Elected Bodies, Regional Boards and Management

UHPA Elected Bodies, Regional Boards and the Management UHPA's bodies are the Assembly, the President of UHPA, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Bord. UHPA works through the regional co-ordinating Boards and working groups for specific fields of activities. These bodies, and the UHPA president as well, are the same for the Trade Association and the Association of Employers, though each association is an independent legal entity.

All bodies of the Association, regional boards and working groups are supported by the Head office in Zagreb, led by the UHPA Executive Director. UHPA is the single organization established and coordinated on regional principles. Pursuant to the UHPA Statute, the Association is divided into regional boards. All active and associated members of UHPA are also members of the Regional UHPA Boards. These boards are not legal entities but bodies to coordinate activities of UHPA members. Each of the seven regional boards elects one director to the Board of Directors - all for a period of four years. The Assembly consists of all UHPA members. The President of UHPA is elected by all members present at the Election Assembly for the period of two years. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and he presides at its meetings.

Regional meetings provide an opportunity for all members of that region to express their views and contribute ideas for consideration by the bodies of UHPA. At the meetings members also discuss and initiate different activities towards other institutions, bodies and corporations authorized or responsible for addressing different issues affecting the travel agency activities.

VOLUNTARY OBLIGATIONS OF UHPA MEMBERS PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PROTECTION AND CONFIDENCE

Abiding by UHPA Professional and ethical Code of conduct, UHPA members provide additional protection and confidence to their partners and clients in relation to those already provided by the Act on the Provision of the Tourism Services. The texts in this manual clarify all legal provisions concerning the establishment and operation which are binding for all agencies. Here follows the explanation of voluntary obligations met by UHPA members.

Foreign tour operators and their clients or individual travellers who buy package holidays directly from Croatian tour operators are protected in Croatia in the way similar to the one practiced in the EU countries because the Croatian Civil Obligations Act fully includes the Directive 90/314/EEC on package travel, package holidays and package tours, and the Act on the Provision of Tourism Services regulates the operating conditions of travel agencies.

When a foreign traveller buys a service from a Croatian tour operator or retailer agency directly, they are obliged to advise the client on the detailed programme and give a travel description and conditions under which a travel is to be organized before a contract on travel is signed. Those printed conditions define the rights and the obligations of both parties, the traveller's as well as the agent's.