General conditions

1. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. NOTION OF TRAVEL PACKAGE

Granted that:
a) the organiser and the seller of a travel package, whom the consumer addresses, must be in possession of the administrative authorisation to the fulfilment of their activities;
b) the consumer has the right to receive a copy of the travel package sale contract (in accordance with the article 85 Cod. Consumo), which is an essential document to access, if necessary, the Guarantee Fund (see art. 18 of the present General Conditions).
The notion of travel package (art. 84 Cod. Consumo) is as follows: the object of travel packages are travels, holidays and “all-inclusive” circuits, resulting from the prefixed combination of, at least, two of the elements indicated in succession, sold or offered on sale at a flat rate price and lasting more than 24 hours or, to be more precise, at least one night:

a) transfer
b) accommodation
c) tourist facilities, which are not accessory to transfer or accommodation (omissis) ... which constitute a “travel package” significant part.

2. LEGISLATIVE SOURCE

The travel package selling and buying, regarding facilities to provide both within the own country and abroad, will be disciplined by the law 27/12/1977 no 1084, ratifying and executing the International Convention concerning the travel contract (CCV), signed in Brussels on 23.4.1970, applicable also by the Cod. Consumo (Consume Code).

3. COMPULSORY INFORMATION – TECHNICAL SHEET

The organiser has to write a technical sheet in the catalogue or in the program out of the catalogue. The compulsory elements to write in the catalogue technical sheet or in the program outside the catalogue are:
- data of the organiser administrative authorisation;
- data of the liability insurance;
- period of validity of the catalogue, of the program out of the catalogue or of the made-to-measure travel;
- modalities and substitution conditions (article 89 Cod. Consumo)
- exchange rate.

4. BOOKING

The booking must be made in the apposite booking form. If this is via computer, every blank must be fulfilled and signed up by the client, who will receive a copy. The booking will be intended as accepted and the contract agreement will be reached only when the organiser sends the respective confirmation, through e-mails too, to the client by the selling travel agency.
The information concerning the travel package which is not indicated in contractual documents, brochures and other written means of communications, will be provided by the organiser before the start of the holiday, as written in the article 87 paragraph 2 Cod. Consumo.

5. PAYMENTS

The deposit, up to 25% of the total holiday cost, to pay in at the moment of the reservation or of the confirmation, and the date by which the customer must pay the full balance before the departure are written in the brochure, in the catalogue or in other written material. The lack of payment of the amount above by the established dates is a written resolutory clause, which gives the travel agency and the organizer the right to cancel the contract.

CHARTER PAYMENTS
The deposit, up to 25% of the total charter cost, to pay in at the moment of the reservation or of the confirmation. A second deposit is due 4 months before departure while the remaining amount is due no later than 40 days before departure.

6. PRICES

The travel package price is determined in the contract with reference to what is indicated in the catalogue, in the program out of the catalogue or in their possible adjournments subsequently happened. The price may vary until 20 days before the departure and only in consequence of the variation of :
- transportation costs, including fuel cost
- taxes on some typology of touristic services, such as landing, embarkation and disembarkation tax in harbours or airports;
- exchange rates concerning the travel package in question
For these variations we will refer to the course of the exchange rates and of the costs above in operation at the program publication date, as reported in the catalogue technical sheet, or at the date reported in the eventual updating above.
Fluctuations will weigh upon the travel package flat rate price in the percentage clearly indicated in the catalogue technical sheet or in the program out of the catalogue.

7. TRAVEL PACKAGE MODIFICATION OR CANCELLATION BEFORE THE DEPARTURE

Before the departure the organiser or the seller who needs to modify significantly one or more elements of the contract must immediately give warning to the customer in writing, by indicating the kind of modification and the consequent price variation.
In case the consumer does not accept the modification suggested (paragraph 1), he may ask for a full refund or take an alternative holiday, in accordance with article 8, 2nd and 3rd paragraph.
The consumer may exercise any of the rights listed above also in case the cancellation depends on the lack of attainment of the minimum number of participants, as indicated in the catalogue or in the program out of the catalogue, in cases of force majeure and in fortuitous case, concerning the travel package the customer have bought.
In case of cancellations which are not due to force majeure, fortuitous case, lack of attainment of the minimum number of participants, nor to the customer’s lack of acceptation of the alternative travel package, the cancelling organiser (art. 33 lett. e Cod. Consumo), will give the customer back twice the amount of money he had paid and the organiser had received, through the travel agent.
The sum of the refund will be never bigger than twice the amount already paid by the client in accordance with the article 8, 4th paragraph, in case the client cancels the reservation.

8. CUSTOMER’S WITHDRAWAL

The customer may withdraw from the contract, without paying a penalty, in the following cases :
- price increase (see art. 6) of more than 10%;
- significant modification of one or more contract elements, objectively defined as fundamental in order to make use of the whole travel package. Such a modification must be suggested by the organiser between the confirm of the contract and the departure and refused by the consumer.
In the cases listed above, the consumer has alternatively right to:
- make use of an alternative travel package, without surcharges or with the refund of the difference in case the second package is worth less than the first one ;
- the refund of the already paid money. This refund will have to be made by seven workdays from the moment of the receipt of the demand for refund.
The consumer will have to communicate his own decision (acceptation of modification or withdrawal) no later than two workdays since he has received the notice of the increase or modification.
In case there is no communication within that deadline, the organiser’s suggestion is intended to be accepted.
The customer withdrawing the contract before the departure out of the cases listed in the first paragraph will have to pay – independently on the payment of the deposit (see art. 5/1° paragraph) – the individual administration cost and the penalty, as indicated in the technical sheet in the catalogue, in the program out of the catalogue or in the made-to-measure travel.
As regards groups established in advance, these sums will be arranged at every contract signature.

CANCELLATION PENALTIES

Customers withdrawing the contract before the departure out of the cases listed in the previous paragraph of this article will have to pay as penalty, independently on the payment of the deposit as prescribed in the article 5, €. 30,00 as entry fee and the following participation fee percentages, calculated on the basis of how many days before the start of the travel the cancelation happened (the count of the days does not include that of the withdrawal, whose communication must be received in a workday prior to the start of the travel):

A – Cycling and walking tours

withdrawal until 31 days prior to holiday start date – 10% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 30 to 21 days prior to holiday start date – 25% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 20 to 11 days prior to holiday start date – 50% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 10 to 4 days prior to holiday start date – 75% of total holiday cost
withdrawal within 3 days prior to holiday start date – 100% of total holiday cost

B – Bike & Boat tours individual reservations

withdrawal until 60 days prior to holiday start date – 20% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 59 to 31 days prior to holiday start date – 30% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 30 to 21 days prior to holiday start date – 50% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 20 to 11 days prior to holiday start date – 70% of total holiday cost
withdrawal within 10 days prior to holiday start date – 100% of total holiday cost

Verde Natura is entitled to cancel the tour at the latest 21 days before the departure date, if there are less than 8 participants booked. Verde Natura will inform the client of this cancellation and will refund to the client the same import that has been paied for the concerned tour.

C – Charter

withdrawal until 180 days prior to holiday start date – 20% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 179 to 150 days prior to holiday start date – 30% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 149 to 120 days prior to holiday start date – 40% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 119 to 90 days prior to holiday start date – 50% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 89 to 60 days prior to holiday start date – 60% of total holiday cost
withdrawal from 59 to 30 days prior to holiday start date – 90% of total holiday cost
withdrawal within 29 days prior to holiday start date – 100% of total holiday cost

The same sums will be paid by people who cannot travel owing to the lack or the irregularity of personal expatriation documents. There is no refund for travellers who decide to stop the travel or the stay already started.

9. MODIFICATION AFTER THE DEPARTURE

In case the organiser finds himself in the impossibility, except for client’s fault, of providing the customer already on place, with an essential part of services written in the contract, he will have to find alternative solutions, without the customer paying surcharges. In case the provided services are worth less than expected, he has to refund him the difference between the paid sum and the services provided. In case there is no alternative solution or the solution arranged by the organiser is refused by the customer for honest and justified reasons, the organiser will provide, without any surcharges, a mean of transport equivalent to the prescribed original one to come back to the starting point or to another place previously decided, compatibly with the availability of means and of its places and he will refund him the difference between the cost of the expected services and that of the services made until the moment of the anticipated return.

10. SOSTITUTIONS

The defeatist client may be substituted by another person provided that :
a. the organiser receives a written information indicating cessionary’s particulars at least 4 workdays before the holiday starts b. the substitute satisfies all the conditions for the service fruition (ex art. 89 Cod. Consumo) and in particular requirements concerning passports, visas, health certificates;
c. the following participant reimburses the organiser for all the extra expanses necessary to that procedure, as quantified before the cession. The releaser and the substitute are both responsible for the full balance payment and for the amount as at letter c) of this paragraph. Further modalities and substitution conditions are indicated in the technical sheet.

11. PARTICIPANT’S DUTIES

Participants will have to bring with themselves an individual passport or another document valid for all the countries of the itinerary, an entry permit and health certificates which may be requested. They must observe rules of prudence and diligence and those taking effect in the destination countries, all the information provided by the organiser, rules, administrative and legislative dispositions concerning the travel package. Participants will be held responsible for all the damages the organiser may suffer owing to their non-fulfilment of the obligations examined above.
The consumer must provide the organiser with all the documents, the information and all the elements he owns, which are useful to exercise the right of substitution of the organiser towards a third party liable of the damage and he is responsible to the organiser for the damage made to the right of substitution.
The consumer will also communicate in writing to the organiser, at the moment of the booking, particular personal requests which may lead to specific agreements on the travel modalities, if its accomplishment is possible.

12. HOTEL GRADING

The hotel official classification is provided in the catalogue or in the other informative material only on the basis of expressed and formal indication of the competent country authorities where the service is given. In the absence of official classifications recognised by the competent public authorities of the countries – even EU members – where the service is provided, the organiser reserves the faculty to provide in the catalogue or in the leaflet his own hotel description, which could allow the customers to evaluate the suggestion and, after, confirm it.

13. RESPONSABILITIES
The organiser responds to damages caused to the consumer in case of total or partial non-fulfilment of the services written in the contract, if these are done both by himself and by other service suppliers, unless he is able to show the event is due to the consumer’s behaviour (including independent initiatives taken by the traveller during the holiday), to circumstances extraneous to the supply of the services prescribed in the contract, to fortuitous case, unfavourable weather conditions, to force majeure or to circumstances that the same organiser could not reasonably foresee nor solve. The seller by whom customers have made the travel reservation does not respond to the duties arisen from the travel organisation, but he is responsible only for the duties arisen from his work as an intermediary and, in any case, for the limits for such responsibility prescribed in the laws in force regarding that subject.

14. LIMITS ON REFUND

The compensation for damages to the person can never be superior to the limits prescribed in the International Conventions, in which Italy and EU take part, with reference to the services whose non-fulfilment has determined his responsibility. In any case the compensation limit can never exceed the amount of 50.000 Franchi oro Germinal for damages to people, 2.000 Franchi oro Germinal for damages to things and 5000 Franchi oro Germinal for whatever other damage (article 13 no 2 ContrattoCollettivoViaggio).

15. ASSISTENCE DUTY

The organiser is held to administer to the consumer, as it is compulsory according to the professional diligence criterion exclusively with reference to his own duties according to the law or to the contract. The organiser and the seller are dispensed with the respective responsibilities (articles 13 and 14 of these General Conditions) when the lack and the inaccuracy of a contract execution are attributable to the consumer, to a third party unforeseeable and unavoidable, or they are due to a fortuitous case or to force majeure.

16. CLAIMS AND DENUNCIATIONS

Every lack of the execution of the contract must be contested by the consumer without delays so that the organiser, his local agent or his guide could promptly remedy it. The consumer will have to – at risk of failure – take action through the sending of a letter sent by recorded delivery with acknowledgement of receipt to the organiser or to the seller, no later than ten workdays from the date of the return at the starting point.

17. INSURANCE AGAINST CANCELLATION AND REPATRIATION EXPANSES

Unless expressively included in the price, it is possible, or rather advisable, to stipulate an insurance against expanses due to travel package cancellation, injury and loss of luggage at the moment of booking at organiser’s or seller’s office. It will be also possible to stipulate an assistance contract covering repatriation cost in case of accidents or diseases.

18. GARANTEE FUND

The Directorate-General for Tourism of the Productive Activities Ministry has created the Guarantee National Fund to which the consumer may turn (in accordance with the article 100 Cod. Consumo), in case of insolvency or declared bankruptcy of the seller or of the organiser, to protect the following requirements:
a) refund of the price already paid
b) consumer’s repatriation cost in case of foreign travel
The fund must also provide the consumer with an immediate amount of money in case of tourists’ forced return from non-EU countries in case of emergencies due or not to the organiser’s behaviour.
The Fund intervention modalities are established by a Prime Minister decree of 23/07/99, n. 349 G.U. n. 249 of 12/10/1999.

ADDENDUM

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SALE CONTRACT OF SINGLE TOURISTIC SERVICES

A) LAW PROVISIONS
As contracts concerning the offer of a single transport, accommodation or any other single touristic service cannot be intended as organized travel package, they are disciplined by the following Contratto Collettivo Viaggio (Collective Travel Contract) dispositions: article 1, no 3 e no 6; articles from 17 to 23; articles from 24 to 3, as regards estimations which are different from those concerning the organisation contract as well as from other agreements specifically referred to the sale of the single service object of the contract.

B) CONTRACT CONDITIONS
The following clauses of the general conditions of package travel sale contract listed above are also applicable to those contracts: article 4, 1st paragraph; article 5; article 7; article 8; article 9; article 10, 1st paragraph; article 11; article 15; article 17. The application of these clauses does not determine at all the configuration of the concerned contracts as, in the case in point, travel package. The terminology of the quoted clauses concerning the travel package (organiser, travel, etc.) must be intended with reference to the corresponded figures of the sale contract of the single touristic services (seller, accommodation, etc.)

Technical organisation: Verde Natura viaggi e vacanze attive – Carpi – MO
Insurance: Europ Assistance S.p.A. n° 19396
The communication was sent the district in February 2007

Compulsory communication in accordance with the article 16 of the law 269 of 3/10/98. The Italian law punishes with imprisonment crimes concerning prostitution and child pornography, even if they have been committed abroad.

INFORMATIVA ex art. 13 D. Lgs. 196/03

(protection personal data)
The treatment of personal data, whose submittal is necessary to conclude and execute the contract, is carried out in accordance with D. Lgs. 196/2003 in both digital and printed format. Data will be transmitted only to the suppliers of the services included in the travel package. The client will be able to exercise the rights ex art. 7 D. Lgs. 196/03, by contacting Verde Natura, travel organization, info@verde-natura.com, treatment holder.