PART IV

Amendment of Transport (Tour Operators and Travel Agents) Act, 1982

26. —(1) The functions set out in subsections (4) and (5) of section 21 , shall be exercisable, for the purposes of the Act of 1982, by a person authorised by the Minister under section 11 of that Act.

(2) A person who—

(a) obstructs or interferes with a person authorised by the Minister under the Act of 1982 in the exercise of functions under that Act shall be guilty of an offence under this Act,

(b) refuses to comply with any request or requirement of a person so authorised in the exercise of functions under that Act shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

27. —Section 2(1) of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for the definitions of “carrier”, “Minister”, “overseas travel contract”, “tour operator” and “travel agent” of the following definitions:

“‘carrier’ means a person (other than a package provider where the package includes transport commencing in the State to destinations outside the State or Northern Ireland) whose principal business is the provision of transport by land, sea or air on aircraft, vessels or other modes of transport owned and operated by such person;

‘the Minister’ means the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications;

‘overseas travel contract’ means a contract for the carriage of a party to the contract (with or without any other person) by air, sea or land transport commencing in the State to a place outside the State or Northern Ireland, whether the provision of the carriage is the sole subject matter of the contract or is associated with the provision thereunder of any accommodation, facility or service;

‘tour operator’ means a person other than a carrier who arranges for the purpose of selling or offering for sale to any person accommodation for travel by air, sea or land transport commencing in the State to destinations outside the State or Northern Ireland or who holds himself out by advertising or otherwise as one who may make available such accommodation, either solely or in association with other accommodation, facilities or other services;

‘travel agent’ means a person other than a carrier who as agent sells or offers to sell to, or purchases or offers to purchase on behalf of, any person, accommodation on air, sea or land transport commencing in the State to destinations outside the State or Northern Ireland or who holds himself out by advertising or otherwise as one who may make available such accommodation, either solely or in association with other accommodation, facilities or services;”,

(b) the insertion of the following definitions:

“‘package’ and ‘package provider’ have the meanings assigned to them by the Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act, 1995;”.

28. —Section 6 of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (5) of the following:

“(5) A licence granted under this Act shall, unless earlier surrendered or revoked, remain in force for such period as the Minister thinks fit and specifies in the licence.”.

29. —Section 8 of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following:

“(2) The Minister may also revoke, or vary the terms and conditions of, a licence granted under this Act if he is no longer satisfied that—

(a) the financial, business and organisational resources of the holder of the licence or any financial arrangements made by him are adequate for discharging his actual and potential obligations in respect of the business for which he has been granted a licence, or

(b) having regard to—

(i) the past activities of the holder of the licence or of any person employed by him or, if such licence holder is a body corporate, having regard to the past activities of any director, secretary, shareholder, officer or servant of the body corporate, or

(ii) the manner in which the holder of the licence is carrying on his business,

he is a fit and proper person to carry on business as a tour operator or travel agent, as the case may be.”.

30. —Section 13 (4) of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (d) of the following paragraph:

“(d) to defray any reasonable expenses incurred by the Minister or, as the case may be, the person nominated or approved of by the Minister as trustee, or provide for any payments to the Minister or trustee on behalf of a customer of a tour operator or travel agent in respect of an overseas travel contract which could not be completed by reason of the inability or failure of the tour operator or travel agent to meet his financial or contractual obligations in relation to such overseas travel contract.”.

31. —(1) Section 18 (1) of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following paragraph:

“(e) to defray any reasonable expenses related to the recovery of monies due under subsection (7) where the Minister is satisfied that in undertaking such expenses there would be a substantial interest in protecting the fund.”.

(2) Section 18 of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection:

“(7) Where payments have been made from the fund under subsection (1), because the Bond is insufficient, the fund shall be an unsecured creditor of the tour operator or travel agent concerned, in respect of such payments.”.

32. —Section 20 of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by:

(a) the substitution in subsection (2) of “£50,000” for “£10,000”,

(b) the substitution in subsection (4) of “£1,500” for “£500”,

(c) the insertion of the following subsection—

“(6) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section the court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing, order that person to pay to the Minister the costs and expenses, measured by the Court, incurred by the Minister in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence.”.

33. —Section 22 of the Act of 1982 is hereby amended by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following:

“(2) The provisions of section 382 of the Companies Act, 1963 shall extend to every body corporate (whether or not a company within the meaning of the Act) charged on indictment with an offence under section 20 of this Act.”.

34. —The High Court may, on the application of the Minister, make orders requiring persons engaging or proposing to engage in any practices, business or activities as are, or are likely to be, contrary to the obligations imposed on them by any provision of the Act of 1982 to discontinue or refrain from such practices, business or activities.