Tourism Law in Europe

11 on timeshare, regulated by articles 69-81, as well as the provision applicable to travel contracts in articles 82-100, later incorporated in the Tourism Code. The Consumer Code is the peak of a process developed over the last few decades and brings together, in a single text, the provisions of 21 different measures. It applies to the relations between consumers and undertakings qualified by the “consumer act”. The Consumer Code consists of 146 articles divided into six parts 18 , covering all stages of consumption, from purchase to consumer protection actions. It includes, among others, rules previously regulated in the Civil Code, as the rules on unfair terms and condition, and the rules on “warranties and guarantees”. The Consumer Code also regulates the on distance selling and off-premises contracts, previously regulated by legislative decrees. Concerning the provisions on timeshare – or “timeshare property” or “timeshare rights” –, tourism is particularly concerned with the so-called tourist-hotel timeshare 19 . The peculiarity of hotel timeshare is that the property is part of a hotel facility and, therefore, has a restricted urban intended use, which entails particular ways of using the entire facility. A further particularity is the provision of hotel services, which must also be provided by the “timeshare owner”. Timeshare for residential tourism purposes is characterised by a system of collective use by a predetermined number of persons of a predetermined property unit. In the case of hotel timeshare, the consumer may decide to give up direct use of the property, receiving a pro-rata share of the proceeds of the ordinary hotel rental. 9. The Tourism Code The so-called Tourism Code (Annex 1 to Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23 May 2011, as amended, known as the “Code of State regulations on the organisation and market of tourism”) was drafted in an attempt to draw up general rules on tourism, in the limited frame of the competence granted to the State by the Italian Constitution, following the 2001 constitutional reform. The fragile balance that the Italian Constitution draws 18 Part I - General Provisions (artt. 1-3); Part II - Education, Information, Advertising (artt. 4-31); Part III - The Consumer Relationship (artt. 33-101); Part IV - Safety and Quality (artt. 102-135); Part V - Consumer Associations and Access to Justice (artt. 136-141- decies ); Part VI - Final Provisions (artt. 142-146). 19 Giorgia TASSONI, I diritti a tempo parziale su beni immobili. Un contributo allo studio della multiproprietà , Padua, CEDAM, 1999. For all updates, see Giorgia TASSONI, La multiproprità , in Vincenzo FRANCESCHELLI & Francesco MORANDI, Manuale di diritto del turismo , op . cit ., p. 384.