Tourism Law in Europe

European Directive does not affect the standing of an international Convention. The aims of both the Directive and the Convention was harmonisation, but one group’s harmony may be another group’s distortion. In the view of the author the latter decision is right and the former is wrong. This accords with the regime under the Montreal Convention and with the approach taken by the House of Lords to that Convention, and would seem to give a natural meaning to the words of Article 14 itself. Nevertheless, there is no UK domestic caselaw resolving the issue. 5. Hotels and Caterers Where a consumer books a single holiday component, such as accommodation, the general rules of contractual construction will apply to the interpretation of the booking contract. Such express terms of the contract as may be regarded as unfair will fall foul of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, which implements Directive (EU) 93/13 on Unfair Consumer Contract Terms. Pursuant to s.13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 the supplier of services must use reasonable care and skill in the provision of services; liability for failure to perform the contract, or for partial performance (the European concept of ‘improper performance’ is unknown to English law) is fault-based. As such, the Claimant must show fault on the part of the supplier of services. The position is different as regards caterers. The provision of food, as opposed to services, falls within s.9 of the Act, which provides that goods must be fit for the purpose for which they are sold, and not within s.13. This provision was considered by the Court of Appeal in the context of a holiday sickness claim in Wood v TUI Travel Plc [2018] 2 WLR 1051 . The Court of Appeal concluded that where it could be shown that the illness suffered by the Claimant was caused by the consumption of contaminated food, the Defendant tour operator would be liable for the provision of that food by the hotel. The Claimant need not prove that there has been any fault on the part of the tour operator or of the hotel, and it follows, therefore, that in this context he or she need not show any breach of local standards. It is necessary, therefore, for Claimants in this type of case, to show only that they fell ill as a result of eating contaminated food supplied by the caterer. This is an