Point of law: whether fines paid by a tour agent to a tour operator in connection with the cancellation of a tour as a result of the customer’s refusal of the trip should count as actual expenses of the tour agent which he may recover from the customer by virtue of Art 782 of the Civil Code?

Alternative attitudes: 1) the expenses borne by the tour operator or tour agent in connection with the arrangement of a tour can be considered as his actual expenses if they are properly proved; 2) the expenses borne by the tour operator or tour agent in connection with the arrangement of a tour can be considered as his actual expenses if they are properly proved and the fines are commensurate to the consequences of the contractual breach; 3) such fines do not constitute actual expenses borne by the tour agent in connection with his provision of services to the customer; instead, they constitute the losses of the tour agent which cannot be recovered from the customer.

Ratio decidendi: the first version is legally correct.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.