Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-03-Speech-3-192"
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"en.20020703.6.3-192"2
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"Mr President, I am particularly pleased to speak on this report as I have taken a special interest in the revision of the timeshare directive, following numerous complaints that I have received from aggrieved holidaymakers in my own region in the United Kingdom who have suffered at the hands of sometimes unscrupulous operators.
In November last year the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market instigated a public hearing on timeshares and a number of my constituents were able to come and explain their experiences directly to that hearing. I am very happy to say that many of the problems raised at the hearing, both in the oral presentations and the written dossier of evidence I submitted at the time, have been addressed.
A particular concern has been the increase in holiday club, or points club operations, which, by the very nature of their membership rules, take advantage of current legislation, which does not cover contracts of under three years. I would therefore commend to the House the proposal to cover all contracts of this nature, thus shutting off the loophole that currently exists.
Furthermore, I am pleased to see that we have proposed that the handing over of credit card details be subject to the same cooling-off period as a deposit by any other means. I have heard in surgeries in my own constituency of stories of innocent holidaymakers unwittingly giving timeshare touts their credit card details, only to find on their return from holiday that significant amounts of money have been debited from their accounts. Similarly, it is also vital that once contracts have been definitively signed, consumers are adequately protected against unreasonable increases in maintenance costs and, in cases where there has been malpractice, holidaymakers have easy recourse to legal redress.
A significant hurdle to such redress is the cost of complainants undertaking often lengthy legal procedures in a country where they are not completely at ease with the process. We must therefore look at new ways of simplifying this procedure, perhaps allowing complainants to use their own national judicial systems if necessary.
These measures represent essential steps towards genuine consumer protection for European holidaymakers purchasing this type of holiday. However, the current report is not a complete solution to all problems. I hope that Members will be able to support my amendment to extend the cooling-off period to 28 calendar days from its current 10. This would give a real opportunity for people to consider, in the cold light of day when they return from holiday, whether they wish to go ahead with their purchase.
I hope now that the Commission can come forward with appropriate proposals for legislation as quickly as possible so that our EU citizens can enjoy all forms of timeshare holidays in complete peace of mind."@en1
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