Lost Luggage in Olso

The wonders of airtravel. Lost luggage. And what good does it do a lawyer if he can cite the relevant international conventions and EU laws, if the desk clerk at SAS Oslo station is new to the job and cannot find the luggage and the manager, who should handle compensation, just takes flight - figuratively.

Gambling and the WTO

As the Leisure Industries also comprise the Gaming Industry, some members of our committee have a keen eye on the legal developments in this area of the law. Our Section scholarship this year was dedicated to the legal complexities of Interlegal Gambling, Fair Trade, and such issues and one of our Singapore panels will deal with this topic.

In the meantime, a WTO Compliance Panel on March 30, 2007 ruled that US Federal Law prohibiting internet gambling violates the obligations of the United States under WTO GATS. The decision can be found at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285rw-a_e.pdf. There is still a debate whether the victory of Antigua will be short-lived or fundamental: what does the US need to do to be in compliance? An interesting analysis can be found at Prof. I Nelson Rose informative site www.Gamblingandthelaw.com.

Of course, if you want the deep down analysis, you will need to make it to Singapore and join us and a panel of experts in the Suntec Centre on this topic on October 16, 2007.

Doping

Germany is currently ablaze with former cyclists coming clean and admitting to doping and active cyclists professing to not really know what is happening. The broadcasters are threatening a pull-out, should this year's Tour de France be marred by doping.

A former member of Team Telekom in a TV show mentioned that he was told that his contract would not be renewed, if his results did not improve and that doping was administered by physicians of a usually highly reputed university hospital.

I hope we will see a return back to clean sports, which is not a show of the pharmaceutical and medical industries abilities. And maybe we as spectators just need to get used to the fact that it is (nearly?) impossible to bike up a mountain at 30 km/hour.

New Name

The IBA is organized according to interests and legal specialisations. The former Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law Committee has merged with the Sports and Gaming Committee and now is the Leisure Industries Section. A name that encompasses all we do, and clearly indicates the breadth of our topics. In this sense, we´d be very happy to also have contributions from sports and gaming. By the way, we´re happy for contributions. Please email them to hjvogel at gmail dot com, stating Travellaw Blog in the subject line. Keep them short, 300-500 words is fine.

Singapore!

The next IBA Conference will take place in Singapore. We will host a number of panels - on loyalty schemes (miles, show me the miles...), on low cost carriers in Asia, on hotels and casinos and cyber gambling. Check out the news at www.ibanet.org!

A New Blawg

The Travel Industry is one of the largest industries in the world. It creates immense value, has driven e-commerce as no other legitimate business has done, and touches all our lifes at least a couple of times each year. OK, more often, if you are lucky.

We strive to provide commentary and insight into the legal issues in and around this industry, from a diverse persepctive. We are members or (former and current) officers of the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law Section and the Travel and Leisure Section of the International Bar Association, situated all over the world, raised in different legal systems, acting for different parts of the industry, and with different specialties. A broad perspective, we hope.

Come here for new legal developments, discussion of recent trends, and the whackiest cases that cross our desks!