A good day for South East holiday-makers sees a move to cut timeshare fraud and a cap on mobile roaming charges

4.50.07pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 7th Jun 2007

South East Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles today welcomed the move of the European Commission to better protect the interests of European holiday-makers by revising the 1994 Timeshare Directive. The new legislation will cover products which have entered the market since then such as timeshare-type holidays on movable property like canal boats, caravans and cruise ships. It will also apply to contacts of less than three years and the resale and exchange of timeshare products.

"It is significant that on the day EU Ministers rubber-stamped the cap on mobile roaming charges, the European Commission launches a major revision of the 13 year old Timeshare Directive. Clearly European consumers are getting a fair share of Brussels attention and deservedly so" said Sharon Bowles. "It is a welcome initiative of my Liberal colleague Commissioner Meglena Kuneva and a good day for holiday-makers. As with the roaming costs legislation, we will work for a speedy passage of this bill through the European Parliament".

According to industry data, there are 1500 EU timeshare resorts creating 85000 units annually with a total output of over 10 billion euros.