Journal of the Charles University Law Faculty
Richard Král
Author’s affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Charles University; Government Legislative Council
On the compatibility of “Lex Voucher” with EU Law
Jurisprudence 3/2020 Section: Discussion Page: 40–43
Keywords: Lex Voucher, compatibility with EU Law, interpretation of EU Directives
Abstract: The article analyses the compatibility of the so called “Lex Voucher” with the EU Directive on package travel. While the Directive lays down in art. 12/4 that in case of termination of the package travel contract due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, the organizer of the travel shall make within 14 days full refund of any payments made by the traveller for the package, Lex Voucher in a reaction to the coronavirus pandemic enables, under certain conditions, to issue a voucher for future package travel and to postpone this refund for up to more than a year. However despite this, Lex Voucher can be considered as compatible with the Directive because systematic and teleological interpretation enable, in the situation of the coronavirus pandemic, a teleological reduction of the Directive and thus a certain deviation from the literal interpretation of art. 12/4 of the Directive.
