Publicat pe 03/12/2014

I. General observations
We notice the fact that a series of amendments discussed over the past years with the associations and organizations which activate in the tourism sector, when having debated other initiatives referring to the promotion of a tourism bill, have been included in the actual bill project. On the other hand, though, we notice that there are yet important aspects which are not included in this bill. Among these, we might mention:
– the lack of the formulated proposals by the experts of the World Tourism Organization, who drafted the Mater Plan for Tourism Development 2007-2026, regarding the creation of the National Tourism Organization, the introduction of the Satellite Tourism Account, of the proposals to foresee within the law the possibility to establish management societies of the touristic resorts, as it is proposed in the Master Plan and others.
Also, the bill does not include liabilities and sanctions to be applied to authorized economic agents for touristic activities who break the liabilities under article 62 in the law, which might lead to a frequent break of these legal binding obligations, given the lack of proper sanctions for these committed acts. It is, thus, lost the occasion to regulate the sanction manner for those who carry tourism activities which are not subject to taxation because they do not rank their accommodation spaces and cannot be controlled by the specialized control organisms, according to the existing legislation and make unfair competition to the authorized tourism operators.
However, we consider that before enacting the Tourism Bill, there should be drafted, debated and approved a tourism development strategy in Romania, followed by the Tourism Act, the main legal instrument to lead to the achievement of the strategy’s objectives.

II. Specific observations to the articles in the bill
1. Under art. 2, we propose the introduction, respectively the modification or completion of the following definitions:
Art. 2 – Under the present law, the terms and expressions below have the following meaning:
1. tour operating tourism agency – economic agent which organizes and sells travel services, including services packages and/or facilitates the acquisition of travel services which are part of an assisted journey.
2. travel service – offered and/or sold services by other economic operators than the ones which permanently and effectively offer these services:
(a) passengers transport;
(b) accommodation in other purposes than living;
(c) meals in food units;
(d) car rental
or
(e) any other touristic services, which is not auxiliary to services such as passenger transport, accommodation, or car rental;
3. services package – combination of at least two different travel services, intended to the same journey or vacation, on the condition to:
(a) the respective services to be offered by a single economic operator, including at demand or depending on the tourist’s selection, before signing a contract regarding all the services or
(b) separate contracts should be signed with individual travel service providers, on the condition that the respective services:
(i) to be purchased from a single selling point, under the same booking process;
(ii) to be offered or billed at a flat or total price;
(iii) to make the object of promotional materials or be sold under the term “package” or a similar name;
(iv) to be combined, after signing a contract through which an economic operator offers the tourist the right to choose from a selection of different types of travel services
or
(v) to be purchased from different economic operators, via online linked booking processes, within which the tourist’s name or necessary personal information to complete the booking are transferred between economic operators not later than the moment of the booking confirmation for the first service.

2. We propose the removal of the definition in Art. 2, point 24, regarding the length of the touristic season on the Romanian seaside, given that such a provision is not justified to be part of a law (but in an order of a minister or of the ANT President, respectively a Government decision), but also because most of the touristic operators carrying temporary touristic accommodation activities at the seaside do not agree with the requirement that accommodation units should be open in May and the second half of September, when tourist numbers are very low and there is no economic fundament for the maintenance expenditures for the units. Also, the bathing season begins on June 1st, which means that there are no aquatic rescue services, like lifeguarding and medical first aid posts, the tourists’ lives being endangered in the respective periods.

3. We propose the completion of paragraph d) in art. 4, with the following wording:
Art. 4 d)
It organizes and realizes the touristic promotion activity for Romania, both on the internal and international markets, through the National Tourism Organization – “Romania Tourism”, established as a semi-autonomous, public utility organization, led by a Board of Directors, consisting of representatives of the relevant institution, employers’ organizations, professional organizations and regional touristic promotion and development organizations, and of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania. The organization will be established through a Government Decision.
Motivation: In order to acquire a better touristic promotion of Romania, through the joint effort of the public central, regional, county and local authorities, together with the touristic promotion associations and of the private operators in the tourism sector. This proposal is also to be found in the Master Plan for the National Tourism Development 2007-2026.

4. We propose the completion of art. 7 with a new paragraph (7), with the following content:
(7) The local public administration authorities have the obligation to inform, at least once a year, the touristic operators in the resort (who collect the hotel tax and transfer it to local budgets) regarding the destination of the collected funds.
Motivation: To acquire a transparency of the expenditures from the collected amounts.

5. At art. 10, we consider that, regarding the local public services “Salvamont”, there is the need of a legal provision which obliges the territorial-administrative neighboring units in mountain areas to cooperate for the proper functioning of this service, based on a requirement which will be approved under a Government Decision.
Motivation: The need of a close cooperation between “Salvamont” services in the neighboring counties, to rescue the lives of tourists in danger by the closest “Salvamont” units, no matter their county affiliation.

6. We consider that par. (3) at art. 10, regarding public aquatic rescues services “Salvamar”, should be rephrased, for a greater clarity, the phrasing being ambiguous, regarding the contribution of the beach administrator or the beach rental responsible for the financing of these services.
Our proposal is that the financing should be an equal share, of 50%, from the central state budget, respectively from the territorial-administrative units’ budget where the touristic beaches are situated, given the fact that tourists who benefit from these services come from the entire country.

7. We find necessary detailing the provisions under art. 14, par. (1) with the following content:
Art. 14 – (1) The National Tourism Council has under its structure representatives of the public authorities, touristic employers’ associations, tourism professional organizations, touristic promotion and development organizations, the academic environment and the representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.
Motivation: we find necessary detailing the organizations which will be part of the National Tourism Council and we request to include an appointed representative from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, the association with the highest representativeness of the business environment in our country, whose members are part of all activity sectors, in the entire country, including the tourism sector and tourism related activities.

8. Under art. 35, par. (1), point f), we consider that, instead of “Romanian hotel system” there should be a rephrasing to “touristic reception structures with touristic accommodation functions”, to be able to extend the concept of “touristic etiquette” to other categories of touristic reception, not only to hotels.

9. We propose the completion, after art. 51, with a new article:
Art. 51’: The local public administration authorities who have in their order touristic resorts can establish administration societies for the respective touristic resorts, through public-private partnerships. The regulations regarding the means of organizing and functioning of these societies will be made through a Government Decision.
Motivation: This is one of the proposals drafted by the experts from the World Tourism Organization, contained in Romania’s Touristic Development Master Plan, and which would allow a proper and effective involvement of the entrepreneurs in the touristic resorts to the good management and administration of the touristic resorts.

10. We find the phrasing of art. 58 to be much too brief and this article should provide, as explicit as possible, the obligation for the touristic reception structures with touristic accommodation functions to regularly provide the respective information.

11. Under art. 60, par. (2), we consider that, within the structure of the mixt control teams there should also be representatives of the employers’ associations in the respective touristic resort.
Motivation: To prevent abuses in the respective controls.

12. We consider that there should be clarifications on the provisions under art. 63, by rephrasing this article, in order for the operative management of the tourism agency or of the touristic reception structure to mandatorily hold a tourism manager certificate. The conditions to acquire this patent (studies, experience) may be detailed through an ANT order.
Also, we consider that there should be a provision within the law regarding the possibility for the touristic reception structure to be managed and led by a legal person, duly authorized by the relevant institution.

13. Under art. 66, we proposed the introduction of letters f) and g):
The tourist has the following obligations:
f) to conclude a travel insurance policy, in case he/she buys an external travel services and/or external travel service packages, valid for the entire period of the journey, which should cover at least the following services: assistance and emergency medical transport, medical repatriation and repatriation in case of death.
g) to repair all damages to the economic operator as a non-compliance of the travel services contract’s provisions.