02 Oct
2014

CAA Consultation on a proposal to amend ATOL Standard Term 6

Update: The CAA has postponed its proposed changes to Standard Term 6 in order to give it further consideration. More details below in our previous item.

31 July 2014

ABTA Today of 3 July referred to a CAA consultation on a proposal to amend ATOL Standard Term 6. Specifically, the CAA is seeking to prevent the sale of ATOL protected seats to exempt businesses in certain circumstances.  As these changes would affect Members who are an ATOL holder selling to businesses that are exempt from ATOL (e.g. they are based elsewhere in the EU or the EEA), or if their own business is exempt from ATOL, ABTA sought comments from Members.

ABTA’s response has now been submitted to the CAA.

We understand that the CAA is concerned with ensuring the proper functioning of the ATOL scheme, and recognise that constant review is positive, and indeed changes may be necessary.

ABTA supports action that promotes consumer clarity with respect to the financial protection applicable to travel services. However, we do not believe that the consultation sets out with sufficient clarity why the current proposal is necessary or why the proposed amendment might be the most effective way of dealing with the concerns raised in the consultation.

We are concerned that the proposed changes will add further layers of complexity to the ATOL scheme and, where there is not an immediate consumer detriment to be solved, we would encourage further changes to form a part of the wholescale review due to begin soon with the implementation of the revised Package Travel Directive.