The Decree of Necessity and Urgency No. 70/2023, published on December 21, 2023 and effective as of December 30 of the same year, in Title XV called “Tourism”, repealed Law No. 18828 of Hotel Regulation, Law No. 18829 of Travel Agencies Regulation and Law No. 26356 of Timeshare Tourism System.
The Hotel regulation law repealed
Law No. 18828 of Hotel regulation was enacted on November 6, 1970, and has not been amended over the years.
Among its provisions, the law provided that hotel establishments (defined in Art. 1) had to be registered in the National Hotel Registry, include the registration data in the documentation or advertising they used, and communicate within 30 days any alteration in their characteristics and services (Art. 2). On the other hand, the law established prohibitions on the use of names (art. 6) and sanctions in case of non-compliance (art. 8).
Likewise, the regulatory decree 1818/1976 provided that the enforcement body of the law would be the Undersecretariat of Tourism, which oversaw the National Hotel Registry.
The Travel Agencies regulation law repealed
Law No. 18829 regulating Travel Agencies was enacted on November 6, 1970, but, unlike the Hotel Regulation Law, it was amended and supplemented by more than 100 regulations over the years. The spirit of the regulation was to guide the Travel Agent’s activity by means of a series of minimum requirements.
In particular, the law established that, in order to engage in the tourism activities described in Article 1, the respective license had to be previously obtained from the Registry of Travel Agents. At the same time, it provided that licenses would be granted after the constitution of a guarantee fund in cash, government securities and/or bank guarantee (art. 6) and bestowed the Government the power to deny the granting of licenses or cancel those already granted (art. 2). It also established sanctions in case of non-compliance with the regulations related to the activity.
Timeshare Tourism System law repealed
Law No. 26.356 on Timeshare Tourism System (“STTC” in Spanish) was enacted on February 28, 2008. The Civil and Commercial Code, which entered into force in 2015, was the major reform of this law by regulating the right in rem of Timeshare.
This law established the Secretariat of Tourism as the enforcement authority and created a Registry of Vacation Providers and Establishments affected by Timeshare Tourism Systems. For the exercise of the activity, the owners and other subjects had to be registered (art. 6).
On another note, the law established duties for the marketing and advertising of STTCs (Art. 26), the National Consumer Arbitration System (SNAC) as a dispute resolution mechanism (Art. 32) and sanctions in case of non-compliance with the regulations governing the activity (Art. 38).
By Dafne Mancevich.
