Request for a preliminary ruling from the Handelsgericht Wien (Austria) lodged on 24 May 2023 – DocLX Travel Events GmbH v Bundesarbeiterkammer
(Case C-320/23, Bundesarbeitskammer)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Handelsgericht Wien
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: DocLX Travel Events GmbH
Defendant: Bundesarbeitskammer
Questions referred
The following questions concerning Article 12 of Directive (EU) 2015/2302 1 of the European Parliament and of the Council are referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union under Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU):
Must the reasonableness, and therefore the amount, of the termination fee be examined by reference to when the organiser’s offer was made, when the package travel contract was concluded, when the traveller made a declaration of termination, when the package was scheduled to end, or some other point in time?
Must the reasonableness, and therefore the amount, of the termination fee be examined on the basis of a commercially and economically correct calculation of that amount or on the basis of other criteria, such as, for example, a standardised estimate based on a percentage of the price of the package?
Must that provision be interpreted as meaning that, where the termination fee agreed in the package travel contract is unreasonably high, the organiser retains his or her right to the payment of a reasonable termination fee (as determined by the answers to Questions 1 and 2) or must that fee be calculated specifically on the basis of the actual disadvantage to the organiser, or does the organiser lose that right altogether?
Is it possible, for the purposes of assessing the reasonableness of the termination fee, in particular where that fee was agreed on a standardised basis, to apply national law, inasmuch as this allows the court to set the amount of a claim at its own discretion if the proceedings are expected to be disproportionately expensive?
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1 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC (OJ 2015 L 326, p. 1).