FBTA

Founded in 1984, the Finnish Business Travel Association is an organization for business travel buyers and suppliers, with the mission to enhance the understanding, knowledge and skills required in corporate travel and meetings management as well as procurement.

BT4Europe

European Parliament wants intermediaries to refund fees for cancelled journeys

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GBTA, BT4Europe and VDR are all lobbying against the European Parliament proposal.

European Union-based travel management companies and other intermediaries could be forced to refund their own fees as well as the original ticket cost when journeys they book on behalf of customers are cancelled. The proposal by the European Parliament is currently being considered in its trilogue negotiations with the European Commission and the European Council, which represents the EU’s member states.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), BT4Europe and German travel managers’ association VDR are among corporate travel representative groups lobbying against the Parliament’s proposal. They say it would unfairly penalise intermediaries, who would be compelled to cover their additional costs by raising fees.

Read the full BTN Europe article by Amon Cohen here.

BT4Europe wins European Commission support for A1 exemption

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Business travel association network BT4Europe has welcomed the European Commission’s support for exempting short-term business travellers from filling out the A1 document.

BT4Europe, which has been campaigning for an A1 form exemption, said it had received a response from the commission recognising “the administrative burden caused by the current A1 rules” and confirming that an exemption for short-term business travel is “under discussion”.

The EU's A1 form, which was introduced in 2010, requires travellers to provide proof of payment of social security in another member state and this currently includes short-term business travellers crossing between countries. BT4Europe is calling for a 14-day exemption for business travellers.

FBTA is a founding member of BT4Europe.

Read full BTN article here.

BT4Europe calls for A1 form exemption for business travellers

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European business travel association network BT4Europe has submitted a series of recommendations to the EU aimed at reducing the "bureaucratic challenges" of the A1 form for business travellers

The EU's A1 form, which was introduced in 2010, requires travellers to provide proof of payment of social security in another member state and this currently includes short-term business travellers crossing between countries.

BT4Europe wants a 14-day exemption from the A1 requirements to be introduced for activities such as business meetings, trade fairs and training events to reduce the administrative burden on organisations. The association is also calling for an expanded definition of business travel to include more temporary professional activities, such as client meetings, internal audits, industry events, and recruitment efforts.

Full BTN Europe article

BT4Europe Webinar | Multimodal cross-border travel

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It is with great pleasure that we extend this exclusive invitation to FBTA Members for an insightful webinar on upcoming European legislation, with a special focus on Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) and its impact on online booking engines for corporate cross-border business travel across Europe.

? Date: Tuesday 12 March 2024

? Time: 14:00 - 15:00 (CET- Brussels time)

? Virtual Venue:  Teams

Agenda Highlights:

  1. Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS): Explore how MDMS can bring more choices and diverse multimodal content into the online booking engines used by corporations for efficient cross-border business travel.
  2. Main Speaker: We are honored to have MEP Jakop G. Dalunde (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance - Member of the Committee of Transport and Tourism) as our main speaker, sharing valuable insights on business travel. Gain a deep understanding of the EU political agenda and expectations for the future agenda of the European Parliament and the European Commission post the 2024 elections.
  3. Open Discussion: Hear from our experts their views regarding the focus theme of the webinar and their expectations for the future of cross-border business travel in Europe.
  4. Interactive Q&A sessionEngage with our speakers as we allocate time for questions from the online live audience. Your participation is crucial to make this event more dynamic and tailored to your interests.

Register here