Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act, 1995

Information to be provided before conclusion of contract.

12.—(1) Before a contract is made, the organiser (whether directly or through a retailer) shall provide the intending consumer with the following information in writing or in some other appropriate form—

(a) general information about passport and visa requirements which apply to purchase of the package, including information about the length of time it is likely to take to obtain the appropriate passports and visas;

(b) information about health formalities required by national administrations for the journey and the stay;

(c) where the consumer is required as a term of the contract to take out insurance to cover the cost of cancellation by the consumer or the cost of assistance, including repatriation, in the event of accident or illness, the minimum level of insurance cover stipulated by the organiser but so that nothing in this Act authorises an organiser to make it compulsory for the intending consumer to purchase any specified insurance policy;

(d) in the event of insolvency, the arrangements for security for the money paid over and (where applicable) for the repatriation of the consumer.

(2) (a) An organiser who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence unless the contravention is shown to be due to the failure of the retailer to pass on to the intending consumer the information supplied to the retailer by the organiser.

(b) A retailer who fails to provide the intending consumer with the information shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) The obligations of subsection (1) may be fulfilled by referring the intending consumer to such information contained in a brochure supplied to the intending consumer and which complies with sections 10 and 11 (1) and to which no relevant alterations have been made since the brochure was supplied.

(4) Where the consumer is not required as a term of the contract to take out insurance to cover the cost of cancellation by the consumer or the cost of assistance, including repatriation, in the event of accident or illness, the organiser shall, where such is available to him, provide the intending consumer with information about the optional conclusion of an insurance policy to cover those risks.