Areas Dealt With

The various Treaties establishing the European Union give the EU responsibilities in many fields. For every one of these areas, the EU adopts legislations or takes decisions which are liable to have a direct bearing on the tourism industry.

The number of EU legislations and decisions affecting our sector is vast. The most important of these Community legislations and measures have been compiled for consultation in the annual GEBTA publication entitled 'GEBTA Report on European Policies affecting the Travel Industry'.

The Community legislation is evolving constantly. GEBTA closely tracks all the developments relating to European business tourism in a variety of policies and makes sure that the EU institutions do not take any definitive decisions in the field of tourism without prior consultation of the sector's representative bodies.

GEBTA is interested in a large number of European issues, which have a direct impact on Business Travel Agents. The most important issue is of course Transport, and especially Air Transport. But also consumer affairs, taxation, Internal Market and IATA affairs.

Hereunder a list of the matters dealt with by GEBTA:

1. TRANSPORT

  • Air Transport
    - Denied Boarding Compensation
    - CRS Code of Conduct
    - Commercial policy of carriers
    - Liability of carriers in case of an accident
    - Community black list
    - Rights of passengers with reduced mobility when travelling by air
    - Passenger protection agains airlines failures
    - Common rules for the operation of air transport
    - Passenger Agency Agreement
    - Passenger name record
    - Airport charges
    - Security measures at airports
    - Inclusion of aviation in the emission trading scheme
  • Rail Transport
    - Rail passenger rights
  • Maritime Transport
    - Rights of passengers travelling by sea
    - Liability of carriers by sea

2. CONSUMER POLICY

  • Unfair terms in consumer contracts
  • Review of the Acquis on consumer protection
  • Unfair commercial practices

3. INTERNAL MARKET

  • Directive on services in the Internal Market

4. TAXATION

  • Margin taxation scheme
  • Place of supply of services
  • Simplification of the VAT obligations
  • VAT rates
  • Solidarity taxes on airline tickets

5. IATA MATTERS

  • PAPJC / PAConf
  • Passenger Agency Programme and Agreement


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Last modified: 12-Fév-2004 14:06