Protection of purchasers of the right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis (direct. 94/47/EC)

The European Parliament adopted its own-initiative report drafted by Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA (PES, Spain) on timeshare properties. (Please refer to the document dated 28/05/02.) Parliament made several recommendations on the Commission's future proposals, including the length of the cooling-off period, the return of advance payments, and point clubs. Future legislation should also include mechanisms to create a sufficient provision for maintenance which will prevent unrestrained or excessive increases in annual maintenance costs. The Commission should examine whether the timeshare contract can be defined as a consumer contract under Community law in order to prevent forum shopping within the Community. The Parliament also proposed several measures with a view to dealing with illegal operators. These include working with credit card companies, cooperation with the banking sector, and using company investigations law. The complete information document provisions annexed to the timeshare directive should become compulsory and expanded to include such matters as the ability to sell accommodation rights in the future at a guaranteed price and the right of members to inspect future costs. Finally, Parliament asked the Commission to bring forward an effective prohibition of all sales presentations which involve harassment, coercion or misleading claims by salesmen to the public.�