The unofficial consortium of British ski tour operators who are supporting the tour operator Le Ski in their legal fight against a French court case which has led to tour operators being unable to offer ‘ski hosting’ services to their clients has issued a statement after Le Ski lost the latest round of the case at a higher French court in Paris.
This is reproduced in full below.
The “ski hosting case” is one of three cases that have been running for the past three to four years moving through the French court system. The three separate cases cover ‘ski hosting’ – in which tour operator staff who may not have any ski teaching experience simply show their company’s clients around the easy slopes to give them resort orientation, but no instructing – as well as cases involving ‘ski guiding’ by unpaid volunteers – and ‘ski teaching’ where the argument is over which qualifications are acceptable for teaching in France.
The tour operators backing Le Ski include most of the UK’s biggest ski holiday providers:
Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski Holidays, Esprit Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Ski World and Thomson Ski.
Their statement is as follows:
“We welcome the partial annulment of the Chambéry 2014 appeal judgement. The case is sent back to the Chambéry court of appeals, as one of the offences included in the prosecution was repealed. The original fine set by the Albertville court will now have to be reassessed.”
“We are extremely disappointed that the French Supreme Court rejected our pleas based on EU law, as, in our view, it is unjustifiable on safety grounds that only fully qualified ski instructors may show clients a winter resort. In particular it is disturbing that no relevance was given to the fact that French civil servants, teachers, members of the armed forces and all volunteers are exonerated from any qualification requirement to lead on ski slopes. It is also disturbing that no relevance was given to the fact that British tour operators’ ski hosting over the past decades has never been proven to have caused an accident or other proven risk to skiers’ safety.”
We are therefore under no illusion that 2 crucial elements contributed hugely to this decision:
1 Looming Brexit – why should the French judiciary uphold our pleas based on EU law or refer the matter to the European Court, as clearly requested, when our country voted to leave the EU?
2 The current political and electoral climate in France shows that anti-European parties have the sympathy of almost half of the electorate.
“This decision, and its consequences for British skiers in Europe, is yet another result of the UK’s vote on 23rd June 2016.”