We have received this update from TUI about today’s court case held in Albertville regarding the ongoing ‘social skiing‘ debate:

Today (14 May 2014), the case about social skiing being illegal was due to be heard at the Court of Appeals in Chambery.

The case was referred from November 2013 at the joint request of the Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) and Le Ski as both parties concurred that the European legal issues raised by the case are complex and required careful examination.

Le Ski submitted a detailed written defence which shows, in particular, that French regulations banning ski hosting are clearly discriminatory, as all French civil servants and teachers established in France are exempt from any qualification requirement. The applicable section of French law is therefore unjustifiable under EU law.

The ESF have requested more time to consider the legal arguments and extensive European Court case-law on which our defence is based.

Given the serious implications of the outcome of this case, and in the interest of a thorough legal debate, we have agreed to a deferral. The appeal date has been set at 02 July.

The British tour operators supporting Le Ski in this case are (in alphabetical order): Alpine Elements, Crystal Ski Holidays, Esprit Ski, Inghams, Mark Warner, Neilson, Ski Olympic, Ski Total, Skiworld, Thomson Ski.

 

It will be interesting to see how this one progresses.