It means there may be just a few months for businesses to make any relevant – and potentially radical – changes to their organisations.
EU member states have until January 1, 2018 to transpose PTD 2 into national law, and it will apply from July 1, 2018 – after an extension was agreed following the Brexit vote. But while the directive was passed two years ago, government consultations have been delayed, and the industry has no clearer view of what the regulations will look like for them.
In September the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Beis) closed a consultation which sought views from the travel industry on the implementation of the new regulations, and the Department for Transport (DfT), which is working together with Beis on the issue, has already consulted on its proposals to strengthen the UK’s Atol scheme to ensure it is fully compliant with PTD 2.
"They’re having a laugh. The government has had two and a half years to sort this out."
Yet Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, said at a recent industry seminar he heard Eirik Pitkethly, deputy director, aviation strategy and consumers at the DfT, admit that further consultation was due to take place and suggested it was unlikely the new package travel regulations would be available for the industry to see until around April 1. A spokesperson for the DfT said it could not give a precise date on when the regulations would be ready.
Alan Wardle, director of public affairs at Abta, said: “I think [the regulations being released later than predicted] is not a surprise, and we are probably looking at around Easter, spring time. It’s not ideal and I’m sure that the DfT would say that too.
“The industry as a whole needs to be as informed as they possibly can be while we wait for them. Not having the detail is a frustration, absolutely… members don’t want to be making changes twice.
“We know most of the changes that are going to happen and we have been pressing the government as much as we can to get it done.”
Another industry legal expert added: “They’re having a laugh. The government has had two and a half years to sort this out.
“The whole point about the directive was that businesses had time to consider and implement the changes. Three months will not be enough time for the industry to prepare. If we don’t know what we have to do, then no one is going to be ready.”
Bowen continued: “The whole thing is beyond belief. Businesses are simply not going to be able to make changes in the timescale. The industry will have to come back and say they can’t do it, and if it costs the government, that’s their own fault.
“The industry should have had this whole year to get ready. Not to mention the other big regulatory changes taking place in the industry too.”
