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Abta urges members to update agency agreements

Abta has issued a reminder to members of changes the CAA requires to agency agreements from October 1.

The agency agreements, which are required for Atol sales, will need to be dated and need to incorporate new wording.

Abta told members in its weekly Abta Today bulletin: “After 1 October, agents should have a dated agency agreement, containing all up-to-date terms, otherwise their clients’ Atol claims would be refused if the ATOL holder failed.”

The association said this was because “in the CAA’s experience, agreements are not being dated as a matter of course”.

“The CAA believes that, when there is a failure, this is making it difficult to ascertain whether the agreement was in place.

The wording changes are not substantial.

However, Abta said: “They are important. Agency agreements must carry the latest version of the CAA’s required terms.”

The new terms will be published in September.

The CAA also requires a change to the wording of receipts for flight sales which are exempt from Atol.

The current phrase, “This flight is not protected under the ATOL scheme” must change to: “This sale is not protected under the ATOL scheme.

”Abta said its model agency agreement, available on the members’ section of the Abta site, can be used to help amend agreements.

There is an additional requirement that members of Atol Accredited Bodies identify the trading name of the body and display its Atol number and the Atol logo on publicity material, including websites and brochures.

Full details of all the changes can be found on the members’ section of the Abta site and on the CAA site.

Abta will be seeking members’ views on other CAA proposals, including a move to abolish the Small Business Atol, over the next month.

The association will launch a questionnaire to members on the proposals next week, ahead of a members’ conference call with Abta head of financial protection John de Vial on September 2.

Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: “It is important we hear members’ views. We will use these to inform Abta’s response to the CAA ahead of the consultation deadline on October 6.”

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