22A.— (1) A trader facilitating linked travel arrangements shall provide security in accordance with the requirements specified in this section and sections 23 to 25 for the refund of all payments received by the trader from travellers where a travel service which is part of a linked travel arrangement is not, or will not be, performed as a consequence of the insolvency of the trader.

(2) Where a trader referred to in subsection (1) is the person responsible for the carriage of passengers, the security referred to in subsection (1) shall also provide for costs of the repatriation of travellers in the circumstances referred to in that subsection.

(3) The security referred to in subsection (1) shall be provided in respect of all linked travel arrangements a trader sells or offers for sale in the European Union, irrespective of the traveller’s place of residence, the place of departure or where the linked travel arrangement is sold.

(4) Where the performance of the linked travel arrangement is affected by the insolvency of the trader facilitating the arrangement, the security referred to in subsection (1) shall ensure repatriations and, if necessary, the financing of accommodation prior to the repatriation shall be available to travellers at no cost to the traveller.

(5) Where a travel service which is part of a linked travel arrangement has not been performed due to the insolvency of the trader facilitating the linked travel arrangement, the security referred to in subsection (1) shall provide for refunds to travellers of the costs of the travel service without undue delay after the traveller’s request.

(6) The security referred to in subsection (1) shall be effective and provide for reasonably foreseeable costs including in particular—

(a) that it shall be available as soon as travel services are not being, or will not be, fully performed, or where service providers require travellers to pay for them, as a consequence of the insolvency of a trader, and

(b) the amounts of payments affected by the insolvency of the trader made by or on behalf of travellers in respect of linked travel arrangements, taking into account the length of the period between down payments and final payments and the completion of the linked travel arrangements, as well as the estimated cost for repatriations in the event of the insolvency of a trader.

(7) Where a trader is not established in a Member State and sells or offers for sale linked travel arrangements in the State, or by any means directs the sale or offers for sale of such linked travel arrangements to a person in the State, the trader shall provide security in accordance with subsection (1) in respect of those linked travel arrangements.

(8) A trader facilitating linked travel arrangements established in another Member State who sells or offers for sale linked travel arrangements in the State, and who provides security in accordance with the law of that Member State giving effect to Article 19 of the Directive in that Member State shall be considered to have complied with the requirement to provide security in accordance with subsection (1).

(9) Before a traveller shall be bound by an offer of, or by a contract leading to the creation of, a linked travel arrangement, a trader facilitating the linked travel arrangement (including where the trader is not established in the State or in another Member State) or who, by any means, directs the sale or offer for sale of such linked travel arrangement to a person in the State, shall state in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner in accordance with subsection (12) that—

(a) the traveller will be entitled to benefit from the security against insolvency required to be provided by the trader in accordance with subsection (1),

(b) the traveller will not be entitled to benefit from the rights which apply exclusively to packages under this Act, and

(c) each service provider will be solely responsible for the proper contractual performance of the service provided by that service provider.

(10) The information required to be provided under subsection (9) to a traveller by a trader facilitating a linked travel arrangement shall be provided in the manner set out in the relevant form specified in Schedule 2 or, where the particular type of linked travel arrangement is not provided for in any of the forms set out in that Schedule, the required information shall be provided in a form to the like effect which contains that information.

(11) Where a trader facilitating linked travel arrangements has not complied with the requirements of subsections (1) to (10) insofar as they apply to the trader, the rights conferred on travellers and the obligations imposed on organisers and retailers under sections 16, 18A, 19, 20, 20A and 20B shall apply to the travel services included in the linked travel arrangements and those sections shall apply to the trader as they apply to an organiser or retailer, as the case may be, with any necessary modifications.

(12) Where a linked travel arrangement is the result of the conclusion of a contract between a traveller and a trader who does not facilitate the linked travel arrangement, that trader shall inform the trader facilitating the linked travel arrangement of the conclusion of the relevant contract.

(13) Section 25A shall apply to traders facilitating linked travel arrangements as it applies to organisers selling or offering for sale packages, with any necessary modifications.

(14) A trader facilitating linked travel arrangements shall inform the Commission for Aviation Regulation of the nature and amount of the security it has arranged in order to comply with subsection (1).

(15) A trader facilitating linked travel arrangements who fails to provide security in accordance with subsection (1) or (7) shall be guilty of an offence.

(16) In this section “trader facilitating linked travel arrangements” means, other than in subsection (7), (8) or (14), a trader facilitating linked travel arrangements who is established in the State.]