Agencies will challenge the ministerial order if it does not exclude them from the travelers' registry

The Corporate Association of Specialized Travel Agencies (ACAVe) and the National Union of Travel Agencies (UNAV) have announced the challenge of the ministerial order for the development of the royal decree that regulates the registration of reservations;n of the ministerial order for the development of the royal decree that regulates the registration of reservations, because the Government “continue “a making deaf ears to the sectoral requests ”, including the exclusion of travel agencies of its application ” n.

In a joint communiqué, both associations report that their legal departments are already working with a specialized law firm to argue their case. They could also turn to the institutions of the United Europe.

For the agencies, the ministerial order “está goingfar beyondá what a rule of that rank competence should regulate, expanding the obligations of travel agencies". In addition, it"s, señalan that still requires them "the communication of data that it is impossible that éstas know at the time of booking”.

According to a joint statement by the presidents of ACAVe and UNAV, Jordi Martí and José Luis Méndez, respectively, “it is a complete dysfunctionality that travel agencies continue to be kept absurdly within this regulation, an aspect, therefore, that we can only regret”.

One of the arguments put forward is that "the Organic Law on Citizen Security does not include travel agencies among the subjects required to provide data on travelers to the Ministry of Interior and these administrative provisions can not incorporate them. They have never been subject to this legal obligation because it lacks justification from the perspective of public safety, they say.

ACAVe and UNAV say that most travel agencies do not have the capacity to cope with the new obligations. Many will need to expand staff with the increased costs that this entails.

A month after the entry into force of the rule, many agencies have stated that the new rules "are collapsing its administrative means", in addition to that there are many operational problems in its implementation, according ú n denounce the associations that represent them.

In Spain, “most agencies are SMEs and micro-SMEs with a very small staff and these steps require an economic investment beyond the reach of many of these companies”, they recall.

They also protest about the “serious commercial impact” that the new legislation is causing: “the international markets are showing their concern about the high volume of personal data that the Ministry of the Interior requires to communicate, as well as about the treatment that will be carried out" of the same.