240 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM Law, nor regarding compensation for damages and losses. These cases must be known only by the competent jurisdictional bodies. (*Currently corresponds to Article 42)”. To grant a fundamental importance to the right to truthful information, as the basis of the right of choice, and to guarantee the quality of the goods and services offered to the consumer, the Law sanctions more strongly the breach of the duties pertaining to the information, to the guarantee and quality, as well as the non-conditioning of offers, as derived from the previous Article. One could say that the rights that the Law grants to the consumer in Law 7472 possess a general scope and constitute a minimum that does not exclude the recognition or the flexibility of other rights derived from the specificity of the good or service in question. 3. HOW A CLAIM IS PRESENTED There are several ways a claim on tourism services can be presented. A person can present his claim directly to the claims offices in the Costa Rican Tourism Institute. This can done by email, scanning all pertaining documents and observing a brief of the facts of the case. Once received, ICT sends a note to the company to try to conciliate the parties, allowing 5 days to respond. If there is a possibility of conciliation, the company can accept the claim and pay what is being claimed by the other party. If no conciliation is reached, then ICT activates the administrative process, first of all calling for an audience between the parties, which must bring all documentation and, if thought necessary, their legal representation. Since most of the time the tourist is no longer in the country, the ICT claims office assumes the role of the tourist in all the following legal matters. After the audience, a report is sent to ICT’s General Manager that resolves the case. If the company has no Tourist declaration (a certification given by ICT that binds the company to the State in matters of quality and responsibility, but it is not compulsory), then ICT’s Article 19 of the Rules of Companies and Tourist Activities, allows ICT to present a claim to the Consumer Office, where once again ICT assumes the representation of the tourist:
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