In a judgment delivered this week by the Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden (Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen) in Case 6588-21, Sävehof IF v Kammarkollegiet, it held that participation in a sports tournament does not constitute a ‘tourist service’ within the meaning of EU law.
The case concerned a handball club’s participation in a handball tournament for young people. The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Kammarkollegiet), a state body, decided that a travel guarantee must be arranged by the club for the event. It took this view because the organisation of the tournament was, in its view, concerning 1) accommodation, and 2) tournament attendance, with both being tourist services.
The EU directive in question, the on package travel and linked travel arrangements (Directive 2015/2302), provides, inter alia, that organisers of a packaged travel arrangement must ensure that the trip is covered by a travel guarantee, where there at least two tourist services.
The club, Sävehof IF, was of the view that the handball tournament was not a tourist service, and given that the there was only one tourist service – the accommodation – no travel guarantee had to be provided.
For the Supreme Administrative Court, it held that the Directive in question is a case of ‘maximum harmonisation’, and that accordingly, there is no possibility for Member States implementing the Directive to set a higher bar than what is provided for by the Directive. Given that the club, Sävehof IF was to be a participant in the handball tournament, and not merely be a spectator in that tournament, that part cannot be considered to be a tourist service within the meaning of the Directive.
Thus, the Supreme Administrative Court sided with the club. A copy of the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court in Case 6588-21, Sävehof IF v Kammarkollegiet can be read here.