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France may charge tourists rescued from hot spots
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-18 22:02
The preliminary draft of the law is vague and leaves much to courts to determine. Those details could be worked out when the bill goes through further review in the government and parliament. In its current form it appears more of a deterrent to risk-taking than a powerful legal tool. Someone flown out of an Indian resort following a terrorist attack there could theoretically be charged for the rescue for having gone to a country listed as dangerous by the French government. Were French tourists to be trapped once again in Thai unrest they could also be asked to pay up, if a judge deems them responsible.
The French proposal comes amid a flurry of diplomatic effort to help Reiss and an employee of the French-Iranian embassy who are part of a mass trial in Tehran for allegedly fomenting unrest in Iran following disputed elections. Critics say the bill will have little influence on adventure-lovers, who often have travel insurance that covers such risks. They also said that the government can afford to spend several hundred euros on a plane ticket if necessary to protect its citizens. Hubert Debbash, head of Terre Entiere, a French tour operator that specializes in organizing tours to risky places such as Iraq said that travel agencies did not need government regulations to be prudent. "The important thing is to have a local network that you can rely on," Debbash said. "I know my destinations and I have people there who can tell me if it's safe or unsafe to go somewhere." Some French travelers and taxpayers were in favor of the proposed law. "The people who go, they know that these are dangerous places, so it's their fault if something bad happens," said Julien Fredeveaux, 24, a waiter at a Paris restaurant. "But it's crazy to go."
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