Petherbridge kicked off Abta’s Travel Law seminar on Wednesday (10 May) telling delegates there was a “plethora” of legal changes in the pipeline.
These include the next stage of the CAA’s consultation on reforming the Atol scheme, due in the autumn, as well as the Retained EU Law Bill (Reul), which is currently progressing through parliament and is set to land in the House of Lords next week.
Sponsored by Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Reul bill will determine which elements of secondary EU legislation are retained, revoked or amended by the end of the year.
Petherbridge said Abta objected the narrow timeframe, stressing it won’t lead to “good policy-making". “To be clear, we’re not saying – as Abta – that we should not review the derived legislation post-Brexit.
"We’re simply saying that to do so over a six-month period clearly isn’t conducive to good policy-making."
Further changes could affect the Package Travel Regulations, with proposals likely to include deregulating the of domestic package market, as well as simplifying linked travel arrangements – or scrapping them altogether.
UK businesses that sell holidays to European consumers could also be affected by changes to the EU Package Travel Directive, on which the PTRs are based, which covers pre-arranged package holidays to the bloc.
The reform to the PTD, which had been due to be published this summer but has since been delayed for several months, could potentially include limitation of pre-payments for organisers.
“Given what happens with supplier pre-payments, particularly for airlines, that could be a major problem for the European package travel industry,” Petherbridge told the seminar.
Despite the complicated landscape, Petherbridge said it was imperative businesses remained up-to-date and were clear in their response to any consultations.
"We need to be very clear when responding to consultations about our own priorities and make a clear case of action or indeed inaction supported by data and evidence,” Petherbridge added.
His comments echoed those of Deloitte director Luke Golding, who said it was vital the industry set out its stall on any proposed legislative changes – ensuring the government isn’t left to set the agenda for reform.
