Tourism Law in Europe

4 2.3. Conditions for Performing Tourist Activities Hospitality Industry Act 10 of 1995 lays down administrative requirements for performing hospitality services, i.e. catering and accommodation. They may be carried out by companies and sole traders registered for the purposes of performing hospitality services, associations with hospitality activities specified in their acts of establishment, as well as by private individuals if they are categorised as a landlord or a farmer and they fulfil the conditions laid down by the law. The law is quite rigid since it requires registration of hospitality service providers based on the type of facility in question, which may be hotels, motels, boarding houses, overnight accommodation facilities, guesthouses, hotel and holiday villages, mountain lodges and other houses, campsites, restaurants, taverns, cafés, confectioneries, snack bars or bars and facilities for the preparation and delivery of dishes. The conditions for registration are not very restrictive, however. Minimum technical conditions and scope of hospitality services are also prescribed. The opening hours of catering establishments must be reported to the municipal authorities, which may limit the duration of opening hours in specific localities. Rules on the categorisation of accommodation establishments are also prescribed. Legal framework of activity of tourist farms is laid down in the Decree on subsidiary activities on farms 11 . In March 2021, the government introduced a draft new law 12 that would significantly liberalise the regulation of hospitality industry, e.g. by replacing the detailed list of specific types of establishments by a more general distinction between three categories: accommodation establishments, food and beverage service establishments, and establishments for occasional preparation and delivery of food. The draft law abolishes the obligation to report the operating hours of facilities to the municipality and allows establishments to set their opening hours in accordance with their business interests and publish them in a visible place. Interestingly, the draft law also stipulates that all catering establishments connected to the public water supply must offer their guests drinking water from the water supply network. This provision reflects the right to drinking water 10 “Zakon o gostinstvu”, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 1/95 with subsequent amendments. 11 Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 57/15 with subsequent amendments. 12 Source : https://www.gov.si/novice/2021-03-08-osnutek-novega-zakona-o-gostinstvu-v-javni-obravnavi.