The legal regime applicable to the "partner's expeditions" : discussion of the proper implementation of EU law

Bibliogr. s. 34-37

The article attempts to determine the legal regime applicable to the organization of partner's expeditions, which in recent years have become a more common form of providing services in the field of mountain tourism. The first part of the article characterizes the way of organizing partner's expeditions and highlights their most important features. Next, it is claimed that the limitation of the scope of the Polish Act on Tourist Services only to entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act on Freedom of Economic Activity is incompatible with the Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours. Attention is drawn to two issues - firstly, to the significance of the term "organizer" defined in Art. 2 point 2 of the Polish language version of the Directive, which clearly differs from the other language versions, and secondly, to the restrictive definition of "tourist organizer" in the Art. 3 point 5 of the Act on Tourist Services. Consequently, it is concluded that the definition of an "organizer" under the Act on Tourist Services and its application scope narrowed to only entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act on Freedom of Economic Activity are contrary to the Directive 90/314/EEC , because they do not introduce a minimum standard of protection of the tourist as provided therein. A situation where the level of protection of a tourist (consumer) depends entirely on the organizational form of the entity organizing the package travel is contrary to the purpose of the Directive 90/314/EEC and the wording of its provisions. Subsequently, it is indicated that the services provided by the organizers of partner's expeditions that are not classified as entrepreneurs within the meaning of the Act on Freedom of Economic Activity should be included in the scope of the Act on Tourist Services through the use of consistent interpretation. Additionally, proposals de lege ferenda are submitted and separation of the regulations for the provision of tourist services to a separate act to ensure full effectiveness and compliance with the Directive 90/314/EEC as well as leaving only administrative and legal provisions in the existing Act on Tourist Services are raised for further consideration.