Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act 1995

Extent and financial limits of liability.

20

F29[20. (1) A traveller shall be entitled to an appropriate price reduction from an organiser for any period during which there was lack of conformity, unless the organiser shows that the lack of conformity is attributable to the traveller.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), a traveller shall be entitled to receive, without undue delay, appropriate compensation from an organiser for any damage which the traveller sustains as a result of any lack of conformity.

(3) A traveller shall not be entitled to compensation from an organiser for damage sustained by the traveller as a result of any lack of conformity where an organiser can show that the lack of conformity is

(a) attributable to the traveller,

(b) attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the travel services included in the package travel contract and is unforeseeable or unavoidable, or

(c) due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances.

(4) Where the relevant international conventions limit the extent of or the conditions under which compensation shall be paid by a travel service provider carrying out a travel service which is part of a package, the same limitation shall apply to the liability, if any, of an organiser to pay compensation to a traveller under this Act.

(5) Without prejudice to subsection (4), a package travel contract may include a term limiting the amount of compensation which an organiser shall pay to a traveller for damage sustained by the traveller as a result of any lack of conformity, which compensation shall not be less than three times the total price of the package, but such term shall not have the effect or purport to have the effect of limiting compensation in respect of

(a) death or personal injury, or

(b) damage caused intentionally or negligently.

(6) Subject to subsection (7), any right of travellers to compensation or price reduction, including the right to present claims, under this Act shall not affect the right of travellers, including the right to present claims, under:

(a) Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No. 295/918;

(b) Regulation (EC) No. 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations9;

(c) Regulation (EC) No. 392/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the liability of carriers of passengers by sea in the event of accidents10;

(d) Regulation (EU) No. 1177/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway and amending Regulation (EC) No. 2006/200411;

(e) Regulation (EU) No. 181/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No. 2006/200412;

(f) the relevant international conventions in so far as those conventions are applicable to or in the State.

(7) Where a traveller claims or has received compensation or a price reduction under this Act and has also received compensation or a price reduction under any one or more of the Regulations or the relevant international conventions referred to in subsection (6), the compensation or price reduction received under those Regulations or relevant international conventions, as the case may be, shall be deducted from the compensation or price reduction received by the traveller under this Act in order to avoid overcompensation.

(8) In this section

"relevant international conventions" means

(a) the Athens Convention,

(b) the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF),

(c) the Montreal Convention, and

(d) the Warsaw Convention.

(9) In subsection (8)

"Athens Convention" means the Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974, done at Athens on 13 December 1974, as amended by the Protocol to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974, done at London on 1 November 2002;

"Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF)" means the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), done at Berne on 9 May 1980, as amended by the Protocol for the Modification of the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) of 9 May 1980, done at Vilnius on 3 June 1999;

"Montreal Convention" means the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, signed at Montreal on 28 May 1999;

"Warsaw Convention" means the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929, or the Warsaw Convention as amended:

(a) by the Protocol to Amend the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929, done at The Hague on 28 September 1955;

(b) by the Convention, Supplementary to the Warsaw Convention, for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to International Carriage by Air Performed by a Person Other than the Contracting Carrier, done at Guadalajara on 18 September 1961;

(c) by the Montreal Protocol No. 4, done at Montreal on 25 September 1975.]

Annotations:

Amendments:

F29

Substituted (11.03.2019) by European Union (Package Travel And Linked Travel Arrangements) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 80 of 2019), reg. 15.