Traveling Abroad: How to Deal with Legal Disputes

How should tourists respond if a legal dispute arises? This article combines several cases to analyze it for you.

How to deal with an accidental injury while traveling?

Case: Qi signed a travel contract for a 13-day outbound trip to Northern Europe with Travel Agency A on June 1, 2011. Travel Agency A handed over the corresponding contract to Travel Agency B for performance. On the afternoon of June 10, 2011, on the way to Karlstad from Stockholm, Sweden, the bus driver's improper driving caused the tour bus to roll over. Qi suffered multiple fractures in the accident and the tour was interrupted. Qi sued in Beijing and demanded that travel agencies A and B bear medical expenses, disability compensation, and mental damage solatium, totaling more than 180,000 yuan. After trial, the court held that Qi was injured while taking the transportation arranged by the travel agency, and the travel agency should bear the corresponding liability for compensation. Travel agency A handed over the contract to travel agency B without Qi's consent, and both parties must bear joint and several liability. . The judgment supported most of Qi’s claims.

Judge’s Tip: According to statistics, disputes caused by personal injury accidents account for nearly half of the overseas travel lawsuits heard by courts. According to the relevant provisions of the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Tourism Dispute Cases", if a travel agency fails to fulfill its safety guarantee obligations and causes personal injury or property loss to tourists, tourists have the right to request the travel agency to bear responsibility. If the tourism business is transferred without the consent of the tourist, the tourist also has the right to request the transferor and the transferee to bear joint and several liability.

In this case, Qi signed an outbound travel service contract with Travel Agency A. Travel Agency A transferred the tourism business to Travel Agency B without Qi’s consent. During the trip, the transportation provided by the travel agency caused a traffic accident. The accident caused Qi's physical damage, and travel agencies A and B should bear joint liability for compensation. According to the law, if a tourist suffers personal injury or property loss due to the same reason caused by the travel agency, the tourist has the right to choose to require the travel agency to bear breach of contract liability or tort liability. In civil law theory, this is called concurrent civil liability. From the perspective of effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, it is more advantageous for tourists to claim tort liability than to bear breach of contract liability. Because from the perspective of compensation, if tourists claim tort liability, they can claim compensation for mental damages, but if they sue for breach of contract, the court will not support compensation for mental damages. However, in general, the burden of proof is more difficult to choose to sue for tort liability than to sue for liability for breach of contract. Therefore, whether a tourist chooses to sue for breach of contract or infringement should depend on the specific circumstances.

What should I do if my valuables are lost?

Case: On March 3, 2011, Meng and Song (both born in 1938) signed an outbound travel contract with a travel agency to travel to the United States. The agreed accommodation standard was a local Samsung hotel. Double standard. On the afternoon of May 6, 2011, Meng and his wife checked into a hotel in New York. At about 7 a.m. on May 7, Meng and his wife lost their belongings when they went to a restaurant on the first floor for dinner. The team leader Li helped to report the case to the local police. When reporting the crime, the missing items provided by Meng and Song to the police included: US$2,500 in cash, digital cameras and other items. After returning to China, Meng and Song sued a travel agency, believing that the travel agency failed to fully fulfill its safety reminder obligations and that the hotel they stayed in was not up to my country's national standards for three-star hotels, and required the travel agency to compensate for the loss of lost items. After the trial, the court held that the main reason for the loss of Meng and Song's belongings was due to their failure to keep them properly. However, considering that both parties were elderly people in their 70s, and the travel agency did not have sufficient evidence to prove that it had fully fulfilled its safety reminder obligations to elderly tourists. , and there is insufficient evidence to prove that the hotels it provides meet local three-star standards. Therefore, it was judged that a travel agency should bear supplementary liability and compensate the plaintiffs Meng and Song in the amount of RMB 3,000.

The judge reminded: According to the relevant provisions of the "Supreme People's Court's Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Tourism Dispute Cases", the travel agency failed to provide safety guarantees when tourists' personal injuries and property losses were caused by the actions of a third party. If necessary, the travel agency shall bear corresponding supplementary responsibilities. The travel agency in this case did not have sufficient evidence to prove that it clearly reminded the elderly to take good care of their personal belongings during their stay in the hotel, nor did it fully prove that the hotel it provided met the local three-star standards. Therefore, the travel agency had certain faults and should legally handle the property of the two persons. Liability for supplementary compensation if lost. However, since the main reason for the loss of property is that Meng and his wife failed to keep it properly, Meng and his wife need to bear most of the responsibility themselves. Therefore, when traveling abroad, tourists should try their best to keep their belongings properly. If valuables are lost, they must contact the tour guide or group leader and call the police as soon as possible to determine the fact and amount of the lost property.

What should I do if I was not informed of the taxes and fees on items shipped overseas when I was shopping?

In September 2010, Gao signed a travel contract with a travel agency. During the trip, Gao purchased 142,043 yuan of crystal products at a store in Prague, Czech Republic. Afterwards, Gao used FedEx to mail all the goods back to Beijing. After the items arrived at Beijing Customs, because the value of the goods was too high, the customs required Gao to pay 15,815 yuan in taxes and fees. After Gao paid the taxes and fees, he sued the court and claimed that the store where he purchased the items was a designated place in the shopping itinerary. The travel agency did not notify the tax information of the goods returned to the country, which violated the notification obligation. He requested that the travel agency be ruled to bear the taxes and fees.

After hearing the case, the court held that based on the clear provisions of relevant laws and regulations and the stipulations in the contract between the parties, it cannot be deduced that the travel agency’s notification obligation includes entry and exit taxes and fees on items. Therefore, the judgment was made to reject Gao’s claim.

The judge reminded: In the travel contract, the scope of the travel agency’s notification obligation should be determined based on the agreements in the contract between the parties and the clear provisions of relevant laws and regulations. Generally speaking, it involves travel agency qualifications, tourism services such as tours, accommodation, transportation, etc. directly related to the tour itinerary, as well as personal and property safety matters. For some special targets, such as the elderly or those carrying valuables, travel agencies More detailed and specific notifications are needed, but if there are relevant laws and regulations, such as entry and exit taxes and fees for items, etc., if they are not agreed upon in the travel contract, they are not within the scope of notification by the travel agency. Therefore, before traveling abroad, tourists should collect such information in detail, have a general understanding of the relevant situations, increase risk awareness, and avoid additional costs.

The judge reminded: The above cases are only common disputes during overseas travel. In order to protect your own legitimate rights and interests, as a tourist, you should also pay attention to the following points:

First, choose to sign a standardized written contract with a qualified travel agency, read the contract content carefully, and ask the travel agency to clarify any clauses you do not understand. Explain clearly to avoid individual travel agencies using word games to play side games and mislead tourists.

Second, when traveling abroad, tourists should follow the arrangements of travel agencies and tour guides, and try to avoid traveling alone without leaving the group. If they really need to travel alone, they must obtain permission from the tour guide or group leader in advance.

Third, if the travel agency commits breach of contract such as forced shopping, shortening the itinerary, etc., tourists should properly retain relevant evidence and choose appropriate channels to rationally safeguard their rights.

(Source: CPPCC National Committee)