10 0 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE structures based on social market economy, consumer protection, protection of the environment, high standards for the protection of travellers’ rights, safety of tourists, high quality of tourist services and non-discrimination for providers and recipients of tourism services. Croatian tourism law is based on the principle of transparency concretised by the rules on information duties of the providers of tourism services31, high standards for the protection of tourism services users’ rights32, categorisation and standardisation of the hospitality of a catering facility (minimum requirements for its type and category, quality marks)33, specific education for the provision of tourism services34 and regulation of the conditions for 31 Information duties for the providers of tourism services are generally laid down in article 6 TSA for all service providers. The providers of tourism services are obliged to make public the conditions, the content and the price of each service in the Croatian language and, optionally, in another language as well [art. 6(1)]. Online platforms offering services for a fee (connecting service providers and users of tourism services) must provide the ID numbers of the providers of tourism services offered in the territory of the Republic of Croatia [art. 6(a)]. In the TSA, there is a series of provisions laying down the tourism services providers’ obligation to provide the necessary information. Tourist agencies must display their company’s name, working hours at a prominent position at the entrance of their offices and visibly display the seat in all their written promotional materials and on webpages offering their services (art. 20); they must also make public on their webpages all general information including their names and seats, the name and surname of their operations managers, their address, working hours, tax ID or VAT ID numbers, detailed information on the competent body supervising their activities and general terms and conditions for services provided (art. 21). Tourist agencies are obliged to provide pre-contractual excursion information (art. 25), the organiser and the trader of packages are obliged to provide pre-contractual information on packages (art. 29), and all pre-contractual information must be provided in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner [art. 29(5)]. Transparent information obligations on tourist services are also provided for other legal and natural persons offering tourism services such as trips on board of nautical tourism vessels [art. 61(5) TSA]. The obligations regarding the provision of transparent information by hospitality and catering service providers are laid down in the Hospitality and Catering Industry Act [namely, artt. 10(1)-(5), (11) and (32)(1)-(3)]. 32 For each service provided, the tourism service user is allowed to lodge a written complaint in the tourist provider’s business premises or by post, fax or electronic mail. The service provider is obliged to confirm in writing, without delay and reply to such complaint in a written form within 15 days following the receipt of the complaint [art. 6(3) TSA]. The same obligation is also laid down for hospitality and catering service providers [art. 10(10) Hospitality and Catering Industry Act]. 33 The Hospitality and Catering Industry Act sets forth that for the performance of hospitality and catering activities in the corresponding facilities, minimum requirements for the type pertaining to the design and equipment of facilities and services must be met (art. 15). Certain types of hospitality and catering facilities are categorised in this Act depending on their organisation, equipment, appliances, services, maintenance and other prescribed elements (art. 16). Minimal requirements and the categories are prescribed by the Minister competent for tourism. 34 In articles 69-97, the TSA provides for a large number of tourism services as regulated professions and prescribes the requirements regarding education and the certification exam as the conditions for the provision of services (i.e. for tourist guides, tourist escorts, agency representatives). For more, see chapter 3 of this article, “Regulation of the Provision of Services in Tourism”.
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