GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT FOR THE SALE OF TOURIST PACKAGES

1.PREMISES. NOTION OF TOURIST PACKAGE

Whereas:

1. The Legislative Decree No.111 of 17/3/95 - realization of the Directive 90/314/EEC-  disposes  for the consumer’s protection that the organizer and the seller of the tourist package, to whom the consumer applies, must be licensed to carry out their activity (Article 3/1 of Legislative Decree 111/95)
2. The consumer has the right to receive a copy of the tourist package sale contract  (according to Article. 6 of the Legislative Decree 111/95), which is an essential document to eventually access to the Guarantee Fund as per Article 18 in the present General Conditions of the contract.

The notion of  ‘tourist package’ (Article 2/1 of the Legislative Decree 111/95) is the following: the tourist packages have as object the journeys, holidays and “all inclusive” tours that result from the combination of at least two of the following listed elements, sold or offered on sale at a flat-rate price and lasting more than 24 hours that means lasting for a period that includes at least one night:

1. Transport
2. Accommodation
3. Any other tourist service not additional to transport or accommodation (omission)…, that are an important part of the “tourist package”.

2.LEGISLATIVE SOURCES

In addition to the present General Conditions of the contract, the sale contract of a tourist package is also regulated by the clauses indicated in the travel documentation that is given to the consumer.
The sale of a tourist package whether it has as object to supply services inside the national territory or abroad, will be regulated by Legislation 27/12/1977 No 1084 – when it applies - confirmation and execution of the International Convention of the travel contract (CCV) signed in Brussels on 23/4/1970 and of the above listed Legislative Decree 111/95.

3. OBLIGATORY INFORMATION - TECHNICAL CARD

The organizer is obliged to include a technical card both in the brochure and in the programme (not included in the brochure).
The obligatory elements that must be inserted in the technical card of the brochure or of a programme not included in the catalogue are:
- Essential data of the organizer’s administrative authorization
- Essential data of the civil liability insurance policy
- Period of validity of the brochure or programme (not included in the brochure) or tailor-made journey
- Terms and conditions of substitution (Article 10 of the Legislative Decree 111/95)
- Change of reference for the monetary adjustments, day or value.

4. BOOKINGS

The booking request must be drawn up on a special, if necessary electronic, contractual form and signed by the client that will receive a copy of it. 
Acceptance of the booking is confirmed, with consequent conclusion of the contract, only when the organizer has sent the written confirmation  - even using an electronic system - either directly or through the selling travel agency.

According to the Legislative Decree 111/95 the organizer is obliged to provide the customer with the all the indications regarding the tourist package that are not contained in the contractual documents, brochure, pamphlets or any other forms of written communication in due time before the journey.

5. PAYMENTS

When booking a deposit of 25% of the participation fee together with the registration rights to the journey must be paid.  The remaining balance must be paid at least 30 days before the date of departure.  For registrations made during the 30 days before the departure date, the full amount of the trip must be paid at the moment of the registration.

Default of payment of the above mentioned amounts within the fixed dates represents a rescinding clause that can determine the cancellation by law on the intermediary agency and/or organizer’s side.

6. PRICE

The price of the tourist package is determined in the contract with reference to what is stated in the brochure or programme (not included in the brochure) as well as other possible updating of the brochures or programmes (not included in the brochure) added successively.
The price can be changed up to 20 days before the departure date and only following the fluctuations of:
- Cost of transport including the cost of fuel;
- Laws and taxes of certain kind of tourist service such as duties, landing taxes, loading and unloading taxes in ports and airports;
- Exchange rates applied to the mentioned packet;

For such variations we will refer to the current changes and costs as mentioned above that are effective starting from the date of publishing of the programme indicated on the brochure’s technical card in other words the date indicated in the possible modifications mentioned above.

7. MODIFICATION OR CANCELLATION OF THE TOURIST PACKAGE BEFORE DEPARTURE

In case the organizer or seller needs to change in a significant way one or more elements of the contract he must notify the consumer in writing indicating the kind of modification and the deriving change in price.

In the case the consumer doesn’t accept the proposed change, as per comma 1, he is entitled by law either to re-acquire the amount of money that he has already paid or to have a new package as per the second and third comma of Article 8.

The consumer exercises the above mentioned rights also when the cancellation depends on the failed achievement of the minimum number of participants in the brochure or in the programme (out of the brochure) or on circumstances beyond control and fortuitous case, regarding the tourist package that has been purchased.

For the cancellations that do not depend on the circumstances beyond control, fortuitous case and on the failed achievement of the minimum number of participants as well as those that are different from the consumer’s refusal of the offered alternative tourist package, the organizer that cancels (as per art.1469 bis n.5 of Civil Code) will have to return to the consumer – through the travel agent - the double sum that he has received.

The amount that is object of the refund will never be above the double of the amounts of which the consumer would be debtor in the same date as per art.8 comma number 4 in case he would cancel the journey.

8. CONSUMER’S WITHDRAWAL

The consumer can withdraw from the contract without incurring a penalty in the following circumstances:
- increase of prices above the 10% as per previous article n.6
- major modifications of one or more of the contract terms essential for the use of the tourist package considered in its complex and proposed by the organizer after the conclusion of the same contract, but before departure and not accepted by the consumer .
Relating to the before mentioned cases the customer alternatively has the right to:
- obtain an alternative tourist package - among the ones proposed by the organizer - of an equivalent value or if not available one of a higher value, with no extra cost that is to say of lower value with the restitution of the overcharge.
- be reimbursed only of the part that has already been paid and cashed by the organizer.
Such refund must be paid within seven working days since the receipt of the refund request.
The consumer must communicate his decision (to accept the modification or reject), no later than two working days after receiving the increase or modification advise.
Failure to communicate within the above mentioned term, the proposal that has been put forward by the organizer must be intended as accepted.
If the consumer withdraws from the contract before the departure date for reasons other than the circumstances indicated in the first comma – net deposit paid as per art.5 first comma – he will be debited with the inscription fee and the sum corresponding to the penalty as indicated as follows (the calculation of the days excludes the day of withdrawing, that has to be written, the departure day and the acknowledged holidays).

1. 10% of the participating  share at the time of booking up to 30 days or more before the departure;
2. 25% of the participating  share from 29 to 21 days before the departure;
3. 50% of the participating  share from 20 to 11 days before the departure date;
4. 75% of the participating share from 10 to 3 days before the departure date;
5. 100% of the participating share after such terms.

No refund will be given to who isn’t present at the departure or to who abandons during the journey.  There is also no refund offered for who can’t do the journey due to absence, invalidity or inexactness of the personal documents requested for the expatriation.

The organizer reserves, without engagement or responsibility, to reimburse the possible recovered sums regarding services that have not been accomplished after renunciation.
THE CONDITIONS OF THE RENUNCIATIONS MAY CHANGE IN CASE OF PARTICULAR TOURISTIC INITIATIVES AND THEREFORE MUST BE CLEARLY INDICATED IN THE PROGRAMMES OF SUCH INITIATIVES.

9. MODIFICATIONS AFTER DEPARTURE

If for any reason after the departure the organizer finds himself in the impossibility of supplying – apart from a personal reason of the consumer – an essential part of the services listed in the contract, he will have to give alternative solutions without extra costs for the contractor and in case the services have a value that is lower than the expected ones, he must refund him according to such difference.

In the case it is not possible to find any alternative solution that is that the organiser’s solution is refused by the consumer because of serious and justified reasons, the organiser will supply – without extra charge – a means of transport equivalent to the original one  expected for the return to the place of departure or different from the place that has eventually been agreed, according to the availability of the means of transport and of places and will refund him according to the difference between the cost of the agreed services and the cost of the services given until the moment of the anticipated return.

10. SUBSTITUTIONS

The client who renounces can be replaced by another person if:
- the organizer is informed in writing at least 4 working days before the departure fixed date also receiving communication of the assignee’s generalities;
- the substitute fulfils all the conditions for the use of the service (ex. art 10 Legislative Decree 111/95) and in particular the requirements regarding passports, visas and health certificates;
- the new subject will refund the organizer of all of the expenses for the substitution according to the amount that will be quantified before the assignment.
The transferor and transferee will be jointly liable for payment of the balance as well as for the amounts listed in item c) of this article.
Any further formalities and conditions of substitution are indicated in the technical card.
In relation to some kind of services, it may happen that a third service supplier (e.g. the airline companies) does not accept the change of the transferee’s name even if done within the term as per the previous point a).  The organizer is however not responsible for the eventual non-acceptance of any change by third party service suppliers. The organizer will immediately communicate such non-acceptance to the interested parties before the departure.

11. OBLIGATIONS OF THE PARTICIPANTS

Participants must have in their possession a valid individual passport or any other valid document as well as travel permits and visas and any requested medical certificates which are needed for all the countries that are included in the itinerary.  Participants must also observe the rules of normal caution and care and all the valid specifications in the countries that are the destination of the journey, all the rules and administrative instructions regarding the tourist package. The participants will be held responsible for all damages that the organizer may have to suffer because of their own failure to comply with the above examined obligations.

The consumer is obliged to provide the organizer with all the relevant documents, information and elements in his possession that are useful to the legal subrogation towards third parties responsible for the damage and is responsible towards the organizer for the prejudice caused to the subrogation. 
At the time of booking the consumer must also inform the organizer in writing his special personal requests that may be object of specific agreements regarding the conditions of the journey always supposing that these agreements are possible.

12. HOTEL CLASSIFICATION

The official classification of the hotel structures is provided in the brochure or in other informative material only based on the express and formal indications of the competent authorities of the country in which the service is supplied.
If there is no official classification recognized by the competent Public Authorities of the countries also members of the EU, to which the service refers, the organizer reserves the faculty of giving his own description of the structure in the brochure or leaflet so that the consumer is able to evaluate and accept.

13. RESPONSIBILITY REGULATIONS

The organizer must respond to damages caused to the consumer by failure to provide partially or totally the services included in the package both if the services are provided by him directly or by third party suppliers unless he is able to prove that the event was caused by the consumer (including the initiatives that the consumer has undertaken by himself during the tourist services), or by circumstances unconnected with the supply of the services listed in the contract, by fortuitous event, circumstances beyond one’s control, that is to say circumstances that the same organizer could not reasonably foresee or solve, in accordance with professional diligence.
The seller of the travel agency in which the reservation of the tourist package has been made doesn’t respond in any case to the obligations coming from the organization of the journey, but he is only responsible for the obligations coming from his intermediary quality and anyway within the limits listed in the regulations concerning such responsibility.

14. LIMIT OF REFUND
In any case the refund that the organizer has to give for damages to the person cannot be higher than the indemnity listed in the international conventions with reference to those services that if are not given determine responsibility: the Warsaw Convention of 1929 on international air transport in the modified text in the Height in 1955; the Berne Convention on rail transport, the Brussels Convention of 1970 on the journey contract for every case of the organizer’s responsibility, the Paris Convention of 1962 on the hotel-keeper’s responsibility in the text as per the Articles 1783 and following c.c. In any case the limit of refund can’t exceed the amount of 2.000 Germinal gold francs for damage to objects as per article 13 number 2 CVV and the amount of 5.000 Germinal gold francs for any other damage and for those listed in article 1783 of the Civil Code.

15. ASSISTANCE OBLIGATION
The organizer is held to provide the consumer with measures of assistance imposed by the criteria of professional diligence exclusively with reference to the obligations at his expense for law or contract provisions.
The organizer and the travel agency seller are exonerated from the respective responsibilities (art.13 and 14), when the missed or incorrect execution of the contract is chargeable to the consumer or depended on a third party fact with an unpredictable or unavoidable that is to say a fortuitous event or circumstance beyond one’s control.

16. COMPLAINTS

The consumer must contest without delay any lack in the carrying out of the contract so that the organizer, his local representative or guide can immediately remedy the situation.
The consumer may also make a complaint by sending a registered letter, with a delivery receipt, to the organizer or seller of the travel agency within and no later than ten working days after returning to the departure place.

17. INSURANCE FOR CANCELLATION OR REPATRIATION

If it is not expressly included in the price, it is possible and even advisable to stipulate - at the time of booking with the organizer or the seller of the travel agency - special insurance policies for the costs deriving from the cancellation of the package, accidents and lost or damaged luggage.
It is also possible to stipulate an assistance contract covering the costs of repatriation in case of accident or illness.

18. GUARANTEE FUND

The customer in the case of insolvency or declared failure of the seller of the travel agency or organizer can contact the guarantee fund that has been established at the Head Office for Tourism of the Ministry of Productive Activities in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 of the Legislative Decree 111/95. 
The guarantee fund protects the following needs:

1. refund of the paid price
2. repatriation in case of journeys abroad

The fund must also give immediate availability in case the tourist is obliged to return from non-European countries in the event of an emergency that has been or has not been caused by the organizer’s behaviour. The course of action of the fund is established with a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers dated 27/7/99, number 349 G.U. n. 249 of 12/10/1999 (according to Article 21 n.5 from the Legislative Decree 111/95).

ADDENDUM

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE SALE CONTRACT OF SINGLE TOURIST SERVICES

1. PRESCRIPTIVE INSTRUCTIONS:  the contracts having per object only the service for transport or stay that is to say any other separate tourist service - which can’t be described as organization of a journey that is a tourist package - are subject to the following instructions of the Civil Code: Article 1 n.3 and n.6; paragraph 17 to 23; paragraph. 24 to 31 as far as the plans that are different from the ones regarding the organization contract as well as the other agreements that specifically refer to the selling of a single service that is object of the contract.
2. CONDITIONS OF THE CONTRACT: the following clauses of the above mentioned General Conditions of Contract for the sale of a tourist package may also be applied to such contracts: art. 4 1st paragraph; art. 5; art. 7; art.8; art.9; art. 10 1st paragraph; art. 11; art. 15; art. 17. The application of such clauses determines in no way the structure of the contracts as tourist package.  The terminology of the mentioned clauses regarding the contract of a tourist package  (organizer, trip, etc…) must therefore be intended with reference to the corresponding figures of the sale contract of single tourist services (seller, stay, …).

Compulsory Communication as per Article 16 of the Legislative Decree 269/98.
The Italian law punishes with imprisonment the crimes linked to child prostitution and pornography, even if committed abroad.

Privacy.
All personal data will be handled in the full respect of the instructions of the Legislative Decree 196/2003 and the treatment of these data is direct to the Society’s fulfilment of the services that are object of the tourist package. In any case the personal data will not be passed to third parties and in any moment can be cancelled on the consumer’s demand.

Technical Card:
Tecnical Organization:
DISCOVERY ITALY
Authorization n.170 of 01/30/2006
Professional public liability policy number 158704 of 10/28/2005 by Mondial Assistance Italia S.P.A.

OTHER CONDITIONS THAT DISCOVERY ITALY APPLIES:

Registration fee: a non-refundable compulsory sum has to be paid along with the registration fee, including the fixed costs for booking, insurance for assistance, medical expenses and luggage:  € 13.00 per person.

Tours and trips: the itineraries described in the programmes may sometimes be subject to changes due to operational reasons, or may follow a different chronological order; however the number, the content and the quality of the visits or excursions will not be changed.
At the time of confirmation an itinerary with the definite timetable will be given.
The coach itineraries are subject to a minimum number of participants therefore if this is not reached article 7 of the above written General Conditions regarding the modification or cancellation of a tourist package before the departure will be applied.

Validity of the programme: 01/01/2007 – 31/12/2007

Published prices: the prices of the coach itineraries refer to a required minimum of 20 people: for booked itineraries the quotation must be intended per person.
Any price increase, in particular to entrance fees, tour guides and/or government taxes, will determine the update of the fees.

Conditions of Payment:
Discovery Italy has activated an on-line booking and payment system.
Consult the conditions of the service and the course of operation of the system.