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For the online sale of package tours and individual tourist services
Publisched in accordance with art- 12, paragraph 3 of Legislative Decree no. 70 of 9.4.2003
SECTION A
PACKAGE TOURS - ORGANIZATION OF TRAVELS
1. LAW SOURCES
The sale of package tours which include services provided both in the territory of Italy and abroad is regulated by Law no. 1984 of 27/12/1977 which ratifies and implements the International Convention on Travel Contracts (hereinafter: CCV), signed in Brussels on 23.4.1970, as applicable and until its abrogation pursuant to art. 3 of Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23/05/2011 (hereinafter the "Tourism Code") as well as by Arts. 32-51 of the above mentioned Tourism Code as amended. In addition to that, sales made via the Internet are also subject to the laws on electronic commerce, that is Legislative Decree no. 70/2003
2. GENERAL INFORMATION
We hereby declare, also for the purpose of compliance to art. 7 of Legislative Decree no. 70/2003, the following:
3. DEFINITIONS
Pursuant to Art. 33 of the Tourism Code and for the purposes of these general terms and conditions the following definitions shall apply:
a) Tour Organiser: the person (legal or natural) who undertakes, in its own name and with a consideration paid as a lump-sum payment, to procure package tours to third parties, thus combining the elements described in article 4 or offering the tourist, also by means of a long distance communications system the tools to build up and buy such a tour;
b) Tourist: the buyer and transferee of a package tour or any other person that satisfies all the conditions required for the use of the service, on whose behalf the contractor agrees to purchase a package tour without consideration;
c) Portal: the ICT platform, called www.bolognawelcome.it managed by Bologna Welcome srl, with both open or restricted access pages (the latter requiring registration) with URLs www.bolognawelcome.it and www.bolognawelcome.com. In the Portal the tourists may obtain information but also buy Package Tours/Travel Services via e-commerce services.
4. THE CONCEPT OF PACKAGE TOUR
4.1 Under art. 34 of the Tourism Code Package Tours include travels, holidays, "all-inclusive" offers, cruises and any other tourism experience which combines, in any possible way, at least two of the following elements, sold or offered for sale at a fixed (lump sum) price: a) transport; b) accommodation; c) tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and described in art. 36 which represent a significant part of the "package" from the point of view of the tourist's recreational needs. It follows that both the purchase of prearranged combinations of services via the Portal and the purchase of two or more individual services through the same Portal by the tourist and their subsequent combination constitute a Package Tour pursuant to article34 of Tourism Code.
4.2 The tourist is entitled to receive a copy of the contract for the Package Tour services, drafted in accordance with the procedures set forth in Art. 35 of Tourism Code. The contract grants the right to access the Guarantee Fund referred to in art. 21.
5. TOURIST INFORMATION - TECHNICAL SHEET
5.1 In addition to these general conditions of contract, published in the Portal, the Organiser shall insert in the catalogue or in the custom tour plan (meaning both the printed version of the material and the electronic one, published and downloadable from the Portal) a technical data sheet. The technical sheet of the catalogue or custom tour plan shall contain the following mandatory elements, provided they are not already contained in these General Contract Conditions:
5.2. The Organiser shall also insert in the technical sheet any additional special conditions.
5.3 The Organiser shall provide, before the tourist commences the journey, all indications and information on the package tour not contained in the contract documents, brochures or other written media as required by art. 37, paragraph 2 of Tourism Code.
5.4 Upon contract conclusion the Organiser shall also provide the passengers with information about the actual carrier(s) used for the journey, subject to the provisions of article. 11 of EC Regulation no. 2111/2005, and it shall also inform passengers in case the carrier(s) has/have been included in the so-called"Black list" under that same Regulation.
6. RESERVATIONS - Pre-contract information - Procedure for concluding the contract (art. 12 of Legislative Decree no. 70/2003)
6.1 The reservation proposal must be made on an online form located in the relevant section of the portal. The form shall, in accordance with art. 13, paragraph 2 of Legislative Decree 70/2003 contain the essential features of the package tour, the details of the price and terms of payment, the information on the waiver of right to withdrawal pursuant to Art. 52 of Legislative Decree 6.9.2005, n. 206 and all information on penalties due from the tourist in case of the latter's unilateral withdrawal from the contract.
6.2 After filling in the form and confirming it the tourist may submit the form: the booking system shall generate an automatic email notification that will be sent to the customer, to the Organiser and to any suppliers; said email shall be regarded as a receipt pursuant to art. 13, paragraph II, Legislative Decree no. 70/2003.
6.3 The User can edit and correct any errors in data entry before submitting the proposal of reservation. To this end, Bologna Welcome Srl offers tourists the following means to enable detection/correction of any input errors: A special section on the home page of the portal, accessed via username and password created during the registration process, and an email address:incoming@bolognawelcome.it.
6.4 The Tour Organisation Contract shall be regarded as concluded only when Bologna Welcome Srl informs the tourist that the reservation has been confirmed by sending an automatic email notification.
6.5 Both the reservation proposal and its confirmation shall be considered received when the system automatically sends them and no error message is generated.
6.6 The Tour Organisation Contract shall be stored in the relevant section of the portal and the tourists may to access it directly from the home page with their access credentials. Any further information on collection; treatment and storage of personal data is described in full detail in the "Privacy conditions" document, which is available for reading and download.
6.7 These "General Contract Conditions" are available in Italian and in English.
7. PAYMENTS
7.1 The amount of downpayment, which cannot exceed 25% of the price of the Tour Package, and which shall be paid upon ordering/booking or upon submitting a legally binding request and the date of payment of the outstanding balance of the aforesaid amount shall be described in the catalogue, custom tour plan or in any specific instructions published by the Tour Organiser and also, at the time of booking, in the Offers and Accommodation sections in the Portal.
7.2 Failure to pay the above mentioned amounts by the due dates constitutes grounds for termination of Contract by right on part of the Organiser pursuant to Art. 1456 of Civil Code.
8. PRICE
8.1 The price of the package is specified in the contract and references the catalogue or the custom tour plan and subsequent updates thereof, all published in and downloadable from the Offers and Accommodation sections of the Portal. The price may be changed, pursuant to art. 40 of the Tourism Code, up to 20 days prior to departure (this time period includes the notice sending day) only as a result of changes in:
8.2 All of these changes and adjustments will refer to and make use of the exchange rates and costs/fees in use at the date the travel plan is published (as stated in the technical sheet) or at the date of the relevant update.
8.3 Fluctuations in said costs shall affect the lump sum price of the package in the percentage indicated in the catalogue or custom tour plan.
9. CHANGE OR CANCELLATION OF THE PACKAGE TOUR BEFORE DEPARTURE
9.1 Before departure, the Organiser or the Agent who may need to significantly change one or more elements of the contract shall immediately notify this fact in writing to the Tourist, indicating the type of change and the new price.
9.2 If the proposed change is not accepted, the tourist shall have the right to either be returned the money already paid or be offered a replacement package tour pursuant to the 2nd and 3rd paragraph of Article 10.
9.3 The tourist can exercise the rights provided for above even when the cancellation depends on the failure to reach the minimum number of participants required by the catalogue or the custom tour plan or in cases of force majeure or fortuitous events related to the purchased package tour.
9.4 For cancellations other than those caused by force majeure, by accident and failure to reach the number of participants and non-acceptance by the tourist of the alternative tourist package offered , the cancelling Organiser (Art. 33 letter. e) of Legislative Decree 206/2005) shall return to the tourist an amount twice higher than what was paid to and collected by the Organiser. The refunded sum shall never be higher than double the whole amount the tourist, pursuant to Art. 10, paragraph 4 would have to pay if he/she had cancelled the journey.
10. WITHDRAWAL OF TOURIST
10.1 The tourist can withdraw from the contract without paying penalties in the following cases:
10.2 In all the cases above the tourist shall be entitled, alternatively, to:
10.3 The tourist must communicate his decision (to accept the change or withdraw) no later than two business days from the receipt of the notice of increase or change. If no notice of refusal or acceptance is issued within this deadline the proposal made by the Organiser is regarded as accepted.
10.4 The tourist who withdraws from the contract before the departure for reasons outside those described in paragraph 1 above or in the case provided for by art. 7, paragraph 2, will be charged with the following, regardless of whether the downpayment set forth in art. 7 paragraph 1 has been paid: the administration and management costs for the tour, the penalty as indicated in the technical data sheet of the catalogue or custom tour plan and any amount covered by insurance policies already requested at the time the contract has been concluded or related to other services already provided.
10.5 In case of group tours the individual amounts shall be agreed on a case by case basis when the contract is signede.
11. CHANGES AFTER DEPARTURE
11.1 If, after the tourist's departure for the journey, the Organiser has the need to modify a significant part of the services provided to the Tourist for any reason other than a personal reason of the Tourist the Organiser shall provide alternative solutions without price charges for the tourist. Should the alternative services provided be of lesser value than the contract ones the Organiser shall refund the price difference to the Tourist.
11.2 If it is not possible to offer any alternative service, or the solution offered by the Organiser is refused by the Tourist for proven and justified reasons, the Organiser will provide without additional charge a means of transport equivalent to that originally planned for the return to the place of departure or to any other agreed place, consistent with the availability of such means and places, and it also shall reimburse the difference between the cost of the intended services and the services performed up to the time of early return.
12. TOURIST SUBSTITUTION
12.1 The Tourist may be substituted by another person provided that:
a) the Organiser is informed in writing of the substitution at least 4 working days before the departure date and it is also informed of the reasons for the substitution and the details of the new Tourist;
b) the new Tourist meets all the requirements for the use of the service (pursuant to art. 39 of Tourism Code) and in particular the requirements related to or passports, visas, health certificates;
c) it is still possible to supply the same services or other services to the new Tourist;
d) the new Tourist reimburses the Organiser all the additional expenses needed to substitute the Tourist; the amount of said expenses shall be quantified before the transfer.
12.2 The old Tourist and the new Tourist are jointly and severally liable for the payment of the balance of the price and of the amounts referred to in subparagraph d) of this Article.
12.3 Any additional terms and conditions of Tourist substitution are indicated in the technical sheet referred to in art. 5.
13. DUTIES FOR TOURISTS
13.1 During the negotiations and before the contract is concluded, the citizens belonging to the European Union Member States shall be given written general information - updated to the date of printing of the catalogue - pertaining to health obligations and to the necessary travel documents. The non-EU citizens, instead, shall collect the corresponding information through their diplomatic representatives in Italy and/or through the respective official and governmental information channels.
13.2 In any case all tourists shall take care, before the departure, to verify that said information are up-to-date by checking them up with the relevant authorities (for Italian citizens the closest Police Headquarters or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the site www. viaggiaresicuri.it or the Central Telephone Information Centre number 06.491115) and adapt themselves to the information received. Failure to verify the information relieves the broker or the Organiser from any responsibility for the Tourist's being unable to actually depart for the journey.
13.3 Consumers must inform the Organiser of their citizenship and, before departure, they shall make sure they have all vaccination certificates, personal passport and any other document required for all the countries reached by the journey as well as any required visa and health certificates, and that all such documents are fully valid.
13.4 In addition to that, in order to assess the health and security of the countries of destination and, therefore, the actual usability of services purchased or to be purchased, the tourist shall retrieve (making use of information sources referred to in subsection 2) the official general information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that lists all the officially non-recommended destinations: should the Tourist choose to nonetheless acquire the package tour and travel to said destination(s) the Tourist will willingly accept all the risks of the journey, also for the purpose of relieving of responsibilities as per art.46 of the Tourism Code.
13.5 Consumers shall also follow the general rules of prudence and diligence and the specific behaviour rules in force in the countries of destination, complying with all the information provided by the Organiser, as well as with rules, regulations and laws related to the package tour. The consumers shall be liable for all damages that the Organiser and/or Agent may suffer also because of their failure to comply with the above mentioned obligations, including the costs necessary for their repatriation.
13.6 The Tourist shall provide the Organiser with all documents, information and evidence in its possession relevant to the Tourist's right to exercise the right of subrogation, pursuant to art. 48 of the Tourism Code against third parties responsible for the damage and is responsible to the Organiser for any prejudice to the right of subrogation.
13.7 The Tourist shall also communicate in writing to the Organiser, at the time of booking, any special personal requests that may be the subject of specific agreements on the travel arrangements, provided said requests can actually be satisfied.
13.8 The Tourist is obliged to inform the Organiser of any needs or special conditions that might affect the journey (pregnancy, food allergies, disabilities, etc ...) and to explicitly specify any special or customised service required.
14. HOTEL CLASSIFICATION
14.1 The official classification of hotels provided in the catalogue or in other information material is based exclusively on formal indications of the relevant classification authority of the country where the service is provided.
14.2 In absence of official classifications recognized by public authorities of the countries members of the EU where the service is provided, the Organiser reserves the right to provide in the catalogue or brochure a description of the accommodation in order to allow the Tourist to evaluate and choose it.
15. LIMITS TO THE RESPONSABILITY
The Organiser is liable for damages caused to Tourists as a result of partial or full breach of contract, regardless of contract services being provided directly by the Organiser or by third party service providers, unless the Organiser proves that the event was caused by actions of the Tourist (including initiatives taken by the Tourist during the enjoyment of tourist services) or by the unforeseeable or unavoidable action of a third party, by unavoidable circumstances outside the scope of the services provided under this contract, by accident, by force majeure, or by circumstances that the Organiser could not, according to professional diligence, reasonably foresee or forestall.
16. CIVIL LIABILITY INSURANCE - COMPENSATION LIMITS
16.1 The compensation pursuant to Articles 44, 45 and 47 of the Tourism Code and its limits and expiry are governed by the provision in this document and in any case by the limits established by the CCV and by the International Conventions governing the services included in package tours as well as by Articles 1783 and 1784 of Civil Code.
16.2 For such compensation Bologna Welcome srl is covered by a special civil liability insurance, described in art. 2 above.
17. OBLIGATION TO ASSIST
17.1 The Organiser shall provide assistance to tourists in compliance with the professional diligence criterion only and exclusively for what concerns the obligations provided for by the laws in force or by this contract.
17.2 The Organiser and the Agent are exempted from their responsibilities set forth in Articles 15 and 16 if and when their improper performance or non-performance of contract obligation is attributable to the Tourist, or depends on an unforeseeable or unavoidable action by a third party or was caused by a fortuitous or force majeure event.
18. COMPLAINTS
The Tourist shall report any non-compliance of the contract suffered during their use of the package tour by promptly submitting a compliant so that the Organiser, its local representative or the tourist guide can remedy the situation promptly. Failure to do so will cause a reduction or the total cancellation of compensation of damages pursuant to art. 1227 of Civil Code.
The tourist shall also file a complaint by sending a registered letter with return receipt or other means guaranteeing proof of receipt to the Organiser, not later than ten working days from the Tourist's return to the journey's starting place. Failure to do so will void the complaint.
19. INSURANCE AGAINST CANCELLATION AND RETURN COSTS
Unless these are not explicitly included in the package price, we recommend to subscribe, at the Organiser's office at the time of booking, a special insurance policy to cover costs related to package tour cancellation, injury and loss or damage to luggage. It is also possible to enter into a service contract covering the return travel to the Tourist's country in case of accidents, illness and/or force majeure. The Tourist shall exercise the rights under these contracts exclusively with Insurance Companies with which the policies have been stipulated at the terms and conditions and in the manner provided by these policies.
20. TOOLS FOR ALTERNATIVE RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES
In compliance with the provisions of art. 67 of Tourism Code the Organiser may propose to the Tourist alternative modalities to solve disputes, either on the catalogue, the web site or elsewhere. In this case the Organiser shall detail the various types of alternative methods s and the effects that they have.
21. GUARANTEE FUND
If these are not expressly included in the cost, it is possible and advisable, to request a special insurance policy regarding costs deriving from the cancellation of the Organised Package Holiday, injury, and baggage loss or damage. This can be done at the moment of order/reservation in the offices of the Travel Organiser or of the Intermediary. It is also possible to request an assistance contract which covers expenses related to repatriation in the case of injury or disease.
SECTION B:
PACKAGE TOUR OR INDIVIDUAL TOURIST SERVICES AGENCY SERVICES
22. LAW SOURCES
The Tourism Services Agency Contract is governed by Law no. 1984 of 27/12/1977 which ratifies and implements the International Convention on Travel Contracts (hereinafter: CCV), signed in Brussels on 23.4.1970, as applicable and until its abrogation pursuant to art. 3 of Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23/05/2011 (hereinafter the "Tourism Code"); in particular articles 1, 3, 6, 17-23 and 24-31 (only the provisions that do not apply to the tour organisation contract) as well as Civil Code provisions on mandate (articles: 1703 – 1730).
22-BIS. GENERAL INFORMATION
We hereby declare, also for the purpose of compliance to art. 7 of Legislative Decree no. 70/2003, the following:
23. DEFINITIONS
23.1 Agent: a subject (who may operate also not for profit and may not be a professional) who sells or undertakes to procure package tours pursuant to art. 34 of Tourism Code (with a lump-sum payment) or individual tourist services.
23.2 Individual tourist services: Services provided by the Tourism Companies described in art. 4 of the Tourism Code or by the professionals described in art. 6 of Tourism Code (such as for example: transportation, hotel, car rental, guide, tourist guide or interpreter) offered individually, as well as all services that are not usually considered part of the definition of "pre-arranged combination" of services that constitutes a Package Tour in accordance with the laws in force.
23.3 Tourism Services Agency Contract: a contract, requiring a consideration, concerning the appointment, by the Tourist, of travel agencies with the task to procure a contract for the sale of package tours by third parties or the delivery of a single service provided by a third party supplier.
23.4 Agency fee: the fee due from the Tourist to the Agent to carry out the works included in the mandate given by the contract referred to in the previous paragraph.
24. RESPONSIBILITIES
The Agent is not liable under any circumstances for the obligations arising from the contract brokered, including refunds and compensation, but is solely responsible, within the limits of professional diligence, for the obligations arising from its position and the accomplishment of the task of researching the supplier of the service provider required by the Tourist and for assistance to the signing of the relevant contract. The Agent, pursuant to art. 35 of the Tourism Code, shall deliver a copy of the contract of the tour brokered to the Tourist or of the individual documents, signed (also by electronic signature) by the Agent, for the individual tourism services. These documents or the invoices for them shall detail the amounts paid for the service.
25. REVOCATION OF THE AGENCY MANDATE
Tourists can revoke for just cause the mandate bestowed via the Contract of Agency at any time before it is executed, provided they refund the Agent of the administrative and management expenses indicated in the contract. Should the revocation occur after the beginning of the execution of the mandate, the Tourist shall also pay any penalty, agency fee or administrative fee specified in the contract, in addition to what is stated in art. 1720 of Civil Code and in art. 1725 of Civil Code, should the revocation lack the just cause.
26. PAYMENT. TERMINATION CLAUSE
In case the Tourist fails to pay the sums owed by the Agent to for the Agency fee or any other reason, including any downpayment, or other amounts due required to fulfil the mandate, pursuant to art. 1719 of Civil Code, - Bologna Welcome Srl may terminate the agency contract with a written letter, pursuant to art. 1456 of Civil Code, without prejudice to the rights under Article 1720 of Civil Code.
27. AGENT APPOINTMENT PROPOSAL - PRE-CONTRACT INFORMATION - PROCEDURE FOR ENTERING AGENCY CONTRACTS (ART. 12 OF LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO.70/2003)
27.1 The proposal for appointment of an Agent for buying Package Tours or individual tourist services shall be drafted on the downloadable form in the Offers/ and Accommodation section of the Portal which contains, pursuant to art. 13, paragraph 2 of Legislative Decree no. 70/2003, the essential features of the package/service, the detailed price of the agency activity and the payment terms as well as the penalties or economic conditions resulting from the termination of the mandate.
27.2 After filling in the form and confirming it the tourist may submit the form: the booking system shall generate an automatic e-mail notification that will be sent to the customer, to the Organiser and to any suppliers; said e-mail shall be regarded as a receipt pursuant to art. 13, paragraph II, Legislative Decree no. 70/2003.
27.3 The tourist can edit and correct any errors in data entry before submitting the proposal of appointment. To this end, Bologna Welcome Srl offers tourists the following means to enable detection / correction of any input errors: A special section on the home page of the portal, accessed via username and password created during the registration process, and the email address incoming@bolognawelcome.it.
27.4 The Tourism Services Agency Contract is regarded as concluded only when Bologna Welcome Srl informs the tourist that the contract has been confirmed by sending an automatic e-mail notification.
27.5 Both the contract proposal and its confirmation shall be considered when the system automatically sends them and no error message is generated.
27.6 The Tour Services Organisation Contract shall be stored in the detail in the "PRIVACY" document, which is available for reading and download.
27.7 These "General Contract Conditions" are available in Italian and in English.
28. APPLICABLE LAW AND COURT HAVING JURISDICTION
The following "Terms and Conditions of Sale" are subject to the laws indicated in Articles 1 and 22.
Any dispute concerning the validity, effectiveness, interpretation and/or execution of the Tour Organisation/Tourism Services Agency Contracts with Bologna Welcome Srl shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Bologna (Italy) with the exclusion of any other judicial authority, but without prejudice to the possible application of mandatory provisions of law including, where applicable, those dictated by the Consumer Code.
29. MANDATORY STATEMENT
Mandatory statement pursuant to Article 16 of Law no.26 9/98 .
The Italian law punishes with imprisonment all crimes related to prostitution and child pornography, even if they have been committed abroad.
* * * * *
I declare that I have carefully read and assessed the content of the extended general terms and conditions and I agree fully and unconditionally, in accordance with Articles 1341 and 1342 of the Civil Code, with the clauses in the following provisions, also for the purpose of excluding the presumption of unfairness in art. 33 of Legislative Decree No.206 /2005 (Consumer Code)
Art. 7.2 Termination clause
Art. 10.4 Unilateral withdrawal of Tourists - Penalties and charges
Art. 13 Obligations of tourists - exemption of organiser from responsibilities
Art. 15 Limits to the responsibility
Art. 16 Compensation limits
Art. 17 Obligation to assist
Art. 18 Complaints - expiry
Art. 24 Liability of the Agent - limits and exclusions
Art. 25 Revocation of the mandate - compensation and refunds
Art. 26 Payment - Termination clause
Art. 28 Applicable law and Court having jurisdiction