Guidance for the trade ahead of the introduction of the Atol Certificate on October 1 has been published by the Civil Aviation Authority.
The Atol Certificate aims to help holidaymakers understand how their holidays are protected and by which companies. Any customer buying an Atol-protected holiday will have to be given an Atol Certificate.
The guidance issued by the CAA covers the production, design and issue of the Atol Certificate.
The document is designed to help travel businesses embed production of the Atol Certificate into their systems. It also seeks to help agents to understand when Certificates should be supplied, which version to supply and what information should be contained within it, the CAA said.
This will be followed by further educational materials throughout the summer.
The CAA is arranging a series of events to help agents understand the Certificate. Details of dates and venues will be available from the CAA’s website shortly.
The regulator’s head of Atol Andy Cohen said: “While the travel industry has been rightly focused on complying with the first phase of Atol reform following the introduction of Flight-Plus and Agency Agreements, we also need to make sure we are working towards the launch of the Atol Certificate on October 1.
“For someone booking a holiday the Atol Certificate will explain their protection and let them know what to do if their supplier fails, so it is vital that we work together to ensure that there is a smooth introduction and people are not left disappointed or confused when they book.”
The CAA said it has worked hard with industry and IT suppliers to ensure that businesses have access to a flexible range of material to help minimise the burden of implementing Atol Certificates and tailor the process to their own particular needs.
The guidance is now available from the CAA website. A range of other material such as a style guide and the criteria businesses have to meet if they wish to start using the Certificate before October 1 can be found at www.atol.org.uk/reform.