As of 1 July 2018, the provisions regulating the obligations of travel agencies in the Hungarian Commerce Act will be amended in order to comply with the EU directive on package travel and linked travel arrangements.
The definition of the travel organiser and travel agent activity will be amended, and the Hungarian Commerce Act will be completed with the definition of the traveller and the commercial activity facilitating linked travel arrangements. The Hungarian Commerce Act will state that it is forbidden to sell the travel package in separate parts to the consumers and the consumer protection authority will be competent to check this prohibition.
The trader facilitating linked travel arrangements will need to have financial security, the amount of which will also be amended depending on the type of the travel package. Under the new provisions, where the travel services also include carriage of passengers, the travel organiser must conclude an insurance agreement with an insurer for the benefit of the traveller as beneficiary. In case the travel entrepreneur does not undertake to ensure the repatriation of the beneficiaries and the costs of the forced stay abroad, the insurer must take the necessary measures and the travel entrepreneur has to provide the insurer with the relevant data.
By Rita Parkanyi, Partner, KCG Partners Law Firm
