Competition Law in Tourism

666 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM In the 1980s, after the enacting of the EC, the assumption of competition in this field by the Autonomous Communities, a gradual legislative and autonomic task started drawing the plan for tourist accommodation enterprises under the modality of tourist apartments and tourist housing. Nevertheless, based on the safeguard clauses of State Law on Article 149.3 EC, the rules of the 1982 procedure have remained in force, until recently, as a supplementary source of law in those aspects not regularised by the regional plan. Finally, in 2010, and as a consequence of Directive 2006/123/EC on services in the internal market, those state provisions are no longer valid after the Royal Decree No. 39/2010, of 15 January, repealing several State regulations on the access to and exercise of tourism activities. Another vital element to be considered within the regulation process of the Autonomies, by using its executive powers, is Law No. 4/2013, of 4 June, that establishes flexibility measures and encourages the rental market introducing some modifications to the Law No. 29/1994, of 24 November, of the LAU. Among them, it should be underlined the one regarding the exclusion from their field of application – under some regulating parameters – the rental of tourist apartments being referred to the regional regulation on this subject8. It means, henceforth, that Autonomous Communities (CCAA in Spanish) are responsible for approving and applying regulations on every sector, as pointed out by Roca Fernández-Castanys9 “(…) in those CCAAs where this special regulation has been enlightened, this last is the one applying in the first place; however, for the CCAA to not make use of their regulation-making power, the civil regulations in force must apply. Even in some cases in which the regional regulations apply, the owner can choose to put the property under the LAU”. While it is true that, in Spain, apartments have been regulated since the 1960s, the legalisation of the tourist apartments by the Autonomous Communities is being regularised lately in accordance to the modification of the Article 5/e) 8 See: BERROCAL LANZAROTE, A. I. (2013). “Análisis de la Ley 4/2013, de 4 de junio, de medidas de flexibilización y fomento del marcado de alquiler de viviendas”, Actualidad Civil, 7-8; COSTA RODAL, L. (2013). “Principales novedades introducidas en la LAU/94 por la Ley 4/2013, de 4 de junio, de medidas de flexibilización y fomento del mercado del alquiler de viviendas”, Aranzadi civil-mercantil, Revista Doctrinal, 2 (6), pp. 35-42; FELIÚ AMENGUAL, B. (2014). “Arrendamientos urbanos: de la ley estatal 4/2013 a la Ley General Turística”, Boletín de la Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación de las Illes Balears, No. 15, pp. 177-188; FRANCH FLUXA, J. & RIBAS CONRADO, J. F. (2013). “El alquiler de viviendas para uso vacacional. Perspectiva actual, problemas y propuestas legales”. Revista de Estudios Turísticos, No. 196, pp. 33-57; and MARTOS CALABRÚS, M. A. (2014). “El contrato de arrendamiento de vivienda vacacional tras la reforma del artículo 5 de la LAU por la ley 4/2013”, Revista de Derecho Civil, vol. I, No. 1 (January-March), pp. 91-102. 9 See ROCA FERNÁNDEZ-CASTANYS, M. L. (2017). “¿Matando…, op. cit., p. 7.

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