Travel agency : comm ents de lege lata and de lege ferenda : selected issues

The article deals with the institution of travel agency and commodity broking within the scope of touristic services. The paper presents the most important problems related with this institutions, such as term of travel agency, kinds of travel agency or liability of travel agency. The author elaborates regulations of the Act of 29 August 1997 on Touristic Services which is the basic legislative act concerning the issue of travel agency. Under the Act, a travel agent performs actions on the basis of the customer's instruction. Those actions encompass both factual actions and legal acts related with execution of the touristic contracts. The travel agent represents clients as a proxy or as a subsidiary substitute. The further part of article presents issue of liability of travel agents for non-performance or improper performance of a contract. The author also compares principles of liability of travel agents and liability of tour operators indicating similarities and differences between their activities.