The Decree on replacement travels – protection for passengers or travel agencies

by ZS Law

On April 30th, the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications announced on its website that on that day’s session the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Decree on the offer of a replacement travel for tourist travel which was canceled or not realized due to the COVID-19 virus.

As stated on the website of the Ministry, the aforementioned Decree enables all citizens who have paid the tourist arrangement by March 15th of this year to have the opportunity to arrange a replacement travel with the agencies, which they can use by December 31st 2021. at the latest.

If the replacement travel isn’t realized by that date, citizens will be entitled to a refund until January 15th 2022.

Depending on the arrangement of the agency and the passenger, the new travel can be realized for the same or another destination, in the amount not less than that which the passenger paid to the agency for the travel which he did not use.

The conclusion of a new travel agreement between the agency and the passenger will be provided by insurance policies.

It could be heard earlier that the State renderd this Decree in order to protect about 500 thousand people who paid their arrangements by March 15th in every way.

Whether this really is the case, or the agencies are actually protected at the expense of the passengers in this way, remains to be seen.

First of all, the content of this Decree does not imply that passengers will be able to arrange a replacement travel with the agencies, but this possibility has been given to the agencies which are able to offer a replacement travel for unrealized tourist travel, paid in full, or in part, by March 15th 2020, irrespective of the period of realization, which is canceled or unrealized during the state of emergency or later, due to circumstances caused by COVID-19 disease induced by SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therefore, if the agencies do not offer replacement travels, passengers are left without this option. It is interesting that the deadline for the agencies to submit this offer is not prescribed by this Decree.

The passengers are given the possibility to accept or decline the replacement offer.

If they accept, a new agreement on the travel organization is concluded, which also includes the number of the issued guarantee of travel in case of insolvency, and for compensation of damages (which is also included in the existing agreement, which is reversed, according to the Decree). The replacement travel can be realized until December 31st 2021.

On the other hand, if the passenger declines the offer, the agency is obliged to make a refund within 14 days of the expiry of the deadline from the previous paragraph, ie by January 14th 2022. (not January 15th, as stated on the  website of the Ministry).

In other words, if the agencies offer a replacement travel, passengers will be able to accept it or decline it, in which case they will have to wait at least 18 months for a refund of the paid amount, when they should be repaid in RSD with no interest. As all arrangements are also paid in RSD equivalent, passengers will be refunded an amount equal to the paid, not revalued amount, which, due to inflation or weakening of the national currency, could be negative for the passengers.

In order to give an answer to the question from the beginning of this text, it is necessary to perceive the situation in which passengers would have found themselves if this Decree had not been rendered. In that case, the general mode of Article 877. of the Law on Obligations would be applied, which stipulates that a passenger can withdraw from an agreement at any time, in whole or in part (paragraph 1), that if the passenger withdraws from the agreement within a reasonable time, determined by the nature of the arrangement (cancellation on a timely basis) the tour operator is only entitled to compensation for administrative costs (paragraph 2), or that in the event of untimely cancellation of the agreement, the tour operator may require the passenger to pay a certain percentage of the agreed upon price determined in proportion to the time remaining until the start of the travel, and which must be economically justified (paragraph 3).

Instead of conclusion: if this Decree passes the assessment of constitutionality and legality (besides the disputed issues related to the restriction of passengers’ property rights, there is also the issue of prohibition of the retroactive enforcement of laws and other general acts), it seems that it was adopted in order to protect travel agencies while the passengers remain in the same (if they accept the offer for a replacement travel which could have been obtained without a Decree, by simple agreement of the contracting parties) or worse situation (if they do not accept the offer they must wait at least 18 months for the refund of the RSD amount of the paid arrangement without interest with all the risks of billing which exist at this time).

For any additional questions regarding this topic, please follow our announcements and/or contact attorney at law Ivan Ljubisavljevic ivan.ljubisavljevic@zslaw.rs or your regular contact at the Zivkovic Samardzic law office.


Uredba o zamenskim putovanjima – zaštita za putnike ili turističke agencije

30. aprila na sajtu Ministarstva trgovine, turizma i telekomunikacije objavljeno je da je na sednici Vlade Republike Srbije tog dana usvojena Uredba o ponudi zamenskog putovanja za turističko putovanje koje je otkazano ili nije realizovano usled bolesti Covid 19.

Kako se navodi na sajtu Ministarstva, pomenutom uredbom omogućeno je da svi građani koji su uplatili turistički aranžman do 15. marta ove godine, imaju mogućnost da sa agencijama dogovore zamensko putovanje koje mogu da iskoriste najkasnije do 31. decembra 2021. godine.

Ukoliko zamensko putovanje ne bude realizovano do pomenutog datuma, građani imaju pravo na povraćaj uplaćenih sredstava do 15. januara 2022. godine.

Novo putovanje se u dogovoru agencije i putnika može realizovati na istoj ili drugoj destinaciji i to u iznosu ne manjem od onog koji je putnik uplatio agenciji za putovanje koje nije iskoristio.

Zaključivanje novog ugovora o putovanju između agencije i putnika će biti obezbeđeno polisama osiguranja.

Ranije se moglo čuti da ovom uredbom država na svaki način želi da zaštiti oko 500 hiljada ljudi koji su do 15. marta uplatili svoje aranžmane.

Da li je to zaista tako ili se na ovaj način zapravo štite agencije nauštrb putnika ostaje da se vidi.

Pre svega, iz sadržine uredbe ne proizlazi da će putnici imati mogućnost da sa agencijama dogovore zamensko putovanje već je ova mogućnost data agencijama koje mogu ponuditi zamensko putovanje za nerealizovano turističko putovanje koje je u celosti ili delimično uplaćeno zaključno sa 15. martom 2020. godine, bez obzira na period realizacije, a koje je otkazano ili nerealizovano u periodu vanrednog stanja ili kasnije usled okolnosti koje su prouzrokovane bolešću COVID-19 izazvane virusom SARS-CoV-2. Dakle, ukoliko agecnije ne ponude zamensko putovanja, putnici ostaju bez ove mogućnosti. Interesantno je da uredbnom nije ostavljen rok u kojem bi agencije trebale da dostave ovu ponudu.

Ono što je putnicima dato jeste mogućnost da prihvate ili ne prihvate zamensku ponudu.

Ukoliko prihvate, zaključuje se  novi ugovor o organizovanju putovanja koji sadrži i broj izdate garancije putovanja za slučaj insolventnosti i radi naknade štete (što inače sadrži i postojeći ugovor koji se kako uredba kaže stornira). Zamensko putovanje moguće je realizovati do 31.12.2021. godine.

Sa druge strane, ukoliko putnik ne prihvati ponudu, agencija je dužna da izvrši povraćaj uplaćenih sredstava u roku od 14 dana od isteka roka iz prethodnog stava, dakle do 14. januara 2022. godine (a ne 15. januara kako se na sajtu Ministarstva navodi).

Drugim rečima, ukoliko agencije ponude zamensko putovanje putnici će moći da isto prihvate ili ne u kom slučaju će za povraćaj uplaćenog iznosa morati da sačekaju najmanje 18 meseci kada bi trebalo da im bude vraćen dinarski iznos uplaćenog aranžmana bez kamate. Budući da su svi aranžmani plaćeni i dinarskoj protivvrednosti, putnicima će biti vraćen iznos koji odgovara uplaćenom, a ne revalorizovanom iznosu, što usled inflacije ili slabljenje nacionalne valute može biti negativno po putnike.

Da bi se mogao dati odgovor na pitanje sa početka ovog teksta, potrebno je sagledati situaciju u kojoj bi se putnici našli da ova uredba nije doneta. U tom slučaju, na odnos putnika i agencije primenjivao bi se opšti režim iz  čl. 877 Zakona o obligacionom odnosu kojim je propisano da putnik može u svakom trenutku odustati od ugovora, potpuno ili delimično (st. 1), da ako putnik pre početka putovanja odustane od ugovora u razumnom roku koji se određuje s obzirom na vrstu aranžmana (blagovremeni odustanak), organizator putovanja ima pravo samo na naknadu administrativnih troškova (st. 2) odnosno da u slučaju neblagovremenog odustanka od ugovora, organizator putovanja može od putnika zahtevati naknadu u određenom procentu ugovorene cene koji se utvrđuje srazmerno vremenu preostalom do početka putovanja i koji mora biti ekonomski opravdan (st. 3).

Umesto zaključka: ukoliko predmetna uredba prođe ocenu ustavnosti i zakonitosti (pored spornih pitanja koji se odnose na ograničavanja imovinskih prava putnika, tu je i pitanje zabrane povratnog dejstva zakona i drugih opštih akata), stiče se utisak da je ista doneta sa ciljem zaštite turističkih agencija dok su putnici u istoj (ukoliko prihvate ponudu za zamensko putovanje do kojeg je moglo doći i bez uredbe, prostim dogovorom ugovornih strana) ili lošijoj situaciju (ukoliko ne prihvate ponudu moraju da čekaju najmanje 18 mesec za povraćaj dinarskog iznosa uplaćenog aranžmana bez kamate sa svim rizicima naplate koji postoje i u ovom trenutku). Ako imate pitanja u vezi sa ovom temom, pratite naše objave i/ili kontaktirajte adv Ivana Ljubisavljevića ivan.ljubisavljevic@zslaw.rs ili Vašu osobu za redovan kontakt u advokatskoj kancelariji Živković Samardžić.

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