Legal Framework

Legal regulations in the operation of travel agencies in Croatia In the Republic of Croatia, travel agencies, hoteliers, accommodation providers and caterers, as well as transport companies, tourist guides and other providers of tourist services operate in accordance with law, as well as with specific regulations regulating the provision of tourist and catering services. They also operate under special Codes of Practice in Catering, published by the Croatian Chamber of Economy in 1995, defining business practice in the catering industry. When operating abroad, Croatian travel agencies operate in accordance with the Code of Practice on hotel/travel agency relations drawn up by the International Hotel Association - IHA (now IH&RA) and the United Federation of Travel Agents' Associations - UFTAA, unless otherwise explicitly agreed in individual cases. Besides, UHPA members operate in accordance with high professional and ethical standards, both to their clients and to service providers. Status issues as well as basic rules regulating the operation of travel agencies in the Republic of Croatia are regulated by the Act on the Provision of Tourism Services which came into force on 15 September 2007. The Act is harmonized with the provisions of Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours, meaning that the users of package travel services in Croatia are protected in the same way as in the EU member countries.

Since January 1, 2006, a new Civil Obligations Act has been in force, and this Act is also harmonized with the provisions of Directive 90/314/EEC on package travel. Together with the Act on the Provision of Tourism Services which regulates the operating conditions of travel agencies, the Civil Obligations Act provides in detail the conditions on the conclusion of contracts on organizing tours and on mediation contract for travel arrangements.

Pursuant to the Act on Provision of Tourism Services, a travel agency in Croatia is a company, a sole trader or a craftsman or their organizational unit providing the services of organizing tours or mediation of services related to travel and stay of tourists. The same regulation stipulates in detail other conditions for the establishment, operation and termination of work of a travel agency, as well as some other services in tourism such as the services of a tourist guide, tourist escort, entertainment organizer, agency representative, tourism services in nautical tourism, tourism services on rural farms or family agricultural farms, tourism services in other forms of the tourism offer and other services provided to tourists in connection with their travel and stay.

Limited liability companies are obliged to state clearly the amount of their basic capital, together with other standard data, in their letterhead, especially when ordering services or starting a business relationship. The minimum stock capital required tor a limited liability company (abbreviation d.o.o. after the name) is 20,000.00 kuna, and the minimum amount for a joint stock company (abbreviation d.d. after the name) is 200,000.00 kuna. Tourist agencies are also obliged to include the words "tourist agency" or "travel agency" in their name, and they can also use expressions common in tourism, like "tours", "travel" and the like.

All printed papers used for advertising or promotion, as well as all business documents must state the name and the address of the travel agency and its ID code. Together with the letters "HR" for Croatia, the ID code consists of marks A, B, or C, which identify the operations which the travel agency predominantly provides. Thus mark "A" stands for tour operators only, mark "B" stands for retailers only, and mark "C" stands for retail agencies providing tourist services or tourist information only (tourist assistance, catering services in private houses, sale of tickets for excursions and events), exchange offices, and tourist information. Most travel agencies in Croatia are marked as "AB", meaning that they are tour operators and retailers at the same time. The ID code also contains a two-digit mark for the county and, finally, the identification number which travel agencies get at their registration with the relevant Commercial court, while traders get it at the relevant County Department for Economy.

Together with the registration in the commercial or trading register, the legal or physical person who wants to provide the services of a travel agency is obliged to provide adequate premises meeting the requirements of facilities, equipment and staff according to the services it provides. A special by-law stipulates the conditions to be met by travel agencies regarding the facilities, equipment and staff according to the services they provide. Travel agencies providing services directly to the user must have premises which are specially designed and equipped for a travel agency office. Travel agencies operating via the Internet are not required to have an office, but all travel agencies providing services directly to the user must have at least one employee meeting the requirements for the office head, as stipulated by the law.

A travel agency can start providing services only after obtaining the licence by the County Department for Economy or the Zagreb Municipal authority in charge of tourism, stipulating that it meets all the requirements stipulated in the Act and by-laws to provide services of a travel agency. In its office or business premises a travel agency is allowed to provide only those services listed in the licence for the office or business premises.

When providing all their services, travel agencies are obliged to act in accordance with the Act on Provision of Tourism Services. Primarily, travel agencies are obliged to publish conditions, contents and price for each individual service and adhere to the conditions, contents and prices. They are obliged to issue a bill, ticket or receipt to the user for each service provided, with the number specifying the amount received, and copies of these documents should be kept for a minimum of three years since they have been issued. Travel agencies are also obliged to have a complaints book in the form, contents and manner stipulated by the by-law stipulated by the relevant minister. The law specifies that travel agencies must forward the complaint to the local office of the State Inspectorate within five days, and that the complaint must be answered within fifteen days. Finally, travel agencies are obliged to give due diligence in providing their services in accordance with the rules of practice and business practice.

Beside the abovementioned, there are other obligations relating to the operation of travel agencies, such as putting the name and the seat on all advertising and promotional materials, as well on the entrance to the premises. Travel agencies are obliged to clearly specify office hours and adhere to the office hours. When dealing with buyers of their services, travel agencies are obliged to declare the capacity in which they are operating and the terms of reference, and should keep as confidential all information received from the traveller. They should not disclose the information such as the traveller's address, time, destination and duration of the trip, or the names of other travellers without the traveller's approval, except in cases stipulated by the law.

Travel agencies are obliged to provide the services stipulated in the contract, except in the cases of force majeure. In the case of package holidays, pursuant to the Civil Obligations Act, the traveller is entitled to proportional reduction of price for the service if the service provided is of inferior quality or differs in quantity, following the written complaint to the travel agency within eight days after the journey. The traveller is also entitled to indemnity for the damage caused by the travel agency by not providing or by inadequately providing the obligations in the package holiday contract. Croatian regulations explicitly stipulates that all travel agencies in Croatia providing package holidays are obliged to have a separate insurance contract in the form of insurance policy and that each and every traveller must be informed about the contents of the insurance policy.

The tour operator is obliged to provide a guarantee with a bank or an insurance company for indemnity to the traveller for the price paid if the services have not been provided due the agency bankruptcy or lack of payment, together with the costs incurred to the traveller for his return to the place of departure. The guarantee can be in the form of insurance policy, cash deposit or bank guarantee. The tour operator is obliged to issue a guarantee certificate to the traveller, when he pays for the package holiday, which enables him to directly claim his indemnity from the bank or the insurance company.

The travel agency is also obliged to offer the traveller insurance against accident and illness during the package tour and package holiday, travel cancellation, as well as insurance covering the costs of assisting the traveller and compensate for the costs of the traveller's return to the place of departure in the case of accident and illness, and inform the traveller about the services provided by the insurance. When providing their services, travel agencies are obliged to use only the accommodation licensed by the relevant authority, where the users are insured against accidents. The same applies to transport vehicles. The travel agency is obliged to use its own transport or subcontract vehicles pursuant to laws regulating passenger transport, and are obliged to use only such vehicles where travellers are insured against accidents and the luggage is insured against loss or damage. Travel agencies can, however, contract insurance against liability covering the above risks in providing their services in accommodation and transport vehicles.

If a travel agency organizes a trip (package holiday and excursion), it is obliged to have at least one tour leader who meets the requirements prescribed in the Act on the Provision of Tourism services, for each group of 15 to 75 tourists. This obligation, however, does not relate to foreign nationals in organized group travel which started abroad and finish abroad, but only to tours starting and finishing on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. On the other hand, irrespective who organized the tour, where it started and where it finishes, every travel agency is obliged to use the services of a tourist guide licensed for providing such services for sightseeing of tourist sights in the Republic of Croatia, which are defined as such in a special by-law, foreign travel agencies can order such services from their partners - Croatian travel agencies or the Association of tourist guides where they exist and operate. Like the Croatian travel agencies, foreign tour operators can be punished for not using the services of local tourist guides while sightseeing tourist sights or areas in the Republic of Croatia.

Pursuant to the Act on the Provision of Tourism Services which stipulates the requirements for the provision of services of tourist guides and escorts, there are specific provisions for the services of tourist representatives who represent the tour operator in the destination and provide services both to local service providers and to clients. Tourist representatives are authorised to: protect the interests and rights of the tourists and of the tour operator with the service providers, provide information and instruction to clients, both about the tour programme and additional services (excursions, culture and sports events etc) included in the tour programme, and do other things necessary for the protection of the interests of travellers and of the tour operator. Foreign tour operators can contract the representative directly, or they can do it via their partner - a Croatian travel agency.

Tourist representatives can provide their services only if the Agreement of representation has been entered in the Register of such agreements with the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia, at least 15 days before the provision of such services starts. At the same time, additional procedures have to be taken in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (e.g. issuance of visas) and Ministry of the Interior. Thus the whole procedure of obtaining all necessary permits can take several months. Foreign tour operations are therefore advised to get detailed information directly from the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia or from their partner - a Croatian travel agency. Before signing a contract with a client, a travel agency in the Republic of Croatia is obliged to issue a programme, prospectus or catalogue for the client. This obligation is equally valid for a package holiday and an excursion, and the promotional material can also be provided via the Internet. The Act of the Provision of Tourism Services lists precisely the type of information which such promotional material must contain, so that all clients are provided with important information which can influence their choice. Concerning package holidays, the Civil Obligations Act precisely defines the contents of the contract and additional information which the travel agency is obliged to give the client before the commencement of the trip. In this way the Croatian legal system has completely implemented Directive 90/314/EEC on package holidays, which means that all users of package holiday services organized by Croatian travel agencies are protected in the same way as in the EU member countries.

The Act on the Provision of Tourism Services also gives the possibility of additional requirements for the provision of services in special forms of tourist offer: agriculture tourism, health tourism, culture, wellness, congress, tourism for young people, adventure, hunting, sports, golf, sports or recreational sea fishing, diving, sports fresh water fishing, additional activity in breeding fresh water fish and sea fish, crabs and shells, etc. Equally, it defines precisely that tourist services which include sports and recreational or adventure activities (skiing, diving, sailing, horse riding, trekking and mountaineering, rafting, canoeing, boating, paragliding, bungee-jumping etc) should be provided under special conditions. The conditions primarily relate to the obligation of the service provider to inform the user about the risk of service providing, the way of providing the service to persons under 18 years of age, insurance against accidents and meeting specific technical requirements, while the coach, instructor, teacher, leader, guide and other persons providing those services must be qualified to provide the services. The supervision over the implementation of tourism regulations is done by the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia, and the inspection is done by relevant state inspectors and tourist inspectors in their relevant fields, pursuant to special regulations. Beside fines for natural and legal persons violating the regulations, the inspectors can issue protective measures prohibiting the provision of certain services for a period up to one year.

While every effort has been made to ensure maximum accuracy of the information at the time of preparing this information, the need to compress the matter and possible changes of by-laws may cause deviations from the information given here. UHPA cannot accept any liability whatsoever for the contents, errors or their misinterpretation. We therefore advise you to contact your local partner - a Croatian travel agency, UHPA, or the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia.