for the actions of tour operators in the Constitutional Court, but it rejected their claims.
— The court's motivation was simple: This is a standard business risk that tour operators should take into account in their activities," the expert said.
Speaking about judicial practice in general, she recalled that there are cases when travel agents provide incomplete or unreliable information, for example, about the rules for obtaining a visa. And in these cases, the courts more often recognize the travel agent as responsible.
— But when the travel agent received the payment, but did not transfer the money to the tour operator, the courts, as a rule, impose responsibility on the tour operator, — she said. — A separate category of disputes arises when a travel agent replaces a contract for the sale of a product with contracts for individual services
For example, when organizing a tour of Russia, an agent can directly book a hotel and tickets, bypassing the tour operator. In such cases, the courts more often find the travel agent responsible.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
