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LEGAL FRAMEWORK ASSESSMENT

OF ’S

JUNE 2007

This publication was produced for review by the Agency for International Development. It was prepared by the Strategic Development Agency NGO for the Competitive Armenain Private Sector Project. 1

LEGAL FRAMEWORK ASSESSMENT OF ARMENIA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY

DISCLAIMER: The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 4 INTRODUCTION ...... 19 PART I LICENSING AND CERTIFICATION SCHEMES ...... 22 1. classification/certification ...... 22 2. Tourist and tour escorts...... 35 3. Regulation of tour operators’ and tour agents’ activities ...... 51 PART II ACCESS TO AND MAINTENANCE OF TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES ...... 72 1. Equal access to cultural sites for nationals and foreigners ...... 72 2. Maintenance of cultural sites ...... 73 3. Disabled access and facilities, building regulations and design...... 75 PART III TOURISM RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS ...... 86 1. Environmental management practices, company policies and technical measures ..... 86 2. Protected areas law (tourism zones, breach of regulations, planning) ...... 94 PART IV SAFETY STANDARDS AND PRACTICES IN TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES...... 106 1. Fire safety ...... 106 2. Food and sanitary standards...... 112 PART V TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE ...... 123 1. Transportation safety ...... 123 2. Certain means of trasnport necessary for tourism purposes ...... 128 PART VI SECURITY OF TOURISTS AND PROTECTION OF THEIR RIGHTS ...... 141 1. General overview ...... 141 2. Tour contracts ...... 142 3. Providing information to tourists...... 144 4. Consumer protection, breach of tour contracts and compensation of damages..... 148 5. Security and insurance of tourists and their goods ...... 150 6. Emergency and rescue services...... 152 7. Settlement of tourism disputes...... 152 8. Signs in tourism sites and facilities ...... 154 9. Bankruptcy of tourism enterprises...... 155 10. Legal framework for investments in tourism sector...... 155 11. Legal regulations for export of cultural values and ...... 157 12. Entry visa regime for tourists...... 160 CONCLUSIONS...... 161 LIST OF ANNEXES ...... 164

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Tourism is one of the most dynamically developing fields of Republic of Armenia’s (hereinafter RA) economy. A significant input in the development of these processes was the declaration of tourism as a dominant sector of RA economy by the Government of RA (hereinafter GOA). One of the major factors for increasing the competitiveness of a tourism industry is existence of a sound legal, regulatory and business environment, reasonably balancing the interests of both tourism service providers and consumers. This research has been conducted by Strategic Development Agency NGO based on a signed agreement with Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS/USAID) project in the period of January 15, 2007 – April 15, 2007. The goal of the research was to assess the current situation and opportunities for developing tourism sector in Armenia through improvement and development of RA tourism legislation to insure sustainable development of . The goal has been achieved through: a. legal analysis of the current laws of RA to reveal the shortcomings and imperfections of tourism regulation. b. examination of enforcement of the current laws and regulations and their impact on businesses. c. comparative analysis of tourism legislation in the view of the international best practices, WTO recommendations and regulations, EU directives, research of best practices of tourism regulation in countries with similar economic situation, applicable in RA. d. evaluation of efficiency of the existing practice and system for dispute resolution arising between tourists and the suppliers of tourism services. e. examination of participation of GOA in bilateral and multilateral treaties and charters, cooperation with international organizations in tourism sector. f. conclusions and recommendations for addressing problems and issues relating to the legal aspects of prohibiting tourism development in RA. Throughout the research, a number of coordination meetings were held with CAPS representatives to discuss various aspects of the work, including a more detailed structure of the research and the final report, areas to emphasize and review the process of the assessment. During the research a combination of various tools and methods has been used such as: primary research (including over 150 formal/standard interviews and over 25 expert/in-depth ones with industry stakeholders etc.), desk research and analysis. The received data has been then cross-checked and analyzed, based on which the final report containing corresponding recommendations was drawn. The report consist of the following main sections, with a brief summary prior to each one, analysis and recommendations’ sub-sections following as well as a general conclusions section. 1. Licensing and certification schemes

4 2. Access to and maintenance of tourism facilities and sites 3. Environmental regulations that could create basis for development in Armenia 4. Safety standards and practices in tourism facilities and sites 5. Transportation infrastructure 6. Security of tourists and protection of their rights Attached are 20 Annexes referred in the report with more detailed information on field research, sources and documents used.

1. LICENSING AND CERTIFICATION SCHEMES

1.1 HOTEL CLASSIFICATION/CERTIFICATION Proliferation of hotel industry emerged the need for establishment of a certain system, which would enable to gain some insight about the quality of services offered by different accommodation establishments. As a result, hotel classification/certification system has been historically developed either on the initiatives of states or various associations in the field. Since then, many efforts have been made to develop a uniform or model classification system. Anyhow, it still remains diverse and special for each country (state established and controlled in countries such as: , Hungary, , Lithuania etc.; NGO sector established and controlled in countries like: Austria, Czech Republic, , Ireland and a combination of the two such as Estonia etc.), though with some common features. In Armenia, the hotel classification system is a voluntary one established and controlled by the state (i.e. Ministry of Trade and Economic Development). Another important issue in classification remains the base-line approach towards the criteria for the evaluation: ¾ infrastructure, the most traditional set of requirements towards technical standards the hotel should meet (such as: room sizes and numbers, room soundproofing, heating and air-conditioning, bathroom facilities, phone system, electrical equipment etc.) ¾ service, one of the recent trends in classification of accommodation establishments; subjective and objective evaluation of the range and quality of services offered as a result of growing interest of customers in service and not just facilities available (e.g. 24-hour room service, the number of languages spoken by the reception personnel or the general attitude and helpfulness of the personnel, certain managerial practices and the concierge's knowledge of local etc.) ¾ Mixed criteria of infrastructure and service, combining the both criteria. Here, the accommodation establishments in general are classified by stars mostly based on infrastructure criteria, but at the same time they can apply to receive a classification for quality of service (like in , where accommodation services are awarded one to five stars depending on hotel facilities, and one to five diamonds depending on the quality of service). The major legal acts addressing the hotel classification system in RA are the Law on Tourism and Tourism Activities and GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946 on “Adoption

5 of Order and Conditions of Providing Accommodation Services, Certificates of Category of Accommodation Establishments and Procedure of Certification”. Gaps in the existing classification system/procedure in RA and recommendations on further legal improvements: ¾ The provisions of the GOA Decree of N 946 should be further developed in order to address issues such as: who may not act as a member of the Evaluation for conducting the certification, as well as conduct the follow up inspection of the accommodation establishments, ¾ It is advisable to further specify the provisions in the Law on Tourism and GOA Decree regarding the inspections of the accommodation services, whether the inspections are made individually or by a certain committee or group, composition of the body for exercising the inspections. ¾ GOA Decree of N 946 should limit the grounds for unjustified rejections of certification for shortcomings providing an opportunity to set deadlines for eliminating those. Moreover, the applicant must be provided with clearly formulated reasons for non-conformity. ¾ Examination of classification standards provided by the GOA Decree 946 demonstrate that the latter are “quite complicated”, detail and “difficultly understood” by the sector. There is a need for further simplification of these standards. It is advisable to provide clear distinction between infrastructure and service standards, and further divide the standards into subcategories in order to make them easy to understand and use.

In addition, in order to make the hotel classification system popular within the sector: ¾ the benefits, costs and other implications of certification systems should be made clear to the private sector, ¾ there should be provided technical consultancy options from the initial expression of interest and through the application phases onward, as well as guidance to the applicant at every stage of the process, ¾ there should be a good media coverage to the awarding ceremonies.

1.2. TOURIST GUIDES AND TOUR ESCORTS Tourist guides and tour escorts are persons in direct contact with tourists, so that the quality of their service largely determines the impression of the tourist of both; the tour and the country in general. The guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area and possesses an area-specific qualification. Under RA Law on Tourism the basic difference between the “tourist guide” and “tour escort” is that the guide has special informational knowledge which is being provided to tourists and that constitutes the essence of guide’s service, meanwhile the tour escort is responsible only for organizational issues during the tour. States pay special attention to qualifications possessed by a person acting as a guide or tour escort and establish special licensing procedure for pursuit of such activities. In RA there also exists a mandatory state licensing procedure for exercising tourist guide’s and tour escort’s activities. Exception form the licensing 6 requirement is provided only for the employees of a certain tourism object (site) (e.g Guides in the State Historic , Matenadaran, etc.). The procedure of licensing and requirements to the applicant for licensing are governed by the GOA Decree No 954 On Adoption of the Procedure of Licensing of Tourist guides And Tour Escorts of 10.06.2004 and the Order of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development N 190 on Adoption of Statute of the Committee for Qualification and Licensing of Guide and Tour Escort dated 23.11.1004.

During the research of the existing legal framework and the field the following the major gaps have been revealed: ¾ Certain amendments should be made to the examination of professional qualification of tourist guides (escorts) in RA, so as to combine both: formal questionnaires and oral phase enabling the evaluation of academicals knowledge and certain professional qualities necessary for the guides, such as communication techniques, guiding skills, etc. In addition, the licensing procedure should provide opportunity for checking linguistic skills of the candidates. The latter should include testing for foreigners that are not aliens of Armenian origin or citizens of RA (such practice exists also in , Scotland, Quebec, etc.), as well as knowledge of foreign language on behalf of candidates of Armenian origin/citizenship. ¾ From the point of promotion of professionalism of tourist guides (tour escort’s) it is advisable to provide either certain mechanism of renewal of guide’s license or providing a binding requirement of annual trainings. ¾ Special attention should be paid to promotion of contractual relations between the tourist guide (escort) and undertakings, introduction of model contracts, in order to prevent the distorted practice of obliging the guides to exercise functions which do not directly derive from the profession of the tourist guide. ¾ The guides are often obliged to endanger themselves as a result of certain unpredicted actions of tourists or emergency situation during the tour. Thus, it is advisable to pay certain attention to insurance of tourist guides, which may be provided either by the on behalf of the guide (escorts) or be set as a binding requirement for issuance a licensing to a guide (e.g. like in Austria). ¾ Organization of professional education for guides should be further actively promoted and encouraged by the GOA (its authorized body), and be promoted with a wide involvement of professional unions of the sector. Examination of foreign experience makes clear that countries differ in their approaches to organization and duration of the training. However, basic principles of organization of such trainings include: a) wide general knowledge with specific reference to the history, geography, art, architecture, economics, politics, religion ad sociology. b) specialized linguistic knowledge with all languages spoken fluently including the special terminology in various fields, c) interpersonal skills, knowledge of communication techniques comprising the art of guiding.

7 ¾ Besides the training for preparing professional guides, an important issue is also ensuring continuous retraining of already licensed guides, which is necessary for their professional development. ¾ Serious measures should be undertaken for capacity building of the professional association uniting interests of majority of guides, namely: Armenian Guides’ Guild, which represent their interests, initiate changes and development in the sector, dialogue with state and non-state institutions etc. The professional association can significantly assist travel undertakings by keeping database of working guides and providing information about those (e.g. languages spoken, knowledge in special area and other qualifications), as well as receive and register the feedback about the quality of service provided by the guide.

1.3. REGULATION OF TOUR OPERATORS’ AND TOUR AGENTS’ ACTIVITIES For marketing Armenia as a beneficial tourism destination major input have the tour operators and travel agencies. The quality of organized tour packages, especially in inbound tourism, directly influences the rating of Armenia in the world tourism industry. Tour operators are engaged in preparing tour packages and making relevant arrangements for those (e.g. reservation in accommodation establishments, organization of sightseeing trips, distribution of tourists and arrangement of food etc), as well as disseminating tour packages. In the meantime, tour agents act like an intermediary in distribution of the results of tour operator’s activities. Tour operators can be categorized into two major groups: inbound (offering for sale packages that include travel services provided in Armenia,) and outbound (offering for sale packages that include travel services provided outside of Armenia). RA Law does not provide any kind of licensing or registration procedure for activities of both: tour operators and travel agents. International practice is also different in its approaches to this issue. Some consider existence of licensing schemes as an artificial bar for the access of newcomers to the industry and thus ineffective (e.g. , , where licensing schemes have been discouraged). On the other hand, examination of the existing practice in many European countries and countries with Anglo-American traditions shows that they are prone to keeping a mechanism of state control over the activities of tour operators and travel agents (e.g. , , , Israel, Greece, Finland, France, Croatia, Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Estonia, Lithuania, etc.). Insuring the quality and reliability of tour operators’ and travel agents’ activities in Armenia and protection of consumers’ interests from possible swindle of inexperienced travel undertakings, emerge the need for a certain “soft control" over the industry, which has been raised by the sector representatives themselves. However, such interference should, in no case, be limiting for the industry and the criteria for licensing/accreditation should not imply artificial limitations for access to the market for new travel undertakings, as well as create invincible obstacles for the ones who are already in business, thus stimulating “unfair” competition amongst the existing tour operators (agents). In general, it should be underlined that elaboration and implementation of licensing schemes in RA should be done hand in hand with existing travel undertakings and their professional unions. Moreover, introduction of licensing procedure should be done gradually, in a non distorting way for the industry. One should bear in mind also

8 the fact that the costs of licensing should not be quite high, as these costs will undoubtedly pass on consumers. The analysis of the existing legal framework and practice of the field allows underlining the following major issues, which need to be considered in order to create beneficial legal preconditions for providing travel services: ¾ To have a complex idea on operating tourism undertakings and thus to efficiently exercise the state policy on tourism development in RA, it is advisable to establish a State Register on Tourism Services (relevant examples exist in Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania, Estonia, etc.). ¾ During the field research, the field representatives particularly mentioned two main criteria that should be prioritized while establishing licensing criteria at first: educational or relevant work experience requirements (e.g. the manager of the travel undertaking must be an experienced professional having either X years experience at managerial level, or a university or college-level education in tourism and two years experience in tourism, etc.). In addition, the examination of foreign experience shows that certain other requirements, such as knowledge of at least one foreign language, absence of criminal record on behalf of the manager of travel undertaking, existence of relevant business premises etc, are also considered (e.g. Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia, , Greece, etc). ¾ Examination of foreign practices makes clear that another basic condition for licensing travel activities is an existence of financial guarantees on behalf of travel undertakings. They are used for returning to the passenger the difference between the contracted price of the journey and the price of the journey reduced in proportion to the amount of services contained in the program of the journey but not rendered, or incompletely rendered, and for the costs of the passengers' return trip in the case of the receivership or temporary insolvency of the organizer of the travel. Safety funds generally may take the form of an insurance policy, a bank guarantee, trust accounts, consumer restitution funds (administered either by government or professional unions), financial deposit etc. Another mechanism for this purpose is also establishment of a special requirement to the minimum capital of the travel undertaking. It should be mentioned that financial guarantees and safety of funds are more appropriate for outbound travel, while liability insurance considered more important for inbound operators. However, bearing in mind the absence of relevant practice in RA, it is advisable to provide alternatives to travel undertakings in choosing the form of required safety.

2. ACCESS TO AND MAINTENANCE OF TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES

2.1 EQUAL ACCESS TO CULTURAL SITES FOR NATIONALS AND FOREIGNERS Attractiveness of tourism sights and facilities in Armenia largely depends on two major elements: ¾ easy access for tourists ¾ condition and quality of the site, which can be guaranteed by proper maintenance. Generally, there are neither physical nor financial obstacles for tourists visiting cultural sites and monuments. Foreigners are provided the same opportunities as

9 local visitors, fees charged are also equal. Despite the fact that there are no regulations on discounts on legislative level, in practice most of the cultural sites apply discounts for different groups of visitors, such as students, pupils, disabled, etc. The main shortcoming with access in practice is that visitors are often not aware of discounts and other favorable terms of service in tourism sites. It is therefore advisable for the authorized state body to order visibility of information on existing discounts and other relevant terms of entrance for the tourists, visiting the site.

2.2. MAINTENANCE OF CULTURAL SITES Another important issue is the proper maintenance of tourism sites and facilities, which is a prerequisite for attracting tourists. Maintenance is largely interconnected with the issue of ownership of the cultural monument, as it is usually carried out either by the owner or by his tenant. From the point of ownership, there are three main groups of monuments: state owned unalienable monuments, state owned alienable monuments and monuments not owned by the state. Legal acts, regulating the regime of ownership, possibility to pass the monument under lease contract and obligations of the tenant with respect to preservation and maintenance of the leased cultural monument, are the Law on Historical and Cultural Monuments of State Ownership not Subject to Alienation (11.04.2003), and the Law on Preservation and Use of Immovable Historical and Cultural Monuments and Historical Environment (11.11.1998) The lease contract contains specific provisions on preservation and maintenance of the monument. In case of alienation the new owner still has the obligation to preserve the monument and undertake actions for its due maintenance. Accessibility of historical and cultural monuments for tourism has been considered as an important direction of GOA policy since 1999. In the Protocol of GOA meeting of 28 January 1999 the GOA emphasized the necessity to use tourism as a tool of preservation of historical and cultural monuments, by placing signs, advertising and popularizing monuments, publishing booklets and other materials, containing information to attract tourists. It should also be noted that though existing legislation provides for an opportunity to lease the monument to an organization, capable of performing all the above-mentioned measures, which would lead first, to implication of cost based approach and self-financing, and then, to profitability, few practical steps have been taken so far. Therefore, it would be recommendable to undertake the following measures: ¾ Draft model contracts and introduce terms, necessary for the leaser to develop a maintenance strategy and plan tourism activities in the territory of the monument. ¾ In order to secure monuments the law can be amended with additional mechanisms of control, such as preliminary approval of plans for restoration and maintenance of the monument by the authorized state body, as well as permitting modernization of monument or some parts of it only upon schemes, prepared by licensed specialists. 2.3. DISABLED ACCESS AND FACILITIES, BUILDING REGULATIONS AND DESIGN Disabled access to tourism sites and facilities in Armenia is regulated under general rules on disabled access. The main acts in the field are the Law on Social Protection of Disabled (14.04.1993), the GOA Decree on Approval of Strategy of Social

10 Protection of the Disabled for 2006-2015 (03.11.2005), the GOA Decree on Approval of the Procedure for guaranteeing accessibility of social, and engineering infrastructures for disabled people and less mobile groups of population (05.04.2006), Building norms for “Accessibility of Buildings and Other Constructions for less mobile groups of population”(10.11.2006, approved by the Minister of Urban Planning). The main trend in legislative developments is approximation of norms on accessibility for disabled with basic international and European acts, such as UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Council of Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society: improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015. Nevertheless, practical implementation of approved norms is still insufficient. Results of the study demonstrate that main problems with accessibility for disabled tourists in Armenia are the lack of professional education for designers, builders and other staff on accessibility for disabled, poor implementation of universal design principles, insufficient state control. Measures, recommended in order to overcome the shortcomings in the field include but are not limited to the following: ¾ It would be reasonable to strengthen state control over observance of accessibility norms by architects and state officials, responsible for approval of project papers, by introducing administrative responsibility. ¾ Disability component and principles of universal design should be included into educational programs for architects and planners. Also, it would be advisable for the authorized state body to organize and promote training on universal design, which would contribute to better understanding of the main ways of guaranteeing accessibility for disabled. ¾ A database of information on , containing information on accessible and other accommodation services, food, trade and other services, places of interest for tourists (historical-cultural monuments, , concert halls, etc.) should be established. ¾ It would be advisable to provide comprehensive training for stakeholders on UN and European standards, national legislation in the field of disabled access and examples of best practices of its implementation.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS THAT COULD CREATE BASIS FOR ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN ARMENIA 3.1. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, COMPANY POLICIES AND TECHNICAL MEASURES There are two basic ways of promoting the use of environmentally friendly practices in Armenia: state imposed measures in form of either administrative-mandatory or economic-promotional, and voluntary initiatives, such as eco-labeling. It should be noted that mandatory measures in the field of energy, water saving, waste treatment and other eco-friendly practices cannot be considered as an effective measure and has not been recognized as such in most states. On contrary, economic measures stimulate implementation of eco-friendly practices by private sector. In Armenia, tax and customs duty exemptions were introduced for

11 importing certain types of technological goods or energy carriers by legal entities or private enterprises. Promoting energy and water saving by the state can be seen in basic legal acts in the field, such as the Law on Energy Saving and Restorable Energy (09.11.2004), as well as the Law on Fundamentals of National Water Policy (03.05.2005). Another way of promoting eco-friendly polices and providing both cost-saving and marketing benefits is the eco-certification, which is not realized because of absence of such initiatives in Armenia. In practice, there are few companies implementing eco-friendly practices and even less tourists, aware of these practices and benefiting from those. Recommendations, aiming at promotion of environmentally friendly practices, are the following: ¾ Environmentally friendly facilities, used in hotels, restaurants and other places visited by tourists should be promoted: consumers are usually not aware of the fact that organization has chosen to follow environmentally friendly policy in certain issues, concerning service or products. Therefore, it should be advisable to place signs or notices, calling the customer’s attention. ¾ State bodies, responsible for executing state policy in the fields of energy, water, waste should take measures to implement the principles and directions of state policy in the field of environmentally-friendly policies. Such measures could include assistance to training and information dissemination in order to enhance use of energy saving, publishing guidance and arranging training on modern environmentally friendly technologies, undertaking exhibitions of modern equipment on eco-friendly practices, etc. ¾ Voluntary eco-labeling by the NGO sector can be assisted by developing criteria and minimum requirements for eco-labeling. In case of establishment, national eco-labeling organization could use the EU experience while developing such criteria. ¾ Promotion of eco-labeling should be assisted by the state, e.g. dissemination of case studies, illustrating how certain producers or service providers benefited from eco-labeling has proved to be one of the best ways to make eco-labeling popular. ¾ The state should undertake legal and economic measures in order to implement recommendations of WTO regarding sustainability certification systems in tourism.

3.2. PROTECTED AREAS LAW (TOURISM ZONES, BREACH OF REGULATIONS, PLANNING) Under Armenian legislation there are four types of protected areas – state reserves, state preserves, national parks and monuments of nature. Basic acts, governing peculiarities of regime, as well as scope of tourism activities and tourism infrastructure within each type, are the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas (27.11.2006), Bylaws of state reserves, Bylaws and Management Plans of National Parks, approved by the GOA. Land issues and building restrictions in protected areas are regulated under the Land Code of RA (02.05.2001) and GOA Decree on procedure of granting the land to lease in the territory of national park (08.05.2003). It must be stated, that recent legislative developments have created a basis for tourism development in protected areas. Legal regulations in the field are in consistence with internationally recognized standards in the field. There are detailed

12 regulations on zoning, issues of granting land to lease and building up. Observance of legal regulations and restrictions is supported by responsibility provisions, which are specifically designed in order to correspond with peculiarities and needs of protected areas. With some exceptions, legislative basis for tourism development in protected areas is sufficient. However, most of the infrastructure is still in a poor condition. There is also no pricing policy in existence. First and most important task is formation of necessary infrastructure in the territory of protected area, setting management priorities, promotion and dissemination of information for tourists. Some progress has been made in respect to tourist centers, which provide tourists with information on protected area, including security, liability information and information on sites and places of interest. A number of recommendations for promoting tourism activities in protected areas include but are not limited to the following: ¾ Elaborate pricing policy and introduce fees and other revenue generating mechanisms. Absence of flexible fee system lowers the potential benefit from tourism in protected areas. Moreover, fees serve as an important funding for the protected area and contribute to its maintenance. ¾ Provide legal regulations for entrance on the territory of state reserve in order to guarantee equal principle of granting access. ¾ Approve necessary acts (bylaws, management plans) for state preserves and monuments of nature. ¾ Organize regular building up of national parks in compliance with General Scheme of the park, ordered by the administration and providing for unified general planning of the park ¾ Allocate funds from recovery of damages so that the needs of preservation and development of the protected area are met ¾ Develop comprehensive strategy of ecotourism development in protected areas ¾ Develop and implement a system of impact evaluation mechanisms ¾ Grant certain privileges (tax exemptions, etc) to B&Bs operating in or near protected areas. This would also help improve the situation with .

4. SAFETY STANDARDS AND PRACTICES IN TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES 4.1. FIRE SAFETY Developed tourism industry assumes also ensuring safe environment during tourists’ stay in the country. One of the constituents of safety of tourists relates to the fire safety issues. Fire safety issues in RA are regulated by “Fire safety law” of RA and “Fire safety rules”. RA fire safety rules provide binding regulations for fire safety issues in general and do not specifically address fire safety issues in accommodation establishments and other tourism services. In the meantime the European Council Recommendation of 22 December 1986 On Fire Safety In Existing Hotels is especially aimed at regulation of fire safety issues in hotels. Thus, the Recommendation is a valuable source for elaboration and further development of fire safety regulations for hotels in RA.

13 Analysis of RA fire safety legislation from the point of the needs of tourism industry revealed the following gaps and recommendations: ¾ It is advisable to include fire safety requirements also in classification standards for accommodation establishments (e.g. like in , Estonia, Germany, etc.). ¾ Joint measures should be undertaken for regular and efficient training of the personnel of accommodation establishments on fire safety rules. ¾ Relevant legislation of RA should include not only the definition of fire extinguisher but also provide basic rules of using that. Moreover, it is advisable to state that the instructions should be at least in Armenian and English. ¾ In all accommodation buildings there should be information about fire safety in visible places. People should be able to easily read not only where from to escape and leave the building during the fire but also provided with all necessary information on other steps to do in case of fire emergency. ¾ Current technical developments allow thinking also about new technologies such as sensors in order to prevent fires more effectively, technologies which will make possible the detection of smoke and fire behind the door. ¾ It is advisable to consider the regulation on fire safety issues provided in the European Council Recommendation referring to the safety instruction for coverings and decorations, electric lighting, heating, ventilation systems, fire- fighting, alarm and alerting equipment, as well as prohibitions to make any obstacles on the evacuation routes, sufficient number of staircases, etc.

4.2. FOOD AND SANITARY STANDARDS Armenia has made significant legislative developments in the field of food and sanitary safety. There are sanitary norms on almost every aspect of sanitary and food safety in public food organizations. Additionally, numerous legal acts of the GOA and the Ministry of Health regulate issues of packaging, labeling and information, which must be provided to the consumer. At the same time, analysis of recent regulations on sanitary and especially food safety demonstrates that legal solutions are fully based on experience and approaches of EU countries and other industrialized states. The problems are therefore of non-regulatory nature and lie within the level of implementation of legislative provisions into life. This is particularly important for legal regulations that are relatively new and unusual for Armenian practice, such as introduction of HACCP standards in the field of food safety, for instance. Major problems, revealed during the field research concern the complexity of legal regulations, lack of training on proper fulfillment of requirements and lack of assistance from the state. In order to overcome the deficiencies, the following recommendations could be useful: ¾ It would be advisable if the state bodies responsible for policy making and control in the field of sanitary and food safety regulations cooperate with the stakeholders in order to achieve better conditions for implementation. This cooperation should cover not only implementation of HACCP, but also other aspects of sanitary and food safety legislation. ¾ It is recommended that state bodies responsible for policy making in the field of standards in cooperation with NGOs operating in field of public food services, take measures to promote voluntary conformity assessment of public food

14 providers. The obligatory assessment proves the conformity with GOA requirements, which are not always known by visitors. Voluntary HACCP, as well as ISO certification could be useful. Existence of internationally recognized certificate is one of the factors (though not the key one, according to experts) contributing to increase of popularity of public food organization. ¾ It would be preferable to provide more details on regulations, concerning traceability of food. Taking into consideration lack of practice on traceability in Armenia and relatively new legal regulations, regulations on minimal data for tracing should be provided in GOA acts, based on the Law on Food Safety.

5. TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE Development of tourism in RA is much dependent also on the developed transport infrastructure, in order to make the access to various tourism sights possible. RA legislation relating to transport includes in particular the Law on “Automobile transport” of 05.12.2006, Law on ”Road Traffic Security” of 08.07.2005, Law on “Automobile Roads” of 05.12.2006, GOA Decree of 23.05.2002 N 924 “On Adoption of the Rules of Road Traffic” and others. Safety of transportation, compliance to traffic rules and road ethics are of concern for tourists. Hereby such issues as seat belt regulations, road ethics, street lightening, road signs and signals are underlined. RA Law on ”Traffic Security” prohibits transport passengers without safety belts being fastened. By recent amendments in the RA Code of Administrative Offenses the responsibility for driving of transportation means without fastening the security seatbelts has been restricted to the amount of fine of 5000 Armenian drams. However, in order to implant seat belt fastening culture in Armenia it is necessary to influence the public mentality, as well us to ensure the unavoidability of responsibility. Another issue, much spoken about all over the world nowadays, concerns the road ethics. Yet very few countries have separate regulations on road ethics, because road ethics rules are generally included in common driving regulations. The basic document establishing more or less precise set of rules on road ethics in RA is the GOA Decree N 924, which provides the rights and obligations for drivers and pedestrians, establishes rules of traffic for both drivers and pedestrians. For dissemination of road ethics serious measures have been recent amendments in the Code on Administrative Offenses, which provide more restricted rules for exploitation of vehicles and enhanced fines for breaking these rules. In terms of improving the road ethics is important to design special courses for teaching future drivers road ethic rules in details. Development of transport infrastructure in RA is much dependent also on existence of dually furnished stops, elaborated bus schedules, existence of relevant roads design, etc. To address these issues in 2006 GOA adopted the Program on enhancing the capacity of roads, reduction fussiness of traffic areas, regulation of public transport stops. Transportation of tourists to sights by tour has its peculiarities and needs special regulation deriving from the needs of comfort and safety of tourists. RA legislation relating to automobile transport does not provide any specific regulations for tour buses. One of the most important issues while transporting passengers by tour bus is existence of relevant facilities and accommodations inside the bus (air

15 conditioning, WC rooms, etc.). The tour bus drivers need also a special professional training in reacting in emergency situations, communication technique, etc. European Council Regulation No 516/72 on the introduction of common rules for shuttle services by coach and bus provides that authorized transportation of passengers by tour buses in EU, should specify the route of the service, giving in particular place of departure, place of destination, stopping points, the length in kilometers of the route, the number and dates of the journeys, schedules, etc. In addition existence of a certain document containing relevant information for identification of passengers using a shuttle service and other details of the journey is required. Promotion of taxi service, car rental regulation, as well as developed airline transport infrastructure is other major issues which may have significant impact for making Armenia an attractive tourism location. Under RA Law on “Automobile transport” the vehicle for providing taxi service, should be furnished with a) taximeter, b) special signs which show the taxi’s occupied condition, c) have information about driver and the organization providing the taxi service, d) all taxi-cabs a chessboard pattern in order to make their identification for passengers possible. Development of taxi service market created the need of elaborating a separate procedure and special requirements for licensing of taxi services, which has been introduced by the Draft GOA Decree. The latter in addition provides that the date of production of cars should not be than 10 years, the cab be equipped with a light indicating that the taxi-cab is free, as well as a yellow “TAXI” sign etc. However, further development of taxi service regulation assumes certain measures in particular including: ¾ Encouragement and dissemination of information on taxi services that can provide taxi-drivers with the knowledge of foreign language. ¾ Promotion of certain mechanism for reporting complaints by the passengers. ¾ As a further going policy the following can also be noted: ƒ Fixing special areas for taxi pick up/drop off points, ƒ 24-hour hotline and/or other measures for lost property reporting, ¾ Increasing number of taxi services in RA, creates mature ground for creation of a professional association which will participate in the further promotion of sector development and self-regulation in RA. The tourism relations are important to overview also from the viewpoint of air relations. Nowadays, air relations in RA are mainly regulated under the Law on Aviation. Armenia is also a member to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules to International Carriage by Air signed in Warsaw on 12 October 1929, as well as by convention on International Civil Aviation, done at Chicago on 7 December 1944. GOA has outlined the crucial role of open skies policy and promotion of entrance of foreign airlines into Armenian market as far back as 2000. Monopoly in the field of civil aviation, which resulted in high costs and low quality of service, as well as lack of cooperation with foreign airlines, was considered to be one of the main reasons of low quality of tourism product in Armenia. Thus, Armenia has signed air transport agreements with a number of countries (e.g. Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, Belarus, , Kyrgyz Republic, Austria, Italy, Germany, Lebanon, , , , Syria, etc).

16 Examination of the mentioned issues is accompanied with useful examples of transport regulation in other countries, as well as analysis of EU regulations and other international documents.

6. SECURITY OF TOURISTS AND PROTECTION OF THEIR RIGHTS Supporting attractive tourism environment in the country is much dependent also on the existence of effective mechanisms for tourists’ right protection, ensuring their safety and security. WTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism declares that public authorities must provide protection for tourists and visitors and their belongings, as well as should facilitate introduction of specific means of information, prevention, security, insurance and assistance consistent with the needs of especially foreign tourists. The relations between the consumers and providers of tourist services in RA are addressed both by the Law on Tourism and the Law “On Consumer protection”. One of the important guarantees for protection of tourists’ rights is existence of proper contractual relations between travelers and organizers of travel services, providing details of the offered tour package and regulating the issues of responsibility for the beach of tour contract. Another significant issue for civilized tourism service is that the tourist should be provided with precise information about the details of the tour, the country visited and other adequate information necessary for the tour. The latter, on the other hand, assumes regulation of the responsibility of travel service provides for delivering misleading information to travelers. Continuous and steady growth of leads to far more divergences between people from different cultural systems, with difference in speech and customs. This implies a strong need for simple and widely understood tools for communication, like signs and symbols relevant to safety, security and comfort of tourists. Issues of safety of tourists at accommodation establishments and tourism sights, assistance in various emergency situations, organization of first aid and emergency, or rescue services, as well as their life, health and property insurance are also of significant concern. Upon the examination of the existing legal framework and practice of regulation of the mentioned issues, the following major issues that needing special attention have been in particular underlined: ¾ For better protection of the rights of tourists, as well as promotion of use legally correct tour contracts it will be helpful to elaborate Model tour contract form and introduce it to the industry. ¾ The RA Law on Tourism should provide separate provision addressing the nature of tour brochures and the binding character of the information contained there. ¾ A useful mean for supplying information on the country visited, tourists’ rights and security is also establishment of tourist information centers. ¾ It is advisable to provide specific regulations for the cases of breach, non- fulfillment or cancellation of the tour contract/travel package by the tour organizers in the RA Law on Tourism bearing in mind the specificity of the travel services.

17 ¾ It is advisable to address also the issues of sharing the responsibility between organizers of travel services and providers of certain service for the package (e.g. transport, accommodation). ¾ Bearing in mind the peculiarities of tourism disputes including the little time for tourists to apply to a state courts, lack of knowledge of foreign legislation and procedures create the necessity of developing certain simplified and quick procedures for out of court settlement of tourism disputes, as well as setting time limits for raising issues on breaches and shortcomings during the provision of tourism services. As a further going policy, establishment of certain Board for Protection of Tourist Rights, accepting the tourist’s claims, can be considered. ¾ In order to insure the security of tourists as sights GOA should develop a time-schedule for placement and replacement of signs in tourism sites and facilities. ¾ From the point of promotion of investment in the tourism sector it is advisable to draft a new law on Investments, which would be based on the principle of equal opportunities for local and foreign investors. In addition it is advisable to foster establishment of trade delegates’ offices in the states, which would be eager to invest in tourism in Armenia. ¾ Certain measures should be undertaken also to improve the existing regulation for export cultural values and souvenirs, in particular reviewing the criteria for requiring a certificate or license for export, insuring the availability of information on export for the tourists in advance.

18 INTRODUCTION

Tourism is one of the most dynamically developing fields of Republic of Armenia’s (hereinafter RA) economy. A significant input in the development of these processes was the declaration of tourism as a dominant sector of RA economy by the Government of RA. One of the major factors for increasing the competitiveness of a tourism industry is existence of sound legal, regulatory and business environment, reasonably balancing the interests of both tourism service providers and consumers. In this respect the concept of Armenian tourism development adopted by the Government in 2000 underlined the need for a legislative basis which will promote fair competition in tourism sector, will provide basic requirements to the quality of service through classification of the hotels and setting other standards, creating effective consumer rights protection mechanisms. In recent years wide legislative actions have been taken to address the needs of tourism sector in RA. In the meantime, currently of topical importance remain certain issues, which concern the development of certification schemes for accommodation establishments, ensuring the reliability of the activities of organizers of travel services, promotion of professionalism of tour guides, regulation of access to various tourism sights, development of transport infrastructure, ensuring relevant level of sanitary and food safety, as well as protection of tourist rights and ensuring their security. The Research is the first in-depth study of this type, which provides a legal analysis of RA tourism-related legislation, addresses perceived shortcomings and imperfections, based on the examination of the enforcement practice of the current legislation and its impact on business. It also provides a comparative analysis of RA tourism legislation in the view of the international best practice, World Tourism Organization (WTO) recommendations and regulations, EU directives, as well as best practices for tourism regulation in a number of countries. The Research is of interest to the Government and its authorized agencies in tourism sector, providers of tourism services and consumers, and should serve the industry in improving policy and business environment.

Methodology: The goal of the research was to assess the current situation and opportunities for developing tourism sector in Armenia through improvement and development of RA tourism legislation to insure sustainable development of tourism in Armenia. To reach the research goal and test the hypothesis the following objectives were set: a) To provide a legal analysis of the current laws of RA to reveal the shortcomings and imperfections of tourism regulation, much of which have particularly showed up in practice, as well as to present the cases of incompliance with the adopted international practice of tourism regulation. b) To examine the enforcement of the current laws and regulations and their impact on businesses. c) To carry out comparative analysis of tourism legislation in the view of the international best practices, WTO recommendations and regulations, EU

19 directives, to research and learn best practices of tourism regulation in countries with similar economic situation, those are could be applied in RA. d) To evaluate the efficiency of the existing practice and system for dispute resolution arising between tourists and the suppliers of tourism services, and to make proposals on further improvement of this system, as well as introduction of more efficient ways generally applicable to the nature of this kinds of disputes. e) To examine and promote the participation of GOA in bilateral and multilateral treaties and charters, cooperation with international organizations in tourism sector. f) To provide recommendations for addressing problems and issues relating to the legal aspects of prohibiting tourism development in RA. Throughout the research, a number of coordination meetings were held with CAPS representatives to discuss various aspects of the work, including a more detailed structure of the research and the final report, areas to emphasize and review the process of the assessment. During the research a combination of various tools and methods has been used such as: primary research (including field research etc.), desk research and analysis. Thus, a huge volume of available internet and other electronic and hardcopy resources have been assessed (e.g. to examine international practice, RA legislation, various researches and surveys conducted by other organizations, case studies etc.), over 150 formal interviews (through questionnaires designed and tested by the research team) were conducted with a sample of industry stakeholders such as: hotels, tour guides, travel undertakings, museums, food services etc. and more than 25 expert/in-depth interviews with industry representatives such as state officials, hotels, tour guides, travel undertakings, professional unions/NGO sector, food services etc. The received data has been then cross-checked and analyzed, based on which the final report containing corresponding recommendations was drawn.

Countries Identified for Benchmarking Examination of background of legal and economic development of post soviet countries reveals many common problems that these countries had to overcome after the collapse of the . The post soviet development of each of these countries in some ways differed from each other under the influence of various factors as social mentality, economic and political preconditions, geographical location, etc. However, the experience of many of them in regulation of tourism industry is a valuable source of information for further development of beneficial legal framework in Armenia. Thus, for the research as benchmarking countries have been chosen Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, which have relatively high ranking in tourism industry1 and with some of which RA has also signed bilateral treaties in joint improvement of tourism relations.2

1 Under the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness index Lithuania scores 4.34, Estonia-4.90, Bulgaria 4.31, Czech Republic 4.75 among the countries with having the highest score of 5.66. (See World Economic Forum, Competitiveness Index, available at http://www.weforum.org). It is noteworthy that Armenia ranks the 74th among 124 countries within the Tourism Competitiveness Index. It is 3rd among NIS countries with only and ahead. However, it should also be mentioned that, another factor influencing the choice of these countries, was that they have information available in English and Russian. 2 Governments of RA and Bulgaria have signed an Agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism in December 1, 1999. Governments of RA and Estonia have signed Agreements on International Automobile 20 Being post soviet countries and not having a significant experience in building tourism sector regulation in accordance with international standards, most of these countries are nevertheless members or aspiring members of the European community. This means that their legislation is more or less in conformity with European law, and on the other hand their problems in the tourism sector as more or less similar to the one’s Armenia faces. At the same time during the research references are made to the experience of a number of countries with developed tourism industries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Canada, France, , etc,3 and provide interesting examples for further development of a tourism-friendly legal framework in RA.

Transportation of October 29, 2004 and on Air Transportation of September 19, 2001. Similar Agreements have been signed also between Governments of RA and Czech Republic in respectively in 13.06.2002 and 20.04.2004. 3 From the point of tourism competitiveness Switzerland has the highest score of 5.66, Austria-5.54, Germany scores 5.48, Canada- 5.31, United Kingdom-5.28, France-5.23, Finland-5.16, (Available at http://www.weforum.org).

21 PART I: LICENSING AND CERTIFICATION SCHEMES

1. HOTEL CLASSIFICATION/CERTIFICATION

Summary Proliferation of hotel industry emerged the need for establishment of a certain system, which would enable to gain some insight about the quality of services offered by different accommodation establishments. As a result, hotel classification/certification system has been historically developed either on the initiatives of states or various associations in the field. Since then, many efforts have been made to develop a uniform or model classification system. Anyhow, it still remains diverse and special for each country, though with some common features. The Section provides comparative analysis of existing classification systems in the world, examines the criteria and procedure for hotel classification in various systems. At the same time, the Section refers also to the hotel classification system of RA, which is currently a state established and state controlled one. Upon the analysis of hotel classification procedure and criteria in RA, proposals on further modernization of existing regulations are provided taking into account also the contemporary approaches to the raised issues.

1.1. Background of hotel certification systems and certification criteria

The development of hotel classification systems is historically connected with the needs of providing the travelers with an idea about the accommodation establishments (quality of the services offered) in the wide market of lodging services. However, despite the proliferation of classification/certifications systems all over the world there is a lack of unanimity and homogeneity amongst different systems that exist, resulting in confusion to users. Moreover, there is no uniform international hotel classification scheme existing today. The trends on the hotel classification systems are also quite diverse. Thus, topical issues remain: a. who should establish classification schemes, b. who should issue relevant classification marks and c. who should supervise the compliance to those requirements.

Purpose of hotel certification

Certification is a process by which a third (the certifier) gives written assurance to the consumer that a product, process, service or management system conforms to specified requirements. Examination of certification practice in the world shows that unanimously the respondents acknowledged that certification is linked particularly with the following benefits: - Improvement of the products to reach standards and in consequence quality assurance. - Certification would mean more information and guidance for tourists. - Certification would give strength to world-wide recognition of tourism sector in the countries. - Certification would enhance public consciousness in responsible activities. - Certification would promote sense of safety for consumers of travel service providers.

22 Who elaborates the classification schemes?

The examination of the foreign experience shows that the approaches to the elaboration, issuance of classification marks, as well as control over those varies from country to country. Examination of the distribution of these functions in different countries helps to generalize the following models: 1. The Standards are elaborated by the Government, which also conducts the inspection of these standards’ implementation: In many countries (e.g. France, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, ), the classification schemes for ranking the accommodation establishments have been elaborated by the Governments, which set the standards by which hotels and other tourist establishments are to be ranked. The monitoring of the compliance with the set requirements is generally conducted by a State established inspecting commission, which in a number of countries can even comprise representatives of private sector. 2. The Standards are elaborated by the Government, but the inspection of these standards is transferred to the private sector: The following practice is typical for the countries in transition developing the tourism sector. Here, since the private sector (e.g. professional unions, NGOs) is not strong and influential enough to set up classification standards, the latter are being elaborated by the Government. However, later the state is inclined to directing the power of further control and monitoring of those standards to the NGO’s in the field as soon as the sector is becoming relevantly strong and developed. A good example is Estonia, where the right to operate as an assigner of the category, to approve classification criteria and procedure for hotels and and elaborate statutes of the classification committee has been temporarily (till May 2011) was granted4 to Estonian and Hotel Association.5 There are also other variations of the above model, when the government simply hires consultants, who conduct the both: initial and further inspections over the government-set standards. 3. The Standards are elaborated and supervised by the private sector: The increasing role of NGO sector in contemporary civil societies has stimulated a wide involvement of NGO’s in elaboration, issuance and inspection of classifications. In a number of countries, development of classification schemes has been initiated and is being exercised within local hotel associations (e.g. Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland). These associations develop mechanisms of inspecting the compliance to the set standards, and as well may hire consultants or outsource the inspecting activities. The degree to which classification marks are recognized and respected in the sector is a subject of the authority (reputation) of the issuing organization.

Focus of classification criteria

In international practice there are several approaches to evaluation of accommodation services and issuance of classification marks: • Infrastructure. Evaluation of hotel infrastructure has been one of the traditionally used criteria for classification of hotels. The basic focus of such infrastructure

4 by the Ministerial Decree of 10 March, 2006 5 Decree of Minister of Economic Affairs and Communication of Estonia of 10 March, 2006, No 1.1-1/60 (available at www.starhotels.ee) 23

standards is the facilities available in the accommodation establishments, upon the evaluation of which the classification marks are issued. As mentioned in the research on Modernizing Hotel Classification System in Lebanon “one benefit of this type of system is that infrastructure standards are relatively easy to inspect. Another is that it encourages the construction of hotels with a minimum standard of facilities, an important issue in developing countries where developers are often uninformed about standard facilities in the rest of the world”.6 • Service. One of the recent trends in classification of accommodation establishments is evaluation of services (their range and quality) offered as a result of growing interest of customers in service and not just facilities available. Evaluation of quality of service can be based on both: objective and subjective factors. Thus, objective standards include, for instance availability of 24-hour room service and the number of languages spoken by the reception personnel. An example of subjective criteria, can be the general attitude and helpfulness of the personnel, certain managerial practices and the concierge's knowledge of local restaurants.7 The evaluation of service criteria can be exercised combining the classic rating system, and a particular type of ribbon, or a quality seal of approval from the inspecting organization, which the accommodation service may receive in addition to the star rating for the infrastructure. • Mixed criteria of infrastructure and service. Increasing significance of service criteria has led to the development of mixed approaches for classification, combining both: infrastructure and service criteria. Here, the accommodation establishments in general are classified by stars mostly based on infrastructure criteria, but at the same time they can apply to receive a classification for quality of service.8

Compulsory or voluntary certification?

Examination of international practice shows that depending on the needs of the sector in each country the requirement to certification for accommodation services is either voluntary or compulsory. Thus, a number of countries favors voluntary classification (e.g. Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Estonia, France, Germany), but there are also some, that consider the classification to be compulsory in order to secure the quality of services offered (e.g. Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania since 2003, Netherlands, Poland, , Spain). In some countries there exists also a twofold approach to the issue. On one hand, the law envisages basic requirements to which the accommodation establishment should comply in order to be allowed providing accommodation

6 An interesting analysis of the development of hotel classification scheme is presented in a research on “Modernizing Lebanon’s Tourism Classification System” prepared by SRI International and USAID, 2000, p. 2-3 (The Research is provided in Annex 6 to this Report). 7 It is considered that the main benefits of these systems are that they can highlight high-quality small hotels, and they can encourage an overall high-quality service in the industry” (See the Report on “Modernizing Lebanon’s Tourism Classification System”, Op. cit). Certain subjective elements contain classification criteria in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Portugal. In the meantime, Ireland is one of the exceptional countries where subjective criteria prevail. 8 Interesting example in this regard exists in Mexico, where accommodation services are awarded one to five stars depending on hotel facilities, and one to five diamonds depending on the quality of service. Another example is that those who meet quality standards receive a mark "Q" for quality, which shows the existence of qualified level of service in that accommodation establishment. 24 services. Simultaneously with this, there is a separate procedure for receiving a classification category. Thus, for e.g. the Law on Tourism of the Republic of Lithuania9 (Article 14) states that an enterprise seeking to provide accommodation services must be registered in the Register of Tourist Services. The accommodation establishment is issued a certificate, if it corresponds to the certain requirements stated by the Law.10 Similar approach exists in the Estonian Tourism Act.11 The Act states that an undertaking may provide accommodation services only through an approved accommodation establishment, which assumes the assessment of compliance of the latter with mandatory requirements. Mandatory requirements for accommodation establishments and the procedure for approval are developed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Certificates of accommodation establishments are issued for up to three years term (Articles 19, 20). In the meantime, the Act provides for voluntary classification system to get a certificate of category (Article 21.3).

1.2 Internationally existing rating systems and certification criteria

Attempts of setting up a uniform international classification for the hotel industry are made periodically, deriving from the desire to provide some common basis for comparison of accommodation establishments in different countries. However, creating a single grading system beyond national boundaries still remains unconquerable task.12

9 Adopted by the Parliament of Lithuania on March 19, 1998 10 Article 14 of the Law on Tourism of Lithuania provides the following requirements to the accommodation establishments for receiving a certificate: 1) specially-equipped for at least 10 single (minimum area of 8 sq. m) and double (minimum area of 12 sq. m.) rooms at the hotel and at least 5 rooms at a , and ; 2) individually-equipped bath (shower) facility in every room (minimum area 2.3 sq. m.) or a wash basin and cold and hot water supply; 3) a minimum of two general use facilities installed for personal hygiene (sanitation) requirements per 10- person accommodation, (should this equipment be unavailable in the rooms; 4) a special general use facility installed for eating and leisure or separate premises installed to provide these services; 5) a kitchen installed for food preparation and serving; 6) reception facility installed with telephone contact and information and registration records system; 7) warehouses and separate facility for employees provided for; 8) conditions created at the hotel to provide minimum food services (orders) in rooms; 9) rooms cleaned and picked up every day; 10) premises meet the requirements of general safety, fire safety and hygiene norms; 11) employees possessing the certification requirement for the duties they perform. 11 Adopted by Estonian Parliament on 15 November, 2000 12 On 31 December 1986 the Europe Council adopted a Recommendation on Standardized Information in Existing Hotels (86/665/EEC) stating that Member States should encourage the use by their national tourist bodies or other competent bodies, in collaboration with bodies representing hoteliers, of the set of standard graphical symbols designed to cover hotel facilities. In 1996, CEN (European Committee for Standardization) set up a Working Group within its Technical Committee (TC 329) to study the advisability of setting up an international standard on hotel classification. The work in this area was completed with the publication in January 2001 of the European Standard on Tourism Services – Hotels and other types of tourism accommodation Terminology (EN ISO 18513). In its turn, in 1997, ISO set up a Working Group specifically on “Accommodation Facilities”, which led to proposal to use ISO 9000 as the basis for an international hotel classification standard. For more details see Joint WTO and International Hotel and Restaurants Association (IHRA ) study on Hotel Classification of 16 April, 2004, p. 8-9. See also http://www.ih-ra.com/advocacy/issues/hotel classification/intro.php. Business Environment of the CEN/TC is available at http://www.cen.eu/nr/cen/doc/PDF/6310.pdf 25 Despite the existence of various systems for evaluation of accommodation establishments, the most common approach, to which travelers are also accustomed, is inquiring about hotels in terms of the number of stars. In majority of countries, there exist 1 to 5 star rating systems for hotels. In some countries there is also a system providing “superior” categories: − In Spain there is a “superior” category for 4 star hotels and “grand luxe” for 5 star hotels, − In Switzerland, the new system from 2006, provides “superior” categories for 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, − In United Kingdom, each of existing private schemes has some form of additional award for highest performance in each star category. However, a wide variety of graphical symbols for rating the hotels is used in the hotel and lodging industry throughout the world. 13 For instance in the USA, both the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the petrochemical company Mobil have developed their own rating system and provide information on hotel and lodging facilities according to that system.14 The international practice underlines the fact that certification systems need to be developed and operated to fit geographical, political, socio-economic and sector characteristics of each country.15 In fact the quantitative criteria (e.g. room size, height of ceiling, construction standards, language proficiency, etc.) vary from country to country (e .g. in France a large number of hotels are situated in historical buildings which fall behind the accepted standards of room size, however cannot be modified). In the meantime, tastes and demands of tourists in each country also vary, thus influencing the requirements to the accommodation services.16 That is probably one of the major causes preventing or even hindering the unification of the certification systems and certification criteria internationally. For example, the French hotel rating system is considered to work on a completely different set of rules. In particular: − It is a standardized system, meaning all hotels across France are categorized on the same unique basis. − The rating system was not born out of mercantile purposes. It was framed by the French lawmakers without any concern for profit. The French hotel rating system does not measure quality. Instead, it uses 22 measurement criteria to assess the presence or absence of certain features in the hotel.17 Amongst the main criteria used for classification are: − Room sizes and numbers − Room soundproofing

13 For more details on the hotel classification approaches in EU countries see Chart on “Hotel Classification in Europe” of 18/1/2004, presented in Annex 7 to the Report 14 For rating system elaborated by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and Mobil see Annex 17 of the Report. For more details see also Joint WTO and International Hotel and Restaurants Association (IHRA ) study on Hotel Classification of 16 April, 2004, p. 70-76 15 WTO Recommendations To Governments For Supporting And/Or Establishing Certification Systems For , Madrid, March 2003. 16 Thus, while Greek consumers demand air conditioning, in Austria consumers expect a four-course menu to be offered in 4 and 5 star hotels. On the other hand British require a "cooked breakfast" but Portuguese do not. They want a good selection of tobacco and cigars right at the reception desk, while French pay great importance to having a bidet in the bathroom. (For more information see http//:www.hotelsterne.de/englisch/remarks.html, http://www.ih-ra.com/advocacy/issues/hotel _classification/intro.php) 17 See http.//gofrance.about.com/od/lodging/a/hotelratings.htm 26 − Heating and air-conditioning − Design of bathroom facilities − Phone system − Electrical equipment − Elevators. 18

Interesting reforms related to hotel classification have been initiated also in South Africa. Here, there are two major bodies doing accommodation grading, with own, differing from each other, ways of grading: the National Accommodation Association (NAA) and South African Tourism Grading Council. The NAA has its own in-house quality assurance criteria, called a classification system. Each classification level indicates specific services and facilities in the premises. However, regardless of the classification level, all NAA members have to meet the minimum standard requirements, which include: • Premises, facilities, furniture, fittings, décor and appliances in a good state of repair and neat and tidy • Guest lounge or in-room lounge chairs • Hot and cold running water • Water borne sewage system in good order • All facilities serviced daily • Mirrors, hanging space, bedside tables, bedside lamps, dressing table/desk/vanity slab, power point, waste-paper baskets, sanitary bins, clean bedding, clean towels, unused soap and sufficient toilet rolls provided • Bath and/or shower in bathroom • Covered or decorative light bulbs • Dinning area • Basic medical supplies available. • Staff dressed neatly and appropriately. • All legal requirements of health, safety and Business licensing complied with • Bedrooms lock • Self catering units have a fridge, means of cooking, cooking equipment and utensils, crockery & cutlery and an eating area.19 In its turn, the South African Tourism Grading Council has elaborated own minimum requirements to the accommodation services and standards for grading.20 Certificates issued by both these institutions are considered equally reputable. In some other countries, the hotel grading system combines both: a set of clear and objective standards and a point scoring system that allows hotels to score points for amenities above the minimal standards and for quality factors, such as the furniture quality and cleanliness of public premises. Hotels of all categories need to score a determined number of points in order to qualify for a particular rating.21 It is

18 The French Hotel Classification criteria have been established by a Governmental decision of February 14, 1986. See Annex 5 to the Report (available also at http://www.bayonne.cci.fr/default.asp). 19 More details on NAA classification system are available at http://www.umhlanga-coastline.co.za/naa- accommodation-gradings.html . 20 For the Grading Criteria set by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa and Minimum Requirements to Accommodation Services see Annexes 19 and 20 to the Report. 21 Examples of grading criteria in Estonia, Germany, as well as newly elaborated criteria for Lebanon are provided in Annexes 3.4 and 6 to the Report. 27 noteworthy, that this system gradually receives more and more recognition by the hotel industry. Existence of hotel grading system in the country assumes also follow-up measures of monitoring the compliance of certified accommodation services to the certification standards: - In some countries, the frequency for inspections differs depending on the rank of the hotel. For instance in Austria, this is from 2 to 3 years for 4 and 5 star hotels, and every 3-4 years for hotels with less stars. A similar approach exists also in Lithuania, where the control is carried out after 1, 2, or 3 years depending on the classification category of the accommodation service. - In Switzerland the hotel inspections are conducted : • Every 5 years • When change of management occurs • On request, or • As follow up to complaint. - In Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland as well as South Africa the inspections are carried out every year.22 In a number of countries (such as Lithuania, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Portugal, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, France) accommodation providers are generally not informed about the control visits in advance. In some other countries (e.g. Estonia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland) a beforehand notification is made about the upcoming inspection.

1.3 Classification of Accommodation Services in RA

a. Categories of accommodation establishments in RA

The RA law on “Tourism and tourism activities”23 provides for a wide range of accommodation services: hotels, motels, guest houses, sanatoriums (health centers), leisure homes and specialized camps, pensions, youth , and tourist sites, visitor’s apartments (Article 8). The Law defines the basic requirements to each of the above-mentioned accommodation establishments and accommodation services offered by them. Thus, according to the Law “hotel” is a certain type of accommodation establishment, where the accommodation services are provided in one or several buildings, and which have at least 10 rooms, at least 5 of which are single or double rooms (Article 8).24

22 A country by country responses to hotel classification can be found in the questionnaire “Hotel Classification in the ” of 18 October, 2004 and “Join WTO and IHRA on Hotel Classification” 16 April, 2004 23 Adopted by the National Assembly on December 17, 2003 (hereinafter referred as Law on Tourism) 24 Preliminary survey conducted by UNWTO in February 2005 regarding the tourism sector standards indifferent countries shows that Armenia has certain interstate standards (GOST standards), but there are no Armenian (AST) standards on its own covering the field of tourism. Meanwhile , according to the Agreement between CIS countries, all state standards [GOST] of the former Soviet Union were considered to be valid in Armenia as national standards (available at http://www.ih- ra.com/advocacy/issues/standards/Preliminary_Results_WTOsurvey_ tourism%20standards.Feb05.doc). In RA Tourism industry following standards are particularly mentioned: 1. GOST 29817-91 – Camping tents – General specifications 2. GOST 28681.0-90 – Standardization in the field of tourist and service – Basic provisions 3. GOST 28681.1-95 – Tourist and excursion service – Protection of tourist’s service 4. GOST 28681.3-95 – Tourist and excursion service – Requirements for tourist’s and excursionist’s security 28 “Motel” is defined as a type of accommodation establishment, which is located in the vicinity of a highway, neighboring to roads and which offers accommodation service in one or several buildings, having at least 10 rooms, out of which 5 are single or double rooms. Motels offer also parking and technical services (Law on Tourism, Article 9 para 1, 2). The Law mentions that while defining their accommodation establishment, as well as for advertising and other purposes the accommodation establishments must use only relevant names, which correspond to the definition of the ones provided in the Law (Article 10.9). In order to insure the compliance to this rule, the Law provides a fine of 200.000 drams for breaching the above-mentioned requirements (Article 22.2 of the RA Law on tourism). The Law provides for 5 categories of classification by stars for hotels and motels. For guest houses, sanatoriums (health centers) there is a 4 star classification system. Leisure homes and specialized camps, pensions, youth hostels, and tourist sites, visitor’s apartments re classified by 3 categories marked with Roman numerals (Article 10, paras 6-8). In this respect, there is an important provision in the Law, which forbids the accommodation establishments to use classification categories received otherwise than in accordance with the due procedure provided by the Law (Article 10.10). b. Classification procedure in RA

The RA Law on Tourism (Article 10.2) provides the opportunity for voluntary classification of all types of accommodation services, which is exercised by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. Provision for voluntary certification system in Armenia is considered to be reasonable from the interests of sector development in the relatively new market. Hereby, the state regulatory policy in the market should be as liberal as possible and should leave the market as free as possible to develop. The idea that the voluntary certification system is beneficial at the current stage is supported also by the representatives of the field. The latter underline that the competitive market itself will gradually encourage the accommodation establishments to get certified,25 as it is an important marketing tool especially for non-branded hotels and directly increases their competitiveness in the sector. In the meantime, the RA Law on Tourism envisages an important provision according to which entities providing accommodation services are entitled to use only certificates of category issued in accordance with the law (Article 10, para 10). The basic document regulating the procedure of classification of accommodation establishments is the GOA Decree of N 946 providing separate criteria for classification of each type of accommodation establishment.26 The certification system for hotel type accommodation service in RA has been developed and is governed by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development and its Department of Tourism. Thus, the hotel certification system remains so far state- governed in RA, which has its reasonable justification at the current stage.27 The

5. GOST 28681.4 – 95 – Tourist and excursion service – Classification of hotels. The full survey on tourism sector standard in majority of countries of the world are provided in Annex 8 to the Report 25 See Annex 2 (Chart 10) to the Report. 26 GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946 on “Adoption of Order and Conditions of Providing Accommodation Services, Certificates of Category of Accommodation Establishments and Procedure of Certification” 27 During the field research, 62% of interviewed field representatives were not in fact sure who should exercise the classification in RA, 32% considered that to be the state body and only 2% considered that this function should be transferred to the NGO sector (See Annex 2, Chart 11). 29 major obstacle here is that the NGO sector in the field is underdeveloped and so far unable to efficiently govern the process itself, thus there is still a great demand for state’s regulatory interference into this process. The professional union which includes hotels and represents their interests is the Armenian Hotel Association (AHA), a relatively newly established one, which still needs to build up a reputation and authority in the field.28 In many states where tourism is a developing branch of economy and there are various legal, political and economic issues to be regulated, the state driven process appeared to be even more acceptable and effective. However the latter should be done bearing in mind the importance of gradual strengthening of the NGO sector and expansion of their involvement in the field. The analysis of the existing situation in RA shows that state bodies have a serious input in encouraging more active involvement of NGO’s in the regulation of Hotel business in RA and this collaboration should be further developed. The application procedure for certification includes collection of documents for the Evaluation Committee to evaluate the conformity of the accommodation establishment to state-planning, fire safety, sanitary-epidemiological norms and standards (Para 4 of the Decree). Para 9 of the Decree provides, that in case of non-significant shortcomings in the application documents, within 5 days after receiving the application, the certifying body notifies the applicant about the need of elimination of those shortcoming within the following 5 days. In addition, Para 22 provides that the certifying body, when receiving the negative conclusion of the evaluating committee, rejects the application for certification if the applicant has not eliminated the revealed discrepancies. Evaluation of compliance of the hotel to the basic requirements is conducted by the Evaluation Committee which is formed by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. The Committee consists of 9 members on representative basis from state bodies, which includes the certifying state body, urban-development body, state sanitary-epidemiology body, state body for emergency situations, self- government body, as well as the private sector representative, including the organizations such as for protection of consumer rights, unions of painters, architects and designers, foreign language professionals and experienced professionals in the field of hotel services and tourism nominated by the NGOs and relevant unions of legal entities from the field (Para 14 of the Decree). Participation of NGO and private sector representatives in the Committee work is viewed as rather important in terms of promotion of NGO sector and presentation of hotel industry players’ interests, as well as ensuring the impartiality. One of the critical constraints generally raised regarding the hotel certification is that after receiving a certificate the accommodation establishment becomes somewhat reluctant in further improving and developing the quality of services. In this respect, the GOA Decree states that the certificate of category is issued for 5 years and can be prolonged by 3 month prior application of the accommodation establishment.29 This is an important tool to promote the quality of service in the accommodation establishments. The Decree provides also for another mechanism of supervision over the quality of services and compliance to the basic requirements for certification, which are the inspections exercised by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development (Para 29 of the GOA Decree). The basic uniform legal act regulating the procedure of inspections in RA is the Law on “Organizing and conducting inspections in the

28 Armenian Hotel Association (AHA) has been established in 2006, and has 8 member hotels, now campaign is being held to attract also hotels from marzes 29 See Paras 21, 26 of the GoA Decree No 946 30 Republic of Armenia”30. Under the mentioned law the inspections in general cannot exceed 15 days during each year. Moreover, the inspections conducted by the same state body may not be more than once an year, except the cases provided by the law (Article 4, paras 1, 3 of the Law). Under the Law, prior to the inspections, the state body must issue an order containing information about the name of the entity which is to be inspected, names of officials to conduct the inspection, duration and purpose of inspections (Article 3.2). Appeals against the decision to issue or deny the issue of certificate of category is subject to the general procedure of challenging administrative acts and activities (inactivity) under the Law on “Basics of Administration and Administrative procedure”.31 The law provides for an opportunity of challenging the administrative act or activity either to the subject administrative body or its superior administrative body or to the state court. From the time of the implementation of the certification system in RA only 4 hotels have undergone state certification procedure and received relevant stars.32 The field practitioners try to explain the small number of certified hotels in RA by the fact that the certification procedure is relatively new to the RA hotel industry and many accommodation establishments still have internal problems of adjusting their services to the required standards. As a result of absence of significant experience and state control in the field, many of hotel businesses in Armenia have long been far behind the admissible standards in the field. However, based on the results of the field research, it can be stated that the reluctance of the accommodation establishments to get certified is also influenced by the fact that representatives of the sector see little impact of state certification on the quality of their services and the number of customers. In the meantime, the field research reveals also a considerable unwariness of accommodation establishments about the existing classification procedure, which is a serious impediment on the way of popularization of classification procedure.33

c. Classification Standards in RA

The criteria for certification of different types of accommodation establishments are set down in the Annexes 3 to 10 of the GOA Decree of N 946. As in majority of countries, in RA as well elaboration of certification procedures and standards are much influenced by Armenian reality, marketing needs, historical and cultural background. However, this does not mean that this procedure and criteria are not in conformity or contradiction with generally admissible standards. For instance, the standards provide for a requirement of fresh fruits and candied fruit in 5 star hotels in RA.34 In fact such approaches exist also in other countries that have certain traditions and use them as a marketing tool to promote their tourism business.

30 Adopted by the National Assembly of May 17, 2000 31 Adopted by the National Assembly on February 18, 2004 32 These hotels are , Golden Palace, Metropol and Plaza. 33 For the results of field research see Annex 2, Chart 9 to the Report. It’s worth mentioning that during the field research the questioned travel undertakings mentioned that lack of officially classified hotels in RA is not a significant obstacle for the development of tourism, as classification stars currently tell little to tourists. In the offered tour packages tour operators generally are prone to underlining the services and facilities offered by the relevant accommodation establishment, rather than its star rating. Here, considerable impact has also the peculiarity of Armenian incoming tourism, where tourists generally are more interested in the cheapness of hotel prices than with luxurious service (and basically prefer 2-3 star hotels). 34 GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946, Point 32, sub-point 16 of Annex 2) 31 Analysis of the RA classification criteria gives a ground to state that the system in fact combines some infrastructure and some service requirements, thus being somewhat a mix of both. It contains a number of requirements regarding the quality of service. Thus, for instance, Point 58 of Annex 2 of the GOA Decree of N 946 provides for certain educational requirements for the Head of the 5 star hotel/motel (either existence of high education or specialized training or secondary education in the field of hotel business) or at least 5 years’ experience in hotel business.35 Other points in the mentioned Decree provide for educational requirements as well as knowledge of at least 2 foreign languages for the reception staff, as well as the waiters, room servants, porters, doormen of 5 to 3 star hotels/motels (Points 59, 60 of Annex 2). 36

1.4 Gaps revealed in the existing classification system/procedure in RA and recommendations on further legal improvements

The analysis of the classification procedure for accommodation establishments in RA reveals a number of gaps or ambiguous regulation discussed below and recommendations to eliminate them. 1. Para 13 of the GOA Decree of N 946 refers to the composition of the Evaluation Committee for conducting the certification. However, the Decree should specify the issue: who may not act as a Committee member (for instance, if the Committee member has financial or other interest in the accommodation establishment at issue). The same regards also to the persons involved in the follow up inspection of the accommodation establishments. Thus the provisions of the Decree should be further developed in this respect. 2. Certification is generally a long lasting and complicated process for any accommodation provider. In order to exempt the procedure from bureaucratic and artificial obstacles, GOA Decree of N 946 should limit the grounds for unjustified rejections of certification for shortcomings that can be eliminated by the accommodation provider within a certain period of time. In this respect, there is a need for further clarification of the provisions of the GOA Decree. - First of all, there should be added a provision containing: “The Committee must inform the applicant of its conclusion concerning the hotel’s conformity to the requested category requirements or clearly formulated reasons for non-conformity and must present in a clear and comprehensive way the list of shortcomings, with a reference to respective category requirements, upon elimination of which, the approval of the classification request may be reconsidered.” The need for such a provision is justified from the points of interest of the applicant, which has the right to be clearly informed bout the shortcomings that were the cause for negative conclusion of the Committee and be provided an opportunity to challenge such a conclusion in total or partially. - Second, there should be a provision containing:

35 See GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946 on “Adoption Of The Order And Conditions Of Providing Hotel Services, Certificates of Category Of Hotel Businesses And Procedure Of Certification”. However, one should mention that during expert interviews the stakeholders proposed to make this criteria voluntary (advisory), as the hotels should have freedom in determining their service details. 36 Comparative analysis of the RA classification standards with the ones existing in Germany, Lebanon and Estonia is provided in Annex 1 to the Report. 32 “For the elimination of shortcomings, the evaluation committee, in consultation with the applicant, shall set the deadline, which should not exceed two months. In case of failure to eliminate the shortcomings by the deadline, the follow-up inspection committee may suggest to the Committee to terminate processing of the classification application.” - Third, there should be also provision such as: “The conformity assessment of the hotel must be performed within two months as of the receipt of the valid application. The classification decision (assignment or refusal of a category) shall be made at the Committee meeting following the assessment of the hotel’s conformity to the requested category requirements. In the event of default with the category requirements, the classification decision shall be made at the Committee meeting following the inspection report on the elimination of shortcoming.”37 3. In order to insure the effective control over the compliance to the basic requirements for certification it is advisable to add a provision in the GOA Decree of N 946 stating that: “During the category validity period, the hotel is obliged to notify the authorised state body of all and any changes in the data characteristic to the hotel as described in the application, and in the event of new owners or operators, is obliged to affirm its wish to keep the assigned category”. 4. The GOA Decree of N 946 remains silent also on the issue of composition of the body for exercising the inspections. In fact it is unclear from para 29 of the Decree, whether the inspections are made individually or by a certain committee or group. The further clarification of this issue is important from the viewpoint of protection of interests of the accommodation providers and preventing the cases of bias and unnecessary interference. Hereby, an interesting example exists in para 26 of Estonian Statute for hotel and motel classification38, which provides for the following regulation: “The Committee has the right to perform a follow-up inspection during the category validity term and, based on inspection results, should the hotel cease to meet the category requirements, decide at its meeting the revocation of the hotel’s category. The follow-up inspection committee should consist of no less than two members… A follow-up inspection may be undertaken without prior notice.” Moreover, it is advisable to further specify the provisions in the Law on Tourism and GoA Decree regarding the inspections of the accommodation services in general. In particular, it should be precisely regulated the scope of issues subject to inspection by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, whether all or only the officially certified accommodation establishments can be inspected.

5. Other general recommendations for improvement of classification procedure in RA - the state and its authorized body should ensure transparency throughout all the stages of the development and operation of the certification.

37 Similar approach can be noticed in the Paras 21 and 22 of “Statutes of the hotel and motel classification committee and the classification procedure” of Estonia, Op. cit. 38 See the “Statutes of the hotel and motel classification committee and the classification procedure” of Estonia, Approved the resolution of the Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association (EHRA) Board on March 7, 2006 33 - the benefits, costs and other implications of certification systems should be made clear to the private sector, thus developing incentives to encourage the accommodation establishments to become certified. The examination of the certification practice in RA shows that the development and further expansion of certification system is dependent not only on a well-elaborated legal framework, but also on a number of other factors, that can be decisive for joining the certification system. In its recommendations WTO also emphasized the importance of the following in order to support the certification procedures, which is crucial also for RA: - there should be provided technical consultancy options from the initial expression of interest and through the application phases onward, and should be given guidance to the applicant at every stage of the process, - it is much important to facilitate technical assistance for applicants so that they can introduce advanced management techniques and technology to meet the certification criteria, - publicize and provide information on the certification program for companies and consumers (e.g. brochures, flyers, guide books, printed and electronic media, Internet, conferences, seminars, tourism and trade fairs, etc.), - give a good media coverage to the awarding ceremonies, - give recommendations and examples to applicants and certified companies on how to include the certificate in their own marketing activities.39

Additional recommendations on development of certification system in RA

Examination of RA legislation relating to the hotel classification system and as well as the research of its subsequent implementation shows that, in addition, the following general recommendations can also be made to promote development of the certification system and enhance hotels’ certification in RA. In particular, the emphasis should be put especially on the following: 1. Examination of the Classification standards in RA and the field research of classification standards provided by the GOA Decree 946 demonstrated that those are classified as “quite complicated”40, detail and difficultly understood” by the sector representatives. Thus, there is a need for further simplification of these standards. Moreover, it is advisable to provide clear distinction between infrastructure and service standards, and further divide the standards into subcategories in order to make them easy to understand and use. 2. Development of the hotel inspection In order for a classification system to work, it needs to be credible to the private sector. Hereby, an important point is ensuring mechanisms of objective inspections in hotels both in course of and after the classification, providing professionals that have a deep understanding of quality factors in the hotel industry. The latter should be more consultants that can advise hotel owners and managers on current industry best practices, than inspectors with a “punishing cane“ in their hand. Thus, the worldwide trend is towards outsourcing the inspection and monitoring of hotels to the private sector. 3. Elaborating New Classification System in RA

39 The proposed Recommendation derive also from “WTO Recommendations To Governments For Supporting And/Or Establishing Certification Systems For Sustainable Tourism” Madrid, March 2003 40 “Shocking in the beginning”, as mentioned by the sector representatives. 34 While researching the existing hotel classification standards in various countries of special interest has been the new classification system elaborated for Lebanon in 2000, which can be useful example for further development of RA classification system and standards. 41 One of the major focuses of the proposed system is consideration of some important trends in this area: − First, the trend towards assessment of quality factors for grading, so as to encourage the native to invest and produce a quality product. − Second, the shift from detailing specific requirements (i.e. porcelain bidets) to qualitative goals (i.e. high quality furnishings). This allows more freedom for builders to be creative and allows for a more varied product offering between hotels. 42 The proposed classification system is also composed of some basic standards and points system. Lebanon’s classification standards address a number of important issues as fire safety, general security, night service, food and drink services, which are not addressed/or not precisely regulated in the RA classification standards. Moreover, the twofold approach in evaluation of accommodation services, based on both objective criteria and evaluative, will encourage the further and continuous improvement of quality of service at accommodation establishments in RA.

2. TOURIST GUIDES AND TOUR ESCORTS Summary Tourist guides and tour escort are persons in direct contact with tourists, which due to their professional qualification and knowledge are providing them informational, organizational and other professional aid services. In the meantime, the quality of their service largely determines the impression of the tourist not only on the tour, but also on the country in general. That is why, states pay special attention to the qualifications possessed by a person acting as a guide or tour escort and establish special licensing procedure for pursuit of such activities. In RA as well, there exists a mandatory state licensing requirement for exercising tourist guide’s and tour escort’s activities. This Section examines the existing licensing procedure and criteria in RA. At the same time, it provides a comparative analysis of the experience of a number of European and Anglo-American countries in professional training and testing qualifications of tourist guides and escorts. Based on the analysis made, corresponding recommendations are made for improvement of licensing procedure and criteria for guides (tour escorts), guides’ training programs to stimulate further development of qualified guide (escort) market in Armenia.

2.1. Legislative framework for exercising guide (tour escort) activities in RA a. General overview of tourist guide (tour escort) activities’ regulation in RA

41 The proposed new classification system of Lebanon is provided in Annex 6 to the Report. 42 The proposed system has been a product of research and evaluation of different systems world-wide, in particular those of France, , Scotland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico, the United States, Canada, Bahrain, , Syria, Jordan, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as general World Tourism Organization recommendations for hotel classification standards worldwide, and standards specifically targeted to the Middle East. The proposed system is based on the Swiss classification system, the basic attraction of which is that it has a good balance between objective infrastructure criteria and quality factors. 35 RA Law on Tourism defines the term “tourist guide”, as a person, which provides to tourist both excursion-informational, organizational and professional aid services for payment. At the same time the Law differs the term of “tour escort”, which provides only organizational and professional aid services for payment to tourists. (Article 2 of the Law). So, the basic difference between the “tourist guide” and “tour escort” under the Law is that the guide has special informational knowledge which is being provided to tourists and that constitutes the essence of guide’s service, meanwhile the tour escort is responsible only for organizational issues during the tour. However, the Law on Tourism very briefly covers guide’s and tour escort’s activities.43 The basic provision in the Law is that the activities of both: guide and tour escort require licensing, except the ones who are employees in a certain tourism object (site) (e.g Guides in the State Historic Museum, Matenadaran, etc.) and exercise these activities within that place.44 The procedure of guides’ (tour escorts’) licensing, the requirements to the applicant for licensing, a well as the composition of the Committee for licensing are governed by the GOA Decree No 95445 and the Order of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development No190.46 It should be also mentioned that Checking of professional qualification of the guide (tour escort) and licensing thereon is exercised by the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. The law provides the opportunity to apply for guide (tour escort) exam for both: RA and foreign citizens and persons without citizenship. The only requirement to the applicant presented by the GOA Decree No 954 is educational. Thus, the applicant for guide’s license should have either: i. a graduate level (high) education, or ii. secondary education of a guide or tour escort, or iii. at least 3 year work experience of guide or tour escort.47 The Decree does not provide any requirement to the age of the applicant. The license issued to the guide or tour escort is termless, which means that once received it is not a subject to any periodic review by the authorized body. Under the GOA Decree checking of professional qualifications of a guide is exercised by a Committee formed by the Minister of Trade and Economic Development. However, the Decree does specify neither the composition nor the number of members of the Committee. The procedure of formation of the Committee and exercising its activities is regulated by the Order 190 of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development. The Committee for evaluation of professional qualifications of guides (tour escorts) is a representative one, consisting of 9 members, 5 of which are from the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development and 4 from the NGOs and other bodies, such as representatives from educational institutions in the field of tourism, from scientific institutions and RA state bodies. They participate in each meeting of the Committee

43 Detailed regulations on tour guides and tour escorts are not provided also in the Laws on Tourism of Lithuania, Estonia and Bulgaria. In the majority of the laws reference is made on the regulation by the Decree of authorized state body. 44 See Article 12 of RA Law on Tourism and the RA Law “ On Licensing”, of 30 May, 2001, Article 43, para 2, point 17.1 45 GOA Decree N954 “On Adoption of the Procedure of Licensing of Tourist guides And Tour Escorts And the Form of the License” elaborated in accordance with the Law on Tourism, of 10.06.2004 46 Order of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development N 190 “On Adoption of Statute of the Committee for Qualification and Licensing of Guide and Tour Escort, on Adoption of the forms of the Certificates of Guide and Tour Escort, and on Establishment of Qualification and Licensing Committee, of 23 November, 2004 47 See Point 4 of the GOA Decree 954 36 by the invitation of the Ministry from the alphabetical list based on the principle of rotation.48 Under the GOA Decree the exams are to be organized within 15 days after receiving the application.49 The examination is conducted through test questionnaires randomly chosen by the computer. Thus, in practice the subjectivism of the Committee and any other artificial obstacles to the applicant are limited. Under the GOA Decree No 954 the questionnaires for checking the professional qualification of tourist guides consist of 100 questions from the following basic fields: a. Armenian history b. Armenian geography c. History of d. Fauna and flora in Armenia e. History of f. Armenian painting and fine arts g. Physiology h. First aid i. History of Armenian religion j. k. Armenian music and dancing l. Reaction in emergency situations m. Knowledge of RA Law on Tourism n. Ethics. 50 The Decree also states the number of questions from each of the above- mentioned fields that should be included in the questionnaires. The questionnaire for the tour escorts comprises 70 questions, including professional knowledge for tour escort, as well as questions from some of the above-mentioned areas.51 The questions included in the questionnaires for professional qualification of tourist guides (tour escorts) are set by the Order of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development of 16 July, 2004 No -130 in accordance with the mentioned GOA Decree. Another important point of the Decree is that it states the minimum number of questions in each area that should be correctly answered to successfully pass the test. The person who passes the professional qualification is issued a certificate of qualification and a license.52 The field research shows that, in general, the practicing tourist guides considered the procedure of licensing as formalized to the extent not leaving a ground for subjectivism by the licensing body.53 In the meantime, this procedure, as well as the evaluation criteria for issuing a license remains far behind the existing international practice. Examination of professional qualification of both: guides and tour escorts is organized merely based on the formal questionnaires. In fact, there is no oral phase of evaluation of certain professional qualities especially for the guides, such as communication techniques, as well as linguistic knowledge.

48 See Annex 4 to the Order No 190 49 See point 15 of the GoA Decree No 954 50 See point 17 of the Goa Decree No 190 51 The questions are from the areas mentioned in the points b, d, h, g, l, m, n above 52 See point 31 of the GoA Decree No 954 53 For field research see Annex 2, Chart 3 37 In order to prevent the flow of unlicensed guides with cheap but unqualified services, the Law on Tourism states that the travel undertakings must use only the services of dually licensed guides/ escorts (Article 15.3 of the Law). Anyhow, in practice the problem of latently functioning unlicensed tourist guides is common not only for RA, but also for many developed countries. For example, in 1996, Montréal had almost 15% of "illegal guides" conducting tours. Illegal guides are a problem for Scotland as well; however, here also there still has not been found an effective legal solution. In fact the experience of these countries shows that the best way to fight with illegal tourist guides is the joint efforts of professional unions and authorized state body. Specialization of guides As it is obvious from the description of the procedure for guide (tour escort) licensing in RA, it does not provide a differentiated approach for specialized licensing of guides depending on the field of their activities. Specialized licensing is a newly emerging trend in many countries, where there exist some special training courses and separate qualification testing in certain narrow fields of tourist guiding, requiring special skills and particular knowledge on behalf of the guide. In these countries, amongst major factors influencing the specialization of guides are linguistic, landscape, religion, ethnic and other differences, administrative land division, which create preconditions for defining areas of qualification for guides. On other hand, specialized training courses are more common for the countries where the profession of tourism guide is not regulated and merely specialized voluntary course offered. In the meantime, specialization of guides can emerge also from proliferation of certain specific types of tourism, like adventurous tourism, which require from the guide not only theoretical knowledge, but also a certain level of physical/sportive, medical and other special characteristics. The field research showed that the both: practicing guides, NGOs in the field and the authorized state bodies, though finding the idea interesting, however mentioned that there is no excessive need for specialization of guides in practice yet.54 Possibly a major factor here is that the number of incoming tourist and thus the demand for specialized tours is still not very big in RA. Of more or less specific interest are the adventurous tours, where the selection of a specialized guide in the current stage, in fact, may be ensured by other means rather than implementing specialized licensing. Particularly, a stress can be put on organization of specialized training courses either within the guides guild and issuance of certificate thereof. Another option can be specific certification/licensing within associations and organizations that can demonstrate proficiency related to the specific pursuit. In this respect the Law (or Decree) may simply state that the person providing guiding in tours requiring special knowledge and/or skills must possess relevant qualifications. Hereby, one can stress also specialized linguistic knowledge including special terminology in certain fields (e.g. deaf and dumb alphabet). It is worth mentioning, that training and licensing of specialized guides is relatively new also for certain developed countries. Thus, in bearing in mind the created demand for adventure and guides, the Iceland Tourist guide school is only lately planning special courses for that. 55 Training of professional guides RA law on tourism provides a noteworthy provision stating that the Authorized body of the government should assist preparation and training of personnel and

54 For field research see Annex 2, Chart 5 55 See Icelandic Educational System for Tourist Guides, article by Stefan Helgi Valsson (available at www.wftga.org/page.asp?id=134 ). Australia has also done a lot of work on quality in adventurous pursuits 38 further enhancement of qualification in the field of tourism, as well as the exercise scientific researches in the field of tourism (Law on Tourism, Article 7, part 2(10)). Organization and development of quality guide education, as well as launching training programs for acting guides is one of the essential steps in promotion of professional guide market in RA. The guides are one of the important links in the national system of tourism services. Being in direct contact with the guide, the impression of the tourist from the tour in general is highly dependant on skills, professionalism, knowledge and ability to recover in emergency situations of the latter. 56 Declaration of tourism as one of the major directions of RA economic development largely contributed to the activities in the development of tourism industry in RA in general, which has influenced also educational activities in the field. As mentioned in the Report produced by AEPLAC, since 1998 there are tourism specialized faculties in a number of institutions in Armenia, such as the Armenian Open University, Russian-Armenian State University, State Humanitarian College, University named after Nerses Ashtarakeci in Ashtarak, Armenian Tourism Institute, etc. At the same time, there are about 10 educational institutions that offer specialized short-term courses on tourism. 57 Emphasizing the importance of special training for preparing professional guides, the practicing guides themselves mentioned about providing a requirement for binding training as a necessary precondition for receiving guide’s license.58 They mention that the requirement of merely a graduate level education for an applicant to guide’s license, still can not be a proof of existence of guiding skills and knowledge.

b. Status of guides (tour escorts), rights and responsibilities

RA Law on Tourism does not address the status of the guides (tour escorts). Conducted assessment shows that the majority of functioning guides are acting as individual entrepreneurs registered in accordance with the law.59 Thus, they are not permanent employees of certain tour operators but are in casual contractual relation with them. The international practice in this respect is that most guides are either: - Salaried employees of several companies and each employer contracts with them for a certain duration (one half-day contract, one day or more) subject to repeated renewal, or -Self employed worker, dually registered for exercise of such activities according to the state procedure. 60 When the is an employee of the tour operator, the Labor Laws in force in every country apply – in principle - to all the workers and employees including tour guides (tour escorts).61

56 For field research see Annex 2, Chart 6 57 Recommendations on Mandatory Legislation Associated with the Tourism Sector, AEPLAC Final Report of September 2004, p. 9 In October 2006, WFTGA held Hands On Tourist Guiding and Train the Trainer Courses held in Yerevan, Armenia. The courses were delivered by WFTGA Trainers Jenny Oulton and Felicitas Wressnig and WFTGA Secretary Houri Nazaretian advised on development of tourist guiding in Armenia. See Online Journal Guides International, Winter 2007, p.9 (available at http:// www.wftga.org ) 58 See Annex 2, Chart 2 59 For field research data see Annex 2, Chart 2. The registration of the legal entities as well as individual entrepreneurs in RA is governed by the Law on “State Registration of Legal Entities” of April 3, 2001 60 See also Annex 2, Chart 2 to the Report. 61 RA Labor Code was adopted on 09 November, 2004 39 But the specific work of a guide, hours of work, conditions of work, etc. need to be taken into account, and some laws can not be applied in the full extent to the work of a tour guide (tour escort). Examination of practice shows, that working hours for the tourist guides in RA are in fact not regulated, and in general they work as much as it is needed and as long as they have a demand. In a busy season, which lasts about 7 months an year, this may take 20-22 hours a day. However, since the majority of guides (tour escorts) are not in labor contracts with the tour operators for whom they provide the service and are not considered as their employees, the provisions of RA Labor Code regulating the maximum working hours do not refer to them. 62 An interesting example in this respect exists in Israel, where the payment of a tour guide is of U$S 114.- per day of 8 hours work, with 10% increase of that amount when the guidance is in 2 languages and 25% if it is in 3 languages. Extra hours will be paid only if the average work hours during all the period of guidance are higher than 8 hours.63 The RA Law on Tourism does not refer to the form of regulation of affairs between the tour operators and guides (tour escorts). A noteworthy issue revealed in practice is that the majority of tourist guides (tour escorts) in fact do not sign a written contract with travel undertakings. In most of the cases they trust much oral agreements. In fact, a certain cause for such a practice is the low level of culture of signing written contracts in general in RA, and on the other hand the low level of knowledge of law to realize that the written contract is a serious guarantee for protection of their rights and interest for both: tourist guides (tour escorts) and travel undertakings. Though the tourist guides themselves generally do not mention cases of significant conflicts with the tour operators, existence of such a contract is important for development of more secured business relations, instead of regulation of these affairs relaying merely on moral norms. 64 The contract between the tourist guide (escort) and the travel undertaking is necessary to address, in particular, such issues, as payment or compensation to the guide (escort) in case the tour is not organized, regulation of the obligation of the tour operator to cover the expenses for food, accommodation, transport, etc., also for the tourist guide during the tour, as well as responsibility of the guide in case of damage (injury) to tourist, etc. Promotion of use of tour contract is also important in the view of overcoming certain distorted practice of imposing additional obligations on the tourist guides, which do not derive from their functions as a guide.65 Referring to the issues of obligations of tourist guides, nevertheless it should be mentioned that an important provision is existing in the Law on Tourism, which obliges the travel undertakings to provide the tourist escort or tourist guide a written order, which contains information on the place of providing tourism services and the duration of such services, as well as document certifying the authorities within the framework of the tour (Article 16, para 6).

62 See RA Labor Code of 09 November, 2004, Articles 137-149 63 Such a system has been established in 26.1.2000 under the Collective Agreement between the General Confederation of Workers in Israel and Association of Israel incoming Tour Operators in accordance with the Collective Agreements Law – 1957. For more details see Article by Dr. Jose Foseman (President of Emeritus Lftta), Tour guides –Legal Aspects (available at http://www.israelbar.org.il/uploadfiles/Tour%20Guides%20- %20Legal%20Aspects%20(2005).doc ). 64 For field research see also Annex 2, Chart 7 to the Report. 65 The field research and interviews with guides show that in practice tour guides in RA are generally also dealing with such issues as coordination of transport services, accommodation, restaurants, check-in and luggage control, aiding the travelers who require medical or police help, etc. For field research data see also Annex 2, Chart 7 to the Report. 40 As already mentioned the RA Law on Tourism does not address the status, rights and responsibilities of tourist guides (tour escorts) in details. Regarding to this important provisions are provided in the GOA Decree No 954, which sets the basic obligations of the guide (tour escort): − respecting the traditions and religion of tourists, − not providing a false or distorted information to the tourist, − knowledge of the language necessary for free communication with the tourists or knowledge of other language specified by contract with the foreign partner, − displaying the identification card provided by the authorized body,66 − providing first aid to tourists and informing the relevant bodies about the emergencies with the tourist.67 One should state that similar provisions exist also in the Laws, regulation of a number of other countries. For example, under the By-Law of Montreal concerning the Tourist Guides each tourist guide must: − display the identification card provided by the city and bearing his/her photo and tourist guide permit number on the first side, and social insurance number on the back; − be properly and decently dressed; − not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs; − convey information strictly in accordance with historical, geographic, economic, social and cultural facts.68 In Israel under the Law it is prohibited for tour Guides to ask for, to receive and/or accept commissions or any other consideration from any person for driving foreign tourists to their enterprises, as well as it is prohibited to shops to give such commission.69

2.2. Foreign experience in regulation of activities of tourist guide (tour escort)

66 The procedure of carrying on an identification card by the tourist guides (tour escorts), as well as the basic information to be included in the identification card are regulated by the Order of the Minister of Trade and Economic Development No 212 of 17 October, 2005. The Order provides that the mandatory information on the card should be written both in Armenian and English. 67 See Points 13 and 14 of the GOA Decree 954 68 Moreover, no tourist guides may, whether on sidewalks, on streets, in parks or in public places: (1) address passers-by by words or gestures, and offer them their services or those of their employers; (2) conduct advertising for commercial establishments, restaurants, hotels or similar establishments. (3) impede pedestrian traffic. See Montreal Municipal By-Law G-2 of January 12, 1996 (available at http://www.apgt-montreal.org/en/g2/Index_g2.htm ) 69 Guides seeking to earn commission from handicrafts and retailers, is an important issue in a number of countries. In effect, tourists are purposely directed to only shop at a limited number of outlets that offer guides, in some cases, commissions are up to 50 percent, meaning that tourists are being sold merchandise that is either overpriced, or of inferior quality, or both. However, this is not as much topical issue for Armenia to be addressed at a legislative level, but this can be done within the Code of Ethics for Guides and professional unions. 41 a. Regulation of tourist guide/escort activities

The tourist guide activities started to be regulated within the European Union basically in the period from 1975 to 1997. One of the major issues arising in this respect was actions in order to enact a uniform definition for the tourist guide. Despite of certain ineffective efforts, European Federation of Tourist Guide Association (FEG) in 1995 elaborated its definition for the tourist guides, as following: “Tourist guide is the person who possesses an area specific tourist guide qualification issued and/or recognized by the appropriate public authority in the country concerned. The role of the tourist guide is to guide visitors from abroad or the home country, in the language/s of their choice, interpreting the natural and of the area of qualification.”70 In its turn, CEN (European Standardization Committee) TC 329/ WG2 members adopted their definition, as following: “Tourist Guide is a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area, which person normally possesses an area-specific qualification. Such qualifications are 71 usually issued and/or recognized by the appropriate authority." EU countries have differing approaches in regulation of tourist guide activities. Thus, in some of them (e.g. Austria, Spain, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, France) activities of tourist guides are regulated72, in a number of others (e.g. Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, UK, as well as Norway and Iceland) those are not regulated. In places where the activities of tourist guides are regulated, there is a mandatory requirement to pass certain training courses and obtain necessary qualification for exercise of the profession. Thus, in Greece, this is a post-secondary (non-university) level training lasting 3 years. In Austiria, Italy, Luxemburg and Portugal the exercise of the profession is subject to the possession of qualification at the level indicated in Directive 92/51/EEC .73 In France, training of tourist guides is exercised in 3 levels: a) regional interpreter-guide, b) national interpreter-guide, and c) national lecturer-guide.74 Similarly in Portugal there exist two levels of training for guides: a) regional interpreter-guide, b) national interpreter-guide.

70 For FEG definition see Annex 9 to the Report. 71 See The Tourist Guide profession European Profile, by Eduardo D’Amico, 2002, Official Documents and reports by European Federation of Tourist Guide Association (available at http://www.feg- touristguides.org/feg.htm ) 72 Under the Council Directive 92/51/EEC of 18 June 1992 on a Second General System For The Recognition Of Professional Education And Training To Supplement Directive 89/48/EEC ‘regulated professional activity’ is deemed to be understood “a professional activity the taking up or pursuit of which, or one of its modes of pursuit in a Member State, is subject, directly or indirectly, by virtue of laws, regulations or administrative provisions, to the possession of evidence of education and training or an attestation of competence” (Article 1 (e)). 73 Under Article 3 of the Council Directive 92/51/EEC “the taking up or pursuit of a regulated profession is subject to possession of a diploma”. 74 Professions of ‘guide interpreter’ and ‘lecturer’ overlap, both conduct general or thematic guided tours. ‘Guide interpreters’ are often in charge of their customers for longer periods of time whereas lecturers typically work for a shorter duration. Upon obtaining national diploma of national guide interpreter a professional license is delivered. In order to obtain national diploma of guide-interpreters a person must: a) be a French citizen or a citizen of a country of the EU or of a country which signed a convention of reciprocity regarding tourism, b) have the perfect mastery of French and at least two foreign languages, c) follow one year university training in of the institutions of higher education preparing for national diploma of national guide-interpreters. 42 On the other hand in the countries where the profession of tourist guide is not regulated, there also exist certain training programs which however are voluntary. Thus, for, e,g, in Germany the Chamber of Commerce issues a tourist guide certificate, in United Kingdom there are associations which issue a member’s card following certain training.75 One of the major issues, during the regulation of tourist guide profession within EU was arising from the “general system” of recognition of diplomas (qualifications) held by professionals of member countries. In this respect the EU Court of Justice has found that four countries -Italy, France, Greece, Spain have obstructed the freedom to provide tourist guide services, as guide from one Member State accompanying tours in other member States have been prevented form guiding their groups of tourists. The national authorities required that such guides have license. In its Ruling The Court stated that in cases when a tourist guide occasionally guides a group of tourists from one Member State to another for the duration of a "closed circuit" tour and does not intend to establish himself in the host country, may guide anywhere in the host country except where only specialist guide may guide. In this way, while safeguarding the principle of freedom to provide services, the Court of Justice has confirmed that such a partial restriction is justified as is in the general interest. The Ruling implied the obligation of the Member States to identify those museums and historical monuments that may be visited only with a specialized professional guide.76 Licensing of tourist guide activities is common not only for EU countries. Thus, Montréal is one of two cities in Canada which requires tourist guides to be licensed, after having obtained a certificate. The By-Law Concerning tourist guides states that the permit must be renewed annually. However a permit is not required for a prerecorded text, provided it is broadcast inside a vehicle, if it has been filed beforehand with the city archives, together with a certificate from the director of the Service du développement économique attesting to its accuracy. EU legislation also differs terms “tour escort” and “tour manager”. Under FEG definitions “tour manager” 77 is defined as a person who manages and supervises the itinerary on behalf of the tour operator, ensuring the program is carried out as described in the tour operator's literature and sold to the traveler/consumer and who gives local practical information. Meanwhile, “tour escort”,78 is defined as the representative of a tour operator providing basic assistance to travelers. In fact the distinction between these two terms is quite vague, and even President of WFTGA mentioned that there is no essential difference between a tour manager and a tour escort, tour leader or tour director. The real difference is between all of these and the tourist guide, which is a person with the detailed knowledge of a specific area as defined in the CEN/FEG/WFTGA definition.79 European Council and the Commission have drawn a clear distinction between the activity of tourist guide and that of tour manager, which, being complementary and having some similarity, however are quite different and specific, thus requiring different training and different regulation.

75 See European Communities Commission Working Paper on Tourist Guides SEC (97) 837 final, para 4.4. 76 See Cases C-180/89 Commission v Italy, C-154/89 Commission v France, and C-198/89 Commission v Greece [1991] ECR I-691 et seq. and Case C-375/92 Commission v Spain [1994] ECR I-923, as well as Report From The Commission To The Council And The European Parliament On The Application Of Directive 92/51/EEC In Accordance With Article 18 Of Directive 92/51/EEC, Com(2000) 17 final 77 Directeur de circuit (Fr.), Reiseleiter (Germ.) 78 Accompagnatuer (Fr.), Reisebegleiter (Germ.) 79 For e-mail by Rosalind Newlands President World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations) in this respect is presented in Annex 12 to the Report. 43 Tour manager is in fact the “representative” of tour operator during the , whom tour operator generally contracts to travel with the group. The tour manager is considered to be responsible for day-to-day running of the tour sold by the tour operator. During the tour, the tour manager may be involved in negotiating visas, coordination of package services, such as transport, accommodation, restaurants, check-in and luggage control, aiding the passengers who require medical or police help, counseling passengers that may be homesick, culture-shocked or suffering any form of trauma.80 On the contrary the Tourist Guide is generally known to the group for a short period of time while conducting guiding.

b. Examples of Organization of Training of Tourist Guides

Training is considered to be of major importance for preparing professional and qualified guides. Despite of the fact that in some EU countries the profession of guide is regulated and in others it is not, tourist guide qualifications are awarded in all EU member states. As mentioned by the Chairman of FEG Eduardo D’Amico in his article “In most member states qualifications are awarded by public or statutory bodies (state, regional or provincial) and in some they are awarded by semi-statutory bodies (tourist board/office, tourism authority). In the EU context a qualification may consist of a diploma, certificate or equivalent title resulting from specific training of duration equivalent to 3 years, 2 years or less than 2 years”.81 In fact the length of such training courses varies form country to country and even sometimes in different areas of one country (for e.g. in Spain). However the general understanding of the needs of education of guides and the approaches to organization of education is basically similar in all these countries. They are organized, bearing in mind the basic principles, which have also been defined by FEG, according to which tourist guide qualification requires: g) wide general knowledge with specific reference to the history, geography, art, architecture, economics, politics, religion ad sociology. h) specialized linguistic knowledge with all languages spoken fluently including the specialist terminology in many fields, i) interpersonal skills, knowledge of communication techniques comprising the art of guiding. Below are presented certain examples on organizing tourist guide education in a number of countries. Austria- Thus, according to the Austrian Code of Trades and Industries a license for exercising qualified profession of tourist guide is required when people are to be guided in order to show and explain sites town and country as well as sporting or social events. In order to receive a license the person should pass qualifying exams to start a university training course with minimum 300, mostly 400 hrs. Application for license entails membership in the Chamber of Commerce and obligatory social insurance. Greece- In certain countries the state bodies are widely involved in organization of guides education, despite the existing guilds or unions in the field. An interesting example in this respect is Greece where issuance of a license for acting as a guide presupposes possession of a graduation diploma of a Tourist Guides’

80 See International Association of Tour Managers (IATM) Position Paper on Tour Manager and Tourist Guide, attached to the European Communities Commission Working Paper on Tourist Guides SEC (97) 837 final. 81 The Tourist Guide profession European Profile, Op. cit. 44 School in Greece.82 Such schools are operated by the Tourism Education and Training Organization of the Ministry of Tourism of Greece. However, there is an eleven-member Scientific Committee established for educational and scientific subjects of the Tourist Guides Schools which consists of representatives from Universities guides’ federations, Associations of travel agencies, Ministries of Culture, Education, Tourism. Moreover, the legislation on tourist guide profession and qualifications of Greece83 in details addresses the issues of training in these state-administrated schools, establishes the minimal requirement for entrance to the school, the procedure of exams, syllabus and the teaching hours in the school, establish the procedures of disciplinary responsibility and omission form the school of the students. Moreover, there are no fees paid by students for studies in the Guide’s Schools. One should also mention that for entering to the Guide’s School the applicant can be graduate of 12 years compulsory school. Another important requirement is that foreigners must posses a Certificate for oral and written knowledge of Greek Language, issued by the center of Greek Language.84 The term period of Tourist Guides School is 5 educational semesters, including 1090 hours of class teaching plus 100 days and 390 hours of visits to museums, archeological sites, various monuments, art galleries, natural protected areas, etc.85 Iceland- Iceland is one of the countries where profession of tourist guide is not regulated. However, in order to organize the qualified education of tourist guides the Iceland Tourist Guide School was founded in 1976 under joints actions of Ministry of Tourism, The Icelandic Tourism Board, the Icelandic Tourism Guide Association and the Icelandic Business Association. In order to be admitted to Iceland Tourist Guide School the candidate must be 21 years-old have university entrance exemption and meet oral language proficiency standards. Course duration is one year and include 444 hours.86 During the course evaluation the students have to take a four hour city tour. During the exam trip the student’s presentation is recorded on a tape to be graded by two examiners. The final evaluation of students takes place during a 6-day tour around Iceland where they practice their presentation skills, guided by qualified and experiences person. The annual number of graduates from the school amounts to 50 individuals. Scotland- In Scotland potential guides must apply to the Scottish Tourist Guides Association. They are interviewed and language screened and then if accepted they go on a 4-day introductory course. They have to do presentations and a written assignment. If they pass that at minimum of 60% they are invited to become Student Associate Members of STGA.87 Most students are graduates and

82 For details on the tourist guide qualification and education in Greece see Annex 10 to the Report. 83 Law 710/1977 and particularity Ministerial decree T/7662/2002 84 The entrance examination for the Guide’s school includes foreign language test and written examination consisting of an essay, geography of Greece and history of Greece. 85 See Ministerial Decree T/7662/2002, Article 3.1 86 Subjects taught at the School include tour guiding technique (presentation skills and group psychology), geology/geography, history, industries and farming, tourism, society and culture, arts, botany, ornithology, mammals in Iceland, 20 hour first aid course, area interpretation and presentation skills in the student’s elected foreign language (available at http://www.wftga.org/page.asp?id=134 ) 87 See information on Scottish Educational System for tourist Guides by Rosalind Newlands (available at http://wftga.org/page.asp?id=111 ) Scottish Tourist Guides Association 45 usually over 22 years. The course lasts for 2 years and includes 128 hours core knowledge, 280 hours guiding skills/regional studies.88 Puerto Rico- In Puerto Rice in order to obtain the certification by Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC), one must take at least 200 contact hours of tourism, heritage and other related courses. The exam consists of written test and oral presentation (simulating a tour). Another interesting regulation is that as part of the requirements for the renewal of the license (every 4 years), the PRTC offers 8 to 12 continuing education seminars during the year; the one needs to take at least 4 per year, thus 16 seminars in a period of 4 years.89 Quebec- Since 1985, the Institut de Tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ) is the only institute recognized by law to offer this course. The program is a 7-month course, consisting of over 240 hours of class time. Another interesting thing is that the courses are offered every two years. The potential tourist guides are required to speak a minimum of three languages. It’s worth of mentioning that over 90 hours are devoted to proper vocal and non-vocal communication, art of speaking, creating tours, dynamic presentations of subjects, troubleshooting, proper techniques in open spaces and crowded areas, etc. In order to be eligible for the Tourist Guide Course the candidate must: - Have a minimum secondary diploma recognized by the Québec Ministry of Education, - Must be bilingual, speaking both of Canada's official language (English and French), - Speak a third language other than English and French, - Have some experience in tourism or working with the public, - Must show a motivation and ability to animate with the public, - Be 18 years or older, - Accept to conform to the rules of the ITHQ including dress code.90 Before being accepted to the course candidates will be required to undergo language test. Students who have successfully completed their training receive their diploma from ITHQ. The ITHQ will then submit the names of these individuals to the City of Montréal permit department where the individual may then obtain their license to conduct tours in Montréal.

2.3. GAP ANALISYS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. It is advisable to bring the definition of ‘tourist guide’ in the RA Law on Tourism in compliance with the one proposed by CEN. The latter clearly underline the basic functions of guide as a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area and possesses an area-specific qualification. 2. Article 12 of RA Law on Tourism provides only one exception from the activities, that need guides’ licensing, that is activities of a person who is employee in certain tourism object (site) and exercises these activities within that place. Examination of practice in other countries shows that there are exceptions also for “explanations given exclusively in excursion vehicles, rented cars,

88 The course is a mixture of web based distance learning, tutorials, lectures and field visits including two 7 day extended tours around Scotland and several weekend trips. A detailed curricula of organization of guide education by STGA is presented in Annex 11 to the Report. 89 For more details see http://www.wftga.org/page.asp.?id=171 90 For more details see http:// www.aptg-montreal.org/en/guides/Guide_tra.htm 46 taxis”.91 Thus it is advisable to extent the scope of the exception in Article 12 of the Law on Tourism. 3. Requirements for applying for guide’s license i. It is advisable to provide the basic requirements of applying for the guide’s (tour escort’s) license directly in the Law on Tourism and not in the GOA Decree, as under Article 9 of RA Law on “Legal Act” the procedure and conditions of exercise of the rights entities, as well as any limitations to these rights should be regulated by Law. Besides RA Law in Tourism is a complex document providing the general idea of RA tourism policy. Existence of requirements for the guides in the Law will more underline the policy of having professional guides in the field and promote further development for guide training and education in RA. At the same time the Law does not provide any requirements on the age of the applicant for guide’s license. There should be provided that the person applying for guides license should be at least “18 years old” (which is the age of majority under RA Law) ii. GOA Decree 954 provides the opportunity to apply for guide’s license to both: RA citizens as well as foreigners. Hereby, it is advisable to provide additional requirements for Armenian language testing for foreigners that are not aliens of Armenian origin or citizens of RA. Knowledge of the native language of the country is important as the guide should be able to communicate with local authorities in various situations that may arise during the tour. It should be mentioned that examination of foreign practice provided above, also proves the mentioned approach. iii. The tourist guides (tour escorts) directly interact with tourist and their mental and physical conditions should be suitable for the activities of the guide. Point 4 of the GOA Decree 954, providing the requirements of applying for the guide (tour escort) exams, is silent about the above-mentioned issues. In this respect, for instance the Greek regulation provides that “candidates must be physically and mentally sane, sound in limb in a manner that does not affect the practice of Tourist guides profession”. Similar requirement should be included also in the GOA Decree. At the same time, GOA (Ministry of Health) should define the list of physical disabilities and diseases, which are considered to be an obstacle for exercising the guide’s (tour escorts) activities. Meanwhile, special procedure should be also provided to enable the participation in exams of people with allowed disabilities, such as for e.g. deaf-and-dumb applicants.92 4. Guide licensing exams i. Examination of foreign experience in both education and licensing of guides reveals that the procedure of ensuring existence of qualified guide, includes checking not only the academical knowledge of the candidate but also the existence of guiding skills on his/her behalf while licensing. Thus, it is advisable that the examination of professional qualification of guides in RA combines both: formal questionnaires and oral phase enabling the evaluation of certain professional qualities necessary for the guides, such as communication techniques, guiding skills, etc.

91 See particularly the experience of Austria, Montréal provided supra p. 27 92 Knowledge of certain languages for conducting tours may comprise also knowledge of deaf-and-dumb alphabet, as the possibility of such tourist is not denied, so that here should be also relevant people to exercise the tour. 47 ii. Another important issue is that the majority of countries put a specific stress on foreign language exams while applying for guide’s license, bearing in mind the fact that the tourist guide is a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice. Thus it is advisable to provide an opportunity of checking the knowledge of foreign language. Certain exceptions can be provided for the candidates who are University graduates of foreign languages studies or graduates of foreign university. Hereby, certain amendments should be made in the existing procedure of guide licensing in RA creating opportunity of checking not only the general knowledge, but also the linguistic skills of the candidates. iii. Under the GOA Decree, checking of professional qualifications of a guide is exercised by a committee formed by the Minister of Trade and Economic development. However, the Decree does specify neither the composition nor the number of members of the Committee, and these issues are regulated on the level of the Ministerial order. It is advisable, that the GOA Decree at least establishes the principles of formation of the Committee, underlining the fact that the Committee should be representative one, including members from the both: state bodies and NGO sector and other related fields. 5. Terms (duration) of guides’ license From the point of promotion of professionalism of tourist guides (tour escort’s) another noteworthy issue is the termless character of tourist guides’ (tour escort’s) license in RA. Especially bearing in mind that the legislation still does not require for annual mandatory training of a guide, the termless character of the license may have certain discouraging impact in promotion of self-education of particularly tourist guides. Thus, it is advisable to provide either certain mechanism of renewal of guide’s license or providing a binding requirement of annual trainings. 93 This issue has also been underlined by tour operators in the field, as factors significantly affecting the quality of service and development of professional skills of tourist guides (tour escorts). 6. Status of Tourist Guides i. As already mentioned, RA law on tourism does not address the status, rights and responsibilities of tourist guide (tour escorts). Instead, a number of provisions exist in the GOA Decree N 954. However, it is advisable to include these and some additional provisions on rights and obligation of the guide directly in the Law of Tourism. It is advisable to clarify in the Law on Tourism providing that the tourist guides (tour escorts) may be either self-employed or an employee of a travel undertaking, and that for the first cases it is necessary to hold a certificate of an individual entrepreneur in accordance with the RA Law on “State registration of legal entities”, for the second, a written labor contract. A specific regulation is also advisable to address the issue of responsibility of tourist guide caused as a consequence of a defective guidance. ii. As mentioned above, as a result of vague contractual relations between tour operators and guides the latter often in practice are being obliged to exercise functions which do not directly derive from the profession of the tourist guide, but are rather for tour escort or tour manager. That is why there should be paid special attention to the promotion of the contractual relations between the tourist

93 In a number of countries the license is issued for certain period of time, for example in Montreal it is renewed annually, in Puerto Rico every 4 years. 48 guide (escort) and the travel undertakings. Hereby, the role of Ministry of Trade and Economic Development (its relevant Department) and the Guides’ Guild are emphasized, which can elaborate a Model contract and introduce them to the field. iii. Another issue, which has been underlined also by the acting guides, is that there is no requirement of mandatory insurance of tourist guides (tour escorts) in RA legislation. The necessity of insurance in practice arises from the fact that the guides are often obliged to endanger themselves as a result of certain unpredicted actions of a tourists94 or emergency situation during the tour. It is advisable to pay certain attention to this issue. The insurance may be provided either by the tour operators on behalf of the guide (escorts) or be set as a binding requirement for issuance a licensing to a guide (the latter example exists in Austria). 7. Training of guides i. The organization of professional education for guides should be further actively promoted and encouraged by the GOA (its authorized body), and be promoted with the wide involvement of professional unions of the sector. The guide training can be carried out not only on the level of academic institutions, but even more effectively through vocational training institutions. In fact, the key issue is ensuring quality of education, existence of up to date syllabuses and use of modern ways of education, which will provide necessary skills, both practical and theoretical knowledge to the students. While promoting guides’ training in RA, it is advisable to bear in mind the basic directions and principles underlined by FEG and deriving from the specificity of guide’s profession.95 As the analysis shows, in the countries having special education for guides the course consist of: − formal education, introduction to tourism and specific information relating to the country, and − developing guiding skills, i.e. communication skills and excursion techniques. Here special emphasis is made on the development of guiding skills, microphone techniques, voice projection, positioning, group management, etc. and the final evaluations of students is exercised during a city tour where the students show the gained skills. The discussion of foreign experience in organization guides’ training provided above makes clear that countries differ in their approaches to the organization and duration of the training. The more general trend is that the major stakeholders and participants of this process are professional unions, guides’ guilds. However, there are also countries (like Greece), where all this is arranged at the state level through establishment of a State School of Guides, with active participation of the stakeholders of the field. In fact the experience of such a school is not extraordinary for RA either. In the course of certain legislative reforms recently, a number of professional schools have been established under the law in the fields where the state is especially concerned for the training of professional staff. Such examples are the judicial school of RA established by the Judicial Code of RA96 and the school of prosecutor’s office.97 However the necessity, as well the opportunity of establishment of such professional school also for guide at the current stage may be unreasonable

94 For instance, there were mentioned cases when tourists decided to go down a dangerous canyon and the guide was also obliged to go down in order to bring them back 95 See supra p. 28 96 Adopted by the National Assembly in 22 February, 2007 97 Provided by the Law of Public prosecutor’s Office 22 February, 2007 49 for the state, so that this function is advisable to transfer to the relevant NGOs in the sector and the existing state institutions of higher education and colleges. 98 The state should establish either by law or GOA/Ministerial Decree the minimal term periods of studies in the Tourist guide’s schools, the structure of the syllabus of the schools99 and the basic subject to be delivered in schools. This is important from the point of establishment of uniform approach to the professional education of guides in RA and insuring their knowledge in the basic field required for exercising qualified guide activities. In fact the state–authorization of curriculums of tourist guide schools is acceptable practice also for other countries, where the schools are administered by private sector (for e.g. Iceland). While arranging the tourist guide education, amongst others noteworthy are such classes as tourism development and tourism legislation and tourist psychology, guiding techniques, first aid, which should be included in subjects taught. Organized policy in education of guide is also important from the point of appropriate delivery of various issues of interest for international image and marketing of RA. Here, in particular should be mentioned also issues such as the Genocide policy and Nagorno-Karabakh, as incoming tourists are very often interested also in the political situation of the countries visited. In order to prevent the uncontrolled flow of students to the guide schools, the institutions involved in guides’ training and GOA (or its authorized body) may agree to limitation on the number of candidates to be admitted to the schools each year. Another alternative can be the courses being organized not every year but, for example, every two years (as in Quebec). ii. Proliferation of relevant guide-training programs in RA will encourage consideration of a requirement for passing certain such a program as a necessary precondition for applying for guide’s license. iii. Moreover, in the course of promotion of professional education programs, the guild’s licensing procedure should also be reviewed. In many countries where there is a mandatory requirement for graduating a special training course for guides, in general there is no separate complicated state examination procedure for getting a tourist guide’s license. In most cases the basic and hard exams are carried out within the educational establishment upon graduating and then the certain education institutions submit the names of the successful candidate to the relevant licensing body (public or NGO) which issues the license. 8. Subsequent retraining of guides Besides the above-discussed preliminary training for preparing professional guides, another important issue is ensuring continuous retraining of already licensed guides, which is necessary for their professional development. There can be established a minimal number of hours of training each guide should pass every year. Such training is important also to keep the functioning guides informed with the current developments, policy, ongoing reforms in the field. 9. Capacity building of Guides’ Guild

98 The basic NGO in RA uniting the interests of guides is the Armenian Guides’ Guild, founded in 2005 99 E.g. under the Ministerial Decree of Greece the Syllabus of the Tourist Guides School must consist of: 1) Classroom courses 2) Visits to Museums and Archeological Sites 3) Practice guiding 4) Guiding en route (on bus) 5) Test of guiding conduction 50 Development of the market of professional guides is impossible to imagine without existence of strong professional association (associations), which will unite individual players to deal with common issues, represent their interests, initiate major changes and development in the sector, dialogue with the state and non-state institutions etc. There is a relatively young professional association currently functioning in Armenia, namely the Armenian Guides’ Guild. In a number of countries, like Jordan, it is even mandatory for guides to be a member a professional association. In this form their activities become subject to regulation under certain ethical norms and rules established by the association. Consequently the association follows compliance to the set rules, proceeds over claims of inappropriate conduct by the guide or deals with various disciplinary issues concerning its members. The professional association can significantly assist the travel undertakings by keeping database of functioning guides and providing information about them (e.g. languages spoken, knowledge in special area, etc. other qualifications), as well as receive and register the feedback about the quality of service provided by the guide. Thus, simultaneously with other proposed reforms, serious measures should be undertaken for capacity building of the professional association uniting the interests of majority of guides.

3. REGULATION OF TOUR OPERATORS’ AND TOUR AGENTS’ ACTIVITIES Summary In the process of development of tourism industry in Armenia and advertising its benefits as tourism destination major stakeholders are the tour operators and travel agencies. The quality of organized tour packages, especially in the inbound tourism, directly influences the rating of Armenia in tourism industry internationally. In fact, one offended tourist may result in many tourists’ reluctant to visit the country. Thus, the professionalism of entities involved in providing travel services and existence of relevant education on their behalf, ensuring financial guarantees for compensating possible damages to the tourists are much emphasized nowadays. The number of outbound tourists visiting Armenia has been gradually increasing in the recent years, therefore the issues of their security in the foreign country and protection of their interests from possible swindle of inexperienced undertakings are of great concern. Insuring the quality and reliability of tour operators’ and travel agents’ activities in Armenia is emerging the need for a certain “soft control" over the industry, which has been raised by the sector representatives themselves. The following section of the Report examines the business and legal environment of functioning of tour operators and travel agents in Armenia, as well as legal obstacles arising during their activities. Examination of foreign countries’ experience in regulation of tour operators’ and travel agents’ activities, study of existing licensing/registration and other mechanisms for making information on the functioning travel undertakings available, as well as exercising certain control over the quality and reliability of the offered services is also provided.

3.1. Regulation of Activities of Travel undertakings in RA

a. Definition of terms “tour operator” and “tour agent”

The tour operator (agent) business has emerged as an effective mean of distributing leisure travel and accommodation services to customers. Tour operators (agents) obtain information, make contracts with suppliers of services, and publish

51 their offers in brochures distributed directly to customers or by travel agents. RA Law on Tourism and Tourism Activities defines two terms for undertakings involved in Travel services- “tour operator” and “tour agent”. Though the definitions of the terms provided by the Article 2 of the Law at first seems a little confusing, however the provisions are further detailed in the Article 13 of the Law. This Article defines the basic activities that are conducted by tour operators. Under this article the difference between the tour operator’s and tour agent’s activities is defined as: the tour operator is engaged in preparing the tour packages and making relevant arrangements for that (e.g. reservation in accommodation establishments, organization of sightseeing trips, distribution of tourists and arrangement of food, etc), as well as disseminates the tour packages. The tour agent, on the contrary, acts like an intermediary in distribution of the results of tour operator’s activities (Article 13, part 3). Referring to the above-mentioned definitions in the RA Law, it must be stated that similar separation can be seen also in the national law of other countries. The definitions used therein can be a useful example for proposing relevant clarification of those definitions in RA Law. Thus, according to of Article 2 (parts 12 and 13) the law of Lithuania; “Tour operator means a person who regularly plans tour itineraries and prepares the required packages of tour services for these tours. Tour agent means a person, who shall act as an intermediary in the sale of various tourist services.” Under Article 5 of the Estonian Tourism act: "Tour operator means a travel undertaking which organizes packages, and offers packages for sale or sells packages itself or through other travel undertakings. means a travel undertaking which offers for sale or sells packages organized by a tour operator.” Though in the majority of counrties there is a sepration of tour operator and tour agent activities, however, the separation of the above-mentioned definitions is not a common practice for all the countries. Examination of foreign experience shows that even in those countires where there is no such a separation, they do provide a mechanism for distinction of these two activities. For example, in United Kingdom it is considered that these two terms are not mutually exclusive, as most tour operators provide single service such as „flight only” or „accomodation only”. They may also make arrangements on behalf of clients and in these capacities they act as travel agent. Likewise most travel agents will put toghether packages of travel and accomodtion for clients and in doing so, are effectively tour operators. So the basic idea here is that the role in the particular transaction matters in determining the liability either for tour operator or tour agent. 100 Another example is the Law on Tourism of Serbia,101 which defines 2 types of travel agencies: a) an agency-organizer of tourist journeys and b) an agency – mediator (Article 56 of the Law on Tourism of Serbia). At the same time there is also another categorization of A, for an organizer of the journey in the county and abroad, and B, for an organizer of the journey in the county (Article 57 of the Law). In Croatia the Law on Travel Related Activities, regulating the foundation and operation of travel agencies, 102 defines travel agencies by the type of service they

100 Downes John and Tricia Paton, Travel and tourism Law in the UK, 4th edition, 2006, (available at http://www.elm-training.co.uk//ttl/htm) 101 Available at http://www.minttu.sr.gov.yu/pdf/the_law_on_tourism.pdf 102 The law was Adopted on 8 February 1996 52 provide: either as tour operators or retailers identified by coresspondingly A or B code, which is displayed also in their ID Code.103 Most Croatian travel agencies are registered as AB, i.e. tour operator and retailer. The agencies select the category in which they will be registered. This registration must be recorded with the county authorities. Thus, in practice there is a need for distinction of the activities of tour operator and tour agent, which should derive both from the name and the actual activities of the latter. Such a distinction is also necessary for providing defferentiated regulation for tour operator and tour agent activities bearing in mind the pecularities of their activities.104 However the distinction of these functions in practice is a little confusing as well. The problem is that when the travel agent sells several separate products and services as one package in fact, it becomes a tour operator as selling a travel product or service directly and combining several third party products and services it creates a new one of its own. In this respect it is interesting to learn the approach of Bulgaria, which provides a wider scope of activities for travel agents. Thus under the Bulgarian Law on Tourism: ‘Tourist agent's activity’ is the fulfillment of mediation in: sales of organized trips, passenger aviation, water and bus transportation; reservation, visa, guiding and other additional tourist services, as well as insurance related to the tourist trip.’ In the meantime it should be mentioned that the tour operators can be categorized into two major groups: inbound and outbound, depending on the area of their activity. Inbound tour operators offer for sale packages that include travel services provided in Armenia, meanwhile outbound tour operators offer for sale packages that include travel services provided outside of Armenia and charter flights. As we’ll see in the analysis provided below, such a distinction enables to provide differentiated regulation and requirements to the activities of inbound and outbound tour operators (in particular regarding licensing, security funds, public liability insurance, etc.). Hereby, one should mention that provisions in the RA Law on Tourism refer to the travel undertakings in general, without specially differing regulations for the tour operators and travel agents. The Law refers also to the relations of travel undertakings and the customers which shall be addressed further.105

b. Business environment for tourism undertakings in RA

RA Law on Tourism does not provide any licensing procedure for exercise of tour operator’s and tour agent’s activities in RA. The only provision existing in the Law in this respect is the Article 14, which sets that entities providing travel services should possess an office on the proprietorship or use basis, which must provide the

103 See Legal regulations in the operation of travel agencies in Croatia, (available at http://www.croatia- travel.org/press_legal.php ) 104 In Japan Travel Agents are also classified into categories: - 1st Category Travel Agents-Companies that organize and sell overseas and domestic tours, and also make travel arrangements for the clients as agents, - 2nd Category Travel Agents- Companies that organize domestic tours and sell domestic and overseas tours, and also make travel arrangements for the clients as agents. - 3rd Category Travel Agents -Companies that sell overseas and domestic tours, and also make travel arrangements for the clients as agents (Available at http://www.jata-net.or.jp/english/membership/system.htm ). 105 See infra Part VI of the Report 53 name of the tour operator106 and the type of its activities, as well as must be enhanced with contemporary means of telecommunication and with accommodations for serving the customers (e.g. chairs, armchairs) (Law on Tourism, Article 14). Anyhow during the field research a number of travel undertakings,107 especially the ones united in the Union of Incoming tour operators Armenia emphasize the need of certain licensing scheme in RA. Moreover, they adhered the idea of licensing of all tour operators without distinction based on the field of their activities. 108 As major substantiations provided by the travel undertaking in the field link to the following: • Licensing is aimed at ensuring the quality of services provided by local travel undertakings, thus limiting involvement in the sector of “suspicious” entities with little practice and reputation in the field. • Travel undertakings, with little understanding of the field and providing not professional services, damage country image of Armenia by providing services of inappropriate quality. • Certain travel undertakings functioning in the field take little (or no) efforts to contribute to RA tourism policy and advertising RA as a tourism destination , but get use of the activities undertaken by other travel undertakings and provide cheaper tour packages getting more income. At the same time the approach of licensing is not considered to be the best way of settlement off above-mentioned problems by another group of travel undertakings, as well as authorized state body of the field. The basic concerns regarding to the establishment of criteria for licensing, bearing in mind current situation in the sector: relatively newly developing business, absence of significant practice of the insurance companies, lack of field professionals, as well as universities or colleges providing professional education in the field of tourism, etc.. Moreover, many in the field consider that it will be another ground for bureaucracies and setting artificial limitations for newcomers’ access to the sector, thus having little impact on the development of the sector in general. It is also noteworthy that the majority of travel undertakings interviewed in the field mentioned that existence/or absence of a license has never been of significant importance or of any impact for establishment of contractual relations with foreign partners.109 One of the most significant problems for the sector, as mentioned by the sector representatives, is functioning of many illegal travel undertakings. In RA there is a separate mandatory state registration for legal entities in order for them to start their activities, which is established by the law on “State registration of legal entities”.110 However, in practice still many organizations keep on functioning and receiving profits without being registered. Unregistered companies are creating unfair competition (through not paying taxes and thus offering services at a significantly lower price) and are not protecting customers’ rights. Hereby, in fact,

106 Point 2 (1) of Article 14 mentions only the term “tour operator”, while the regulations, in fact, refers also to the tour agent. Thus the provision should be amended, so as to include the tour agents as well. 107 The terms “tour operator” and “tour agent” in the further text will be jointly referred as “travel undertakings”. 108 Union of Incoming Tour Operator of Armenia is the association uniting the tour operators of the field, which has been established in 2004, and congregates 15 tour operator members and the Armenian Tourism Institute. For results of field research see Annex 2, Charts 35 and 36 109 See Annex 2, Chart 40 110 The Law regulated the state registration procedure both for the individual entrepreneurs activities and legal entities. 54 solution should be seek not so much in the legal regulations, but rather in joint efforts of the sector representatives, association of tour operators and the state body.

Field research shows also that the majority of travel undertakings in RA, in fact, lacking professional university or college level education in tourism, however have been in business for years. Thus they have an established practice and way of working, as well as good understanding of the field. On the other hand, the majority of them agrees that free competitive market is dictating the need for training and preparing professionals, therefore often travel undertakings themselves are initiating training of their staff . At the same time, they mention that the level of tourism education offered by existing universities and colleges in RA still remains unsatisfactory and not likely to improve soon in terms of the quality of knowledge of new graduates. Thus, training of the staff which has certain experience in the field already is classified as crucial by the sector participants.

Travel undertakings in RA are in general sign one year agreements with the majority of existing hotels, which allows them also to enjoy sound discounts (so called tour operator’s rate is applied). The same cannot be said for the food service providers, where the contractual relations are very rare in practice. As a rule, food service is being arranged in place with no written contract signed. Here the tour operators mention especially the technical difficulties for signing contract beforehand, as well as reluctance of food establishments and uncommon character of such contracts. In such a case they will have to visit the food services beforehand and agree upon the terms of contract. In practice, such contracts are also connected with additional expenses to travel undertakings to get to the place of the food establishments if it is remote form the place of location of tour operator. As a result the contracts with food establishments are generally oral and agreed in place.111 The research in the field reveals also that major problems for travel undertakings’ activities in RA are not as much related to the legal framework, as to economic, technical factors, lack of facilities, poor network, the quality of service in the food establishments, small choice for courses in the food establishments and of course unstable exchange rates, which influence this sector very much. Particularly, the latter is considered to be a serious obstacle for the sector, as the travel undertakings obliged to change the already agreed prices for tour packages, caused by significant change in exchange rate of the foreign currency they receive from their partner company abroad to arrange the tour. Besides, the fall of dollar’s value makes the offered tour packages expansive and less competitive abroad.

3.2. Foriegn experience in regulation of activities of travel undertakings

a. Registration/licensing and proficiency checking

As already mentioned above, RA Law does not provide any kind of licensing or registration procedure for activities of travel undertakings. The international practice also varies in its approaches to this issue. In fact, there is no uniform idea regarding the influence of licensing on the sector development as well. “Thus, studying the tour operator (agent) licensing schemes in several countries, some find that licensing had a negative effect in most countries, in terms

111 See Annex 2, Chart 32 55 of raising barriers to entry to new operators as well as failing to improve the quality of the product and tending to dampen diversification of product offering. As an example is mentioned Thailand, which tried licensing of tour operators for years then abolished it. The supporters of this viewpoint add that in the countries where licensing procedure however, did have a positive impact, they applied only to 3 very specific areas in which tour operators (agents) work: 1) safety of adventure activities like rafting, paragliding, , rock climbing, etc, 2) leave no trace (environmental low impact stuff) for wilderness and protected areas tourism, and 3) guiding for museums, historical sites, and landmarks where the guides would only be licensed for the specific site (British Museum, Windsor Castle, Parks Victoria etc).“ 112 On the other hand, examination of the existing practice in many European countries and even in countries with Anglo-American traditions shows that they are prone to keeping a mechanism of state control over the activities of travel undertakings. Certain level of state interference, particularly in the form of establishment of basic requirements for exercising tour operator’s (agent’s) activities, is considered necessary to guarantee the protection of consumer’s interests from illegally operating firms, breach of the conditions of tour package by the tour operator (agent). Such a level of security is especially emphasized for outbound tourism. In some countries state supervision of the sectors’ activities takes a form of registration of the undertakings, in others these goals are being achieved through establishment of licensing procedure. In fact, in many countries the requirements for both: licensing and registration quite often are similar, so that in most cases the goals of these mechanisms are the same, namely: to have some basic info on the entities in the tourism business and to ensure their reliability, Thus the analysis of existing practices in different countries shows that the main purpose of registration or licensing procedure links to the following: − to set standards of experience and qualifications for participants of the travel industry, in licensing requirements for travel agents and tour operators, and to set professional standards in management and marketing for them, − to set financial requirements for travel undertakings while conducting their business, − to protect the public's money by setting up a compensation fund to compensate the public where there has been losses through the default of a travel agent or tour operator. Below, are provided some examples of regulation of the sector in foreign countries. In order to avoid confusion, it should be mentioned, that in many of these countries only one term of “travel agents” is accepted, which nevertheless includes activities of both “tour operators” and “retailers”. Thus, Ontario (Canada) requires registration of such undertakings and the latter should be operated by persons with experience and knowledge of the business. Licensing procedure exists also in a number of US states113 and there are even proposals on implementing uniform and comprehensive licensing for all the states in US, considering it to be in the best interests of consumers and professional travel agents.114 In Australia travel agents must be licensed, and travel agent managers must have specific levels of experience and education depending upon what travel services are being sold. However, there is an interesting exception for those persons

112 Source is the Competitive Armenian Private Sector Program (CAPS) 113 For more information see http://www.authorizedagents.com/seller%20of%20travel.html 114 Such a proposal is introduces also by Judge Thomas A. Dickerson in its article of May 15, 2000 56 conducting the business of a travel agent with receipts of less than $30,000, who so long as the arranged travel is domestic, the agency is not required to obtain a license. 115 In Japan, travel agencies must be registered and appoint a Certified Travel Service Supervisor, who has passed the examination administered by the Ministry of Transportation, to operate such an office.116 Israel requires proficiency examinations, three years' experience in a travel agency, certification and annual registration of travel agencies, travel experts and licensed clerks. Registration, licensing, education and experience requirements are also in place in EU countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Thus, in Belgium any person seeking to establish a travel agency has to apply for a license. In Finland travel agents must obtain a license and the person applying "must be over 25 years of age, have a solid financial status, be known as respectable and dependable person, have at least three years of practical experience and possess an adequate professional competence”. In Greece persons desiring to be travel agents must obtain a license and have six years experience as manager or a combination of three years' experience and three years' education in a tourist school; or six years experience as an employee of a tourist enterprise, in combination with two years of education. In Cyprus under the Travel Agencies and tourist Guides Law of 1995 for granting a license to travel undertaking it is a prerequisite that the Manager in charge and Travel Agency’s name are to be proposed beforehand. The proposed manager should a) either be a graduate of a recognized higher School of tourist studies, or possess a University degree in tourism and have at least one year of working experience in travel agency, b) either be a holder of a University degree and have at least three years working experience in travel agency, c) or be a graduate of a school for secondary education and have at least seven years working experience in a travel office, airline, or shipping company in departments dealing mainly or directly with tourism and travel activities, d) in addition to the official language have a good knowledge of at least one foreign language of those prevailing in the tourism industry. There are also other requirements such as the travel agency being suitably furnished and having a floor area of at least 20 sq. m. and at least two persons in staff, including the Manager. In Luxembourg a travel agent license will be granted after an inquiry by the authorities. The applicant will have to provide a solid proof of his professional qualifications and his honorable character. In United Kingdom, only the travel agencies that sell air transportation must be licensed and must meet minimum standards of competence, meanwhile travel agencies selling other travel services are not required to be licensed. In France travel agents and tour operators must obtain a license from the local prefect. The applicant must have no criminal record and must be an experienced professional, having three years experience at managerial level, or a university degree in tourism and two years experience in tourism. In Netherlands, also a license is required in order to lead a travel business. To be eligible for a license, certain criteria on commercial and professional knowledge is to be satisfied.

115 For more details see Article by Judge Thomas A. Dickerson of May 15, 2000 http://members.aol.com/judgetad/index.html 116 See Travel agency Law of Japan (available at http://www.qhi.co.jp/pdf/travel_agency_law.pdf) 57 In Croatia under the new law a prerequisite for establishing a travel agency is that its manager should have passed a special examination as determined by special regulations, issued by the Ministry of Tourism.117 Experience of regulation of tourism activities in the post-soviet countries has been also considered worth to examine, given the similarities and context of those with RA. In Poland, the act in force from 1999, obligates tourist entities providing organization or agency services to obtain a licence. These entities must be entered in the licence registers kept by Voivodship Offices. The Central Licence Register is kept by the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Economy.118 Quite interesting is the approach to carrying out tourist activities in Bulgarian Law on Tourism. Under Article 17 of the Law, tour operator's or tourist agent's activity shall be carried out on the basis of a termless license issued by an order of the Minister of Economy. License for tour operator's or tourist agent's activity shall be issued to a person applying for that and: 1. who is an entrepreneur in the context of the Commercial Law or who is a corporate body having the right, by virtue of another law, to carry out economic activity; 2. whose personnel carrying out tour operator's or tourist agent's activity meets the requirements for education, foreign language qualification and time of service determined by ordinance, 3. who has provided suitable premises for carrying out tour operator's or tourist agent's activity determined by ordinance, 4. who has submitted recommendations by a nationally represented tourist association of persons carrying out tour operator's or tourist agent's activity; 5. who is not under proceedings for liquidation or bankruptcy; 6. who has not carried out tour operator's or tourist agent's activity without a license during the last 12 months; 7. whose license for tour operator's or tourist agent's activity has not been withdrawn during the last 12 months. One of the noteworthy provisions existing in the above-mentioned application requirements is the recommendation by a nationally represented tourist association, which is a proof of reliability and reputation of the applicant within the relevant business media. Furthermore, the Law provides that if the person applying for license does not present the recommendation, the licensing body shall require it ex- officio. If the tourist association does not issue the recommendation within 14 days from requesting it, the documents filled by the person shall be considered valid. The law also provides that the persons holding license for tour operator's activity can carry out tourist agent's activity without an individual license if they meet the aforementioned requirements. Thus, the Bulgarian law provides basic requirements, which in fact are not so strict, but however enable to excise a certain level of state supervision over the entities involved in providing tourist activities. This model in fact enables the state to have certain supervision over those entities particularly from the point of consumer right protection, in the meantime not creating any ground for unfair competition amongst the existing tour operators (agents).

117 See Law on Travel Related Activities of Croatia of 1996 (available at http://www.croatia- travel.org/press_legal.php) 118 See the Polish government program of tourism development support in the years 2001 – 2006 , adopted by the Council of Ministers on 24.04.2001, Para 2.7 58 Another example is the Estonian approach to the subject issues. Though, under the Estonian law it is not called a licensing of tour operators’ (agents’) activities, but an undertaking may operate as a travel undertaking only upon the existence of a registration in the register of economic activities and a sufficient security provided (Article 8 of the Estonian Tourism Act). A travel undertaking shall submit a registration application to the register, which should set out at least the following information: 1. the name, registry code, address and other details of the travel undertaking; 2. the address of the place of business or addresses of places of business and other contact details; 3. the area of activity or areas of activity of the travel services provider 4. the amount and term of validity of the security provided and the name, registry code, address and other details of the undertaking which issued the document certifying the existence of the security; 5. the name, official title and details of the person who signed the registration application (Article 10 of Estonian Tourism Act) Thus in Estonia the procedure of registering the travel undertaking is more like the procedure and requirements for registration of business entities in the register of economic activities, there are no requirements to education and experience of managerial staff. The only differing condition is the special requirement to providing security of funds.

Registration procedure is provided also Under Article 6 of Lithuanian Law on Tourism, which states the following: “An enterprise wishing to supply travel organising services, shall be entered in the register of tourist services, it shall be issued a certificate, provided the following requirements are satisfied: 1) Enterprise (branch or subdivision) shall have business premises, equipped according to requirements of work place hygienic assessment; 2) enterprise (branch, subdivision) head of administration has university or college- level education in the tourism sphere and two-year work experience in the tourism sphere, or a university or college-level education and three-year work experience in management work in the tourist sphere; 3) Enterprise (branch or subdivision) head of administration has not been convicted or his conviction for criminal offences has expired; 4) Enterprise (branch or subdivision) shall have prepared a package of tourist services, if it shall express a desire to be included on the Register of Tourist Services as a tourist agency. Article 58 of the Law on Tourism of Serbia also provides that the activities concerning the organization of tourist journeys shall be carried out on the basis of the decision confirming the fulfillment of the conditions passed by the Minister (the license). Under Article 59 of the Law the license shall be issued to an enterprise: 1) Registered for performing the activities in question, 2) with at least one employee holding a junior college education in the area of tourism, economy or any other area of social sciences and at least one year of working experience in the area in question, 3) which is not undergoing receivership or liquidation, 4) which has insurance policy, 5) which has determined general conditions of the journey.

59 Thus, the mentioned examples make clear that states put a special emphasis to the professionalism of entities providing travel services and set certain educational or experience requirements for the latter. In addition, another widely acceptable practice is the existence of security of funds and insurance of public liability, to insure the liability of providers of travel services.

b. Financial guarantees and insurance

In many countries the state policy pays a very serious attention to financial guarantees for activities of travel undertakings, so that the travel undertakings are obliged to provide security bonds the beneficiaries of which are consumers. Financial guarantees are usually aimed at travel agents not tour operators. However, there are also examples of countries, provided below, where financial guarantees refer to both: travel agents and tour operators. The most common approach is that travel agnecies should deposit a substantial portion of each consumer's contract payment into a trust account, an/or should obtain errors and omissions insurance covering a variety of consumer claims, particularly, those involving physical injuries incurred during tours abroad. In some countries there are also state-administered consumer restitution funds, where the travel agencies make certain payments. In many states of United States in order to protect consumers against loss of pre-paid funds due to this practice, a substantial portion of the consumer's payment should be deposited in a trust account. Most states which require trust accounts agree that 90% of all sums received for consumer travel should be placed in an escrow account. In Hawaii, Illinois and Oregon, for instance, the travel promoter may withdraw the money from the account only to pay the suppliers of the services purchased by the consumer or to make refunds. In some other states, like California, Virginia, Washington, the travel undertakings are required to deposit 100% of all sums received for travel services in a trust account.119 In Japan a registered travel agency shall either deposit a Business Guarantee Bond or join a Travel Agents Association and pay their due part of the Compensation Security Bond to the Association. The amount of the Business Guarantee Bond shall be fixed according to each type of travel agency and their annual turnover with travelers. The amount of their due part of the Compensation Security Bond is one fifth of the amount of the Business Guaranty Bond. In Finland travel agencies must be financially stable and "present a guarantee...whose amount will be determined depending on the type, extent and financial status of the business...The guarantor must accept liability for the compensation obligations which the travel agency may have towards its clients for the tours and travel services organized..." In France travel agencies must obtain a guarantee to cover the "obligations of the travel agent to its customers, to bring them back to their point of departure and to be able to refund the monies held on their behalf. The minimum guarantee is 5% of the agent's turnover, or X amount of EUROs120. In addition, travel agencies must have insurance to cover their worldwide liability to customers, other professionals and third , for substantial or nominal damages.

119 An analysis of exiting practices of safety funds can be found in the Article by Judge Thomas A. Dickerson of May 15, 2000, Op. cit. 120 The exact amount in EURO is not available 60 In Greece travel agencies must deposit with the licensing authority the sum of about 300,000 in former Drs to cover among other things claims of third parties deriving from debts and transactions of a tourist character. In Luxembourg the travel agent must provide evidence of sufficient financial guarantee to ensure the reimbursement to the client of monies received for the services in the case of bankruptcy. The financial guarantee must include repatriation expenses. The Law of 1994 also provides for mandatory insurance for travel agents.

As already mentioned in a number of countries financial guarantees concern both travel agents and tour operators. Thus, in Ireland tour operator is required to furnish a bond equivalent to 10% of the operator's annual licensable turnover, and an agent is required to furnish a bond equivalent to 4% of the agent's annual licensable turnover. In addition, a Travelers’ Protection Fund protects consumers from agencies whose licenses have been revoked. In Spain the financial guaranty is set in the form of establishment of minimum capital (increasing accordingly from retail to wholesale and wholesale-retail agency respectively. At the same time it is provided that the travel agencies must obtain insurance and provide a guarantee, which cover liabilities that could be incurred by a travel agency when rendering services to the final user or consumer. Denmark has a consumer restitution fund known as the “Travel Guarantee Foundation Act” which is funded by travel agencies/tour operators in a certain X amount of EURO for each agency or operator. In Netherlands tour operators and travel agents who are members of a trade association, ANVR Federation, are required to post security to guarantee the performance of their obligations. Travel agents must post a certain X amount and tour operators must post a higher amount. In addition, the government administers The Travel Fare Guarantee Fund Foundation, the object of which is to refund consumers should they suffer financial loss, or to repatriate them in cases where the tour operator, travel agent, carrier or supplier of accommodation fails to perform due to financial incapacity. In Portugal travel agencies are bound to post a bond and to obtain civil liability insurance. It is obligatory to insure: a) the reimbursement of the amount received from clients, b) the reimbursement of extra expenses incurred by the clients due to services that were not provide, c) the recovery of damages caused to clients, (d) repatriation and assistance to clients. The bond must be 5% of the annual turnover of the agency, but it can not be less than a certain X amount in EURO nor higher than Y amount in EURO. In Croatia the travel agency must provide all services to each and every client who has paid for the holiday, or compensate for the costs incurred in case the services were not provided due to the agency bankruptcy. For that purpose the tour operator is obliged to provide a guarantee in the form of insurance policy, cash deposit or bank guarantee for every package holiday. In Estonia the requirement for providing a security for financial resources in case of insolvency of a travel undertaking is one of the mandatory conditions for applying to registration (Article 10. part 2 (5) of Estonian Tourism Act). Under the Estonian Law security is deemed to be the obligation, assumed by an insurance company or credit institution to guarantee, in the case of insolvency of a travel undertaking, the existence of financial resources for: 1) return of the travellers to the place of departure, if the package contract includes passenger service;

61 2) accommodation services provided to the traveller during the return of the travellers to the place of departure, if the package contract includes accommodation service; 3) return of the price of the package to the consumer upon cancellation of the package or payment of compensation for a part of the package which is cancelled. The use of security is decided upon by the Consumer Protection Board (Article 15 of Estonian Tourism Act). Estonian Law provides also an interesting example for calculation of the amount of security. Under Article 15 of the Law the size of security is calculated depending on the total annual sales121 of packages planned by a travel undertaking and the area of activity of the travel undertaking in the following manner: 1) 1 % of the total sales of packages but not less than X amount for offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided in Estonia; 2) 3 % of the total sales of packages but not less than Y amount for organising, offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided outside of Estonia and charter flights; 3) 1 % of the total sales of packages but not less than X amount s for organising, offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided outside of Estonia, except for charter flights, or offer for sale and sale of packages organised by foreign tour operators; 4) 1 % of the total sales of packages but not less than X amount for offer for sale and sale of packages organised by other travel undertakings which include travel services provided outside of Estonia; In Estonia security is not required for offer for sale and sale, outside of Estonia, of packages which include travel services provided in Estonia and offer for sale and sale of individual travel services. At the same time if a travel undertaking operates in several areas of activity, the minimum amount of security shall be the minimum amount prescribed for the area of activity for which the largest amount is prescribed. Moreover the Estonian Law provides that the size of a security shall be immediately increased if, during the time validity of the security, the actual total sales of packages exceeds the planned amount based on which the security was determined. It should be also mentioned that the travel undertakings must submit to the Consumer Protection Board of Estonia on a quarterly basis (by the 20th date after the end of financial quarter) a report on the sale of packages, and the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications shall establish the standard format for such reports. In Serbia one of the basic conditions for receiving a license to exercise activities of tourism provided by Article 59 of the Law is that the undertaking has: i. an insurance policy for each tourist journey, or ii. an insurance policy to the lowest amount of 30,000 EUR (the organizer of the journeys in the country and abroad), that is, to the lowest amount of 5,000 EUR (the organizer of the journeys in the country), or iii. available means in the amount of 30,000 EUR (the Organizer of the Journeys in the country and abroad), that is, 5,000 EUR (the Organizer of the Journeys in the country), which means shall be kept on a separate CSD or foreign currency account, or

121 The calculation based on the total amount of sales is acceptable approach also in the majority of above- mentioned other countries. 62 iv. a bank guarantee to the amount of 30,000 EUR (the Organizer of the Journey in the country and abroad), that is, to the amount of 5,000 EUR (the Organizer of the Journey in the country). At the same time, for instance Lithuanian Law on Tourism Services does not contain a provision about the security as a precondition for running travel undertaking activities.

c. Registry of Travel Undertakings and Registry Number

In most countries where there exists the practice of registration of travel undertakings, a registration number is being issued. That must be displayed in their offices and on advertising and promotional materials. In Croatia under the Law on Travel Related Activities and its special regulations, all travel agencies have to display their identification code. The agency is free to choose its activities to be included in the ID code and after that, in its operations it has to abide by the regulations related to operation for which is registered. The same ID code applies both to the head office and all branch offices. The ID code consists of a combination of groups of letters and numbers divided by dashes. The first part for all travel agencies codes is the same and consists of letters "HR" for Croatia. The second part consists of one or two capital letters denoting the travel agencies activities: − "A" stands for tour operators only, − "B" stands for retailers only, − "C" for retail agencies providing tourist service or tourist information only, − AB stands for travel agencies providing services of both tour operator and retailer. The third part of the ID code consists of two numbers denoting one of the 20 counties or the City of Zagreb where the head office is registered, and the forth group of numbers contains the identification number (MBS) assigned to the travel agency at its registration.

Under Article 62 of the Law on Tourism of Serbia the Ministry in charge for tourism shall keep a registry of agencies licensed. The registry of tourist agencies shall keep the record of: 1) name of the enterprise the license has been issued to, 2) seat and the address of the enterprise, 3) list and addresses of all branch offices, 4) name of the insurance company and the insurance policy umber, or the name of the bank and the number of the bank guarantee, that is, the number of the account where the safety funds prescribed by the Law are kept, 5) number and the date of the act on the fulfillment of the conditions for the performance of activities related to tourist journeys, 6) license number. Moreover, the Agency shall be obliged to report to the Ministry any change of the above-mentioned data at the latest within 15 days from the date of the change.

An interesting approach exists also in Lithuania, where in order to have a complex idea of all the entities involved in tourism business there exist a State Register on Tourist Services drafted by the Government, which is a collection of data and documents, in which information regarding tourism services supplied by natural and legal persons is registered and accumulated (Article 30 of Law on Tourism of Lithuania).

63 Similar practice exists also in Bulgaria, where the Law on Tourism states that the National Tourist Register in the Ministry of Economy contains information for: 1. the licensed tour operators and tourist agents; 2. the persons keeping hotels and restaurants; 3. categorized places of shelter, places of accommodation, food and entertainment establishments and the persons carrying out hotel and restaurant keeping activity in them; 4. tourist associations; 5. tourist information centers or bureau (Article 58 of the Law on Tourism Bulgaria).

Conclusions

Examination of foreign experience in regulation of activities of tourism undertakings both in US and European countries (including post-soviet ones), bring to the following conclusions: 1. The requirements for licensing or registration in general do not vary greatly country by country. 2. Registration procedure is more common for the countries where there is a special register on tourism activities (like Estonia, Lithuania) and the registration procedure and requirements are quite similar to the ones existing for registering the entities in the register of general economic activities, 3. Countries provide certain exceptions from the licensing rules depending on the type of activity of the travel undertaking (inbound or outbound), as well as on total amount of sales. 4. The majority of countries underline professional qualifications and competence of the manager of travel undertaking, establishing either a requirement to hold an educational degree and/or certain managerial experience in the field of tourism activities, or any other experience on general managerial level. In most of the countries the existence of special knowledge in the filed of tourism is checked through examinations, 5. Countries pay special importance to the safety funds for reimbursement of possible damages to the consumers caused by the travel undertaking. The forms of guarantying the financial safety of travel undertaking may be different and even optional, however in the majority of countries the amount of payable sum for that reason depends on the type of activity and annual turnover of the travel undertaking. In some countries the maximum and minimum amounts of the safety bonds are established by law, 6. The amount of safety funds differs for inbound and outbound tourism activities, thus requiring additional fund in case of providing outbound tourism activities. 7. In the countries where there is a distinction between the tour operators and tour agents the amount of provided security differs for tour operators and tour agents, thus generally being higher for tour operators. 8. A key role in and distributing security funds in majority of countries have the professional associations, unions, as well as consumer protection boards or traveler protection funds, which are either government-administered funds or administered by NGOs of the field.

64 3.3 GAP ANALISYS AND RECCOMENDATIONS FOR SECTOR REGULATION IN RA

1. It is advisable to redraft provisions defining the terms ‘tour operator’ and ‘tour agents’ provided in the Article 2 of the RA Law on Tourism, in the view of provided examples form other countries, so as to eliminate the uncertainty and confusion that the existing definitions may cause. At the same time, it can be considered to clarify the scope of activities of travel agents in the view of the definition existing in the Bulgarian Law on Tourism, according to which ‘Tourist agent's activity’ is the fulfillment of mediation in: sales of organized trips, passenger aviation, water and bus transportation; reservation, visa, guiding and other additional tourist services, as well as insurance related to the tourist trip.’

2. In order to make the categorization, further registration and identification of type of activities of travel undertakings easy the Law on Tourism of RA should define the areas of activity of undertakings. In fact, travel undertakings generally specialize themselves and, for instance, not all of them are involved in both inbound and outbound tourism activities, etc. Thus the following areas of activities may be defined by law: a) offer for sale and sale, outside of Armenia, of packages which include travel services provided in Armenia, b) offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided in Armenia, c) organising, offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided outside of Armenia and charter flights, d) organising, offer for sale and sale of packages which include travel services provided outside of Armenia, except for charter flights, or offer for sale and sale of packages organised by foreign tour operators; e) offer for sale and sale of packages organised by other travel undertakings which include travel services provided outside of Armenia, f) offer for sale and sale of individual travel services.122 The undertakings may operate in one or several of the mentioned areas at their choice.

3. In order to have the complex idea on operating tourism undertakings and be able to efficiently promote state policy on tourism development in RA it is advisable to establish a State Register on Tourism Services in the view of examples provided in section 3.2 (c). This will make the categorization of travel undertakings and making their identification easier. It will be a database of licensed travel undertakings in RA and will contain practical information of the type of their activities, etc, thus making the contact and cooperation between them and authorized state body more effective and quick.

4. Development of licensing procedure for travel undertakings in RA The increase of the entities providing tour operator’s (tour agent’s) activities in Armenian and especially the further extension of the scope of their outbound tourism activities lights a signal for the state to pay necessary attention on the regulation of

122 Such a categorization may be helpful also for entering the Travel undertakings in the State register of tourism activities. 65 the field. Moreover, the sector representatives themselves also underline the need of certain level of state interference/”soft control” over their activities. Thus, the analysis of the experience of various countries allows making certain proposals in further regulation of travel undertaking’s activities in RA. Bering in mind the absence of any licensing procedure for travel undertakings and relatively liberal regulation in the sector in RA, the possible consequent reforms should be introduced gradually in order not to jeopardize the sector with innovations, excessive state interference or tough regulatory framework. On the other hand implementation of certain requirements may be considered impossible, unreasonable or untimely at the current stage. That is why, the development of licensing schemes in RA and establishment of certain requirements to the activities of travel undertakings should be exercised in a number of stages, in the very first stage not being very limiting for travel undertakings’ access to market, but basically enabling the state to keep the record of these undertakings and to guarantee a certain level of reliability of their activities and services provided. 123 Thus, the process of implementation of licensing schemes, in particular, can assume the following basic steps.

a) NGO sector capacity building 1. First of all, it should be mentioned that for the sector development a serious word have to say and input could have the professional unions, NGOs of the field. Their active participation and decent representation of the interests and opinion of the players of the field can make a significant contribution to the industry in whole. Strong NGO sector is a serious balance to the government policy, as well as a good partner in carrying out the reforms necessary for development of the industry. That is why, one should emphasize the need in undertaking certain measures directed to the capacity building of the existing NGOs which unite travel undertakings, and strengthening their role in self-regulation of the industry. Development of NGO sector capacity is much dependent on changing the mentality and attitude towards professional unions. Lobbying within travel undertakings that strong professional union is a serous guarantee of their voice to be heard and their interests dually represented is very important for the sector development. Explanatory work should be done in order to show that joint efforts of the actors of the field will enable to overcome many problems of the industry and find joint solutions in various issues which will seem impossible or difficult to carry out with separate (independent form each other) actions. Joint activities will contribute to the better marketing and representation of Armenia as tourism location and sector interests in international exhibitions, conferences, forums.124 Moreover, existence of strong association/or associations uniting the majority of actors in the field will also promote the self-regulation and self-overcoming of the problems of the sector, eliminating even the necessity of state interference in the licensing and control of the sector in a longer-run. This is an important trend in the contemporary democracies going in accordance with the principles of civil society. Existence of respectable and recognized professional union will enhance the credibility and reliability of travel undertakings, members of that union and why not,

123 Below are provided two main stages, but such a division is too conditional, and aims only to underlain the priorities. 124 Thus, during the field research often raised question was that only separate measures by individual travel undertakings are initiated to represent and advertise Armenia as beneficial tourism forum, which is inefficient and expensive for the business. 66 have been licensed/certified/accredited by the professional union. Moreover, the union may establish also rules of conduct and other limitations, as well as guarantees in order to promote civilized business relations and cooperation in the field, enhance the reliability of the travel undertakings in business, establish and promote relations with foreign partners and similar international unions and networks, represent and conduct marketing in the interests of the field. b) Establishing licensing procedure 1. As already mentioned above licensing schemes either on the state level or by a professional union is an acceptable practice in many countries. It is noteworthy, that in majority of the countries examined above, licensing of travel undertakings is exercised by a state body.125 However, the modern trend is directed to the strengthening of NGO sector and transferring many state functions to the self-regulation of the industry. 2. Thus, further reform should be carried out with wide involvement of professional associations of the sector and their participation in evaluation process of applications for licensing. This will enable to take into account their interests in order not to paralyze their activities while implementing licensing schemes. 3. The other essential factor for successful outcome of reforms, is making them planned and foreseen for the stakeholders of the industry. 4. Gradual implementation of licensing schemes may be initiated with launching certain pilot “accreditation/quality assurance” projects within professional union of travel undertakings to examine how the process will work in practice and reveal the major problems arising. 5. At the initial stage the licensing should be exercised through establishment of basic requirements for their activities and a mechanism to collect data about all the entities involved in tourism activities in Armenia. However, state supervision and interference in these activities should be limited only to the extent necessary for protection of rights and interest of consumers. Establishment of licensing procedure will enable to keep the records of existing travel undertakings in RA and establish minimal requirements for their activities thus guaranteeing the reliability of the travel undertakings and protection of consumer rights. 6. As an alternative, for the initial phase, licensing requirement may be provided only for travel undertakings exercising business activities in outbound tourism, as it is more vulnerable type of activity from the point of protection of the RA consumer rights. 7. Another kind of possible exception is that travel undertaking will not be required to obtain a license if its annual total sales do not exceed certain amount so far as the arranged travel is inbound. 8. The law may also provide that the persons holding license for tour operator's activity can carry out tourist agent's activity without an individual license.

c) Criteria for licensing

125 Moreover, the efficiency of licensing by authorized state body has been underlined by respondents during the field research in RA. Probably the major cause for this is the absence of a strong NGO in the field. 67 ƒ Professionalism 1. During the field research the field representatives particularly mentioned two main criteria that should be emphasized for licensing during the first stage: educational or relevant work experience requirements.126 Upon the examination of foreign experience and consideration of Armenian reality the following alternatives are proposed for establishment of basic level of professionalism of travel undertakings: − the manager of the travel undertaking must be an experienced professional having either three years experience at managerial level, or a university or college-level education in tourism and two years experience in tourism, or − the manager has a university or college-level education in the tourism sphere and two-year work experience in the tourism sphere, or a university or college-level education and three-year work experience in management work in the tourist sphere, or − at least one employee (or one of three employees) in the undertaking has a junior college education in the area of tourism, economy or any other area of social sciences and at least one year of working experience in the area in question, or − be a graduate of a school for secondary education and have at least seven years working experience in a travel office, airline, or shipping company in departments dealing mainly or directly with tourism and travel activities. The proposed regulations provide more opportunities for the ones who don’t have a university or college-level education in the field of tourism, however have been engaged for a while in tourism in RA to preserve their business and get a license. Especially bearing in mind the Armenian reality and the fact that the majority of managers involved in tourism business in Armenia lack a professional education, at the first stage it will be unreasonable to be very tough on educational requirements. Thus in this stage more stress should be put on the experience in the field of tourism, rather than the education in tourism. 2. However, as a further going policy, it may be envisaged the possibility of providing more strict requirements for professionalism of the managers of travel undertakings. In addition certain language requirements can also be set, such as that: “Besides the official language, to have a good knowledge of at least one foreign language of those prevailing in the tourism industry”. 3. In the current stage, as a part of a general policy, there should also be considered measures to improve the quality of education in tourism, develop and offer certain training programs for the practitioners in the field, who already have significant experience, to enhance their professionalism. Here, joint efforts of both RA government and existing NGO’s of the field are important. ƒ Other requirements While elaborating the licensing criteria a number of other requirements may be considered based on the approaches existing internationally. Thus, for issuing lincense for tour operator's or tourist agent's activity there may be considered also the following: 1) the applicant is an entrepreneur in the context of the RA legislation or who is a corporate body having the right, by virtue of law, to carry out economic activity,

126 See Annex 2, Chart 37 to the Report. 68 2) the manager of the undertaking has not been convicted or his conviction for criminal offences has expired, 3) the undertaking (branch or subdivision) shall have business premises, equipped according to requirements of work place hygienic assessment, 4) the applicant is not under proceedings for liquidation or bankruptcy, 5) the applicant has not carried out tour operator's or tourist agent's activity without a license during the last 12 months; 6) whose license for tour operator's or tourist agent's activity has not been withdrawn during the last 12 months, 7) shall have prepared a package of tourist services (or determined general conditions for the tourism packages to be provided). ƒ Financial grantees and insurance 1. The examination of foreign practices makes clear that the other basic condition much emphasized by states for licensing the travel activities is the existence of financial guarantees on behalf of travel undertakings. They are used for the return to the passenger of the difference between the contracted price of the journey and the price of the journey reduced in proportion to the amount of services contained in the program of the journey but not rendered, or incompletely rendered, and for the costs of the passengers' return trip in the case of the receivership or temporary insolvency of the organizer of the travel. 2. Providing a requirement for such funds is also important for reliable travel business environment in RA. However, examination of practice in RA shows that implementation of financial safety requirements for travel undertakings in the current stage may be too untimely, bearing in mind lack of “financially strong” enough companies, still relatively low level of tourism and profitability of the business and it may have distorting influence on the industry. Envisaging these possible difficulties, introduction of financial guarantees is considered to be though important but advisable to implement only in the subsequent later stages of reforms. Safety funds generally may take the form of insurance policy, the bank guarantee, trust accounts, consumer restitution funds (administered either by government or professional unions), financial deposit etc. Another mechanism for this purpose is also establishment of a requirement to the minimum capital of the travel undertaking. It’s worth to mention that financial guarantees and safety of funds are more appropriate for outbound travel, when liability insurance considered more important for inbound operators. However, bearing in mind the absence of a relevant practice in RA, it is advisable to provide alternatives to travel undertakings in choosing the form of required safety. 3. Regarding the way of calculation of the amount of safety to be provided, the examination of existing examples enable to come up with following options: ƒ The provided security either in the form of insurance policy, bank guarantee, financial deposit etc, shall be in a fixed amount, differing for undertakings engaged in inbound and outbound travel activity, or ƒ Travel undertaking must have an insurance policy for each tourist journey, or ƒ Calculation of the amount of security shall be done depending on the total annual sales of packages planned by a travel undertaking and the area of activity of the travel undertaking. At the same time there can be also fixed

69 minimum and maximum amounts of security bonds to be provided. While implementing this way of calculation of the amount of security bonds, there should be established a mechanism of reporting on the sale of packages after the end of each financial quarter or other. Moreover, the size of a security shall be immediately increased if, during the time validity of the security, the actual total sales of packages exceeds the planned amount based on which the security was determined. It should be also envisaged that if a travel undertaking operates in several areas of activity, the minimum amount of security shall be the minimum amount prescribed for the area of activity for which the largest amount is prescribed. ƒ As an exception from the general rule of providing security, the security may be not required for sale outside of Armenia of packages which include travel services provided in Armenia and sale of individual travel services. ƒ Another efficient and reliable mechanism for financial security is the ‘traveler protection funds’ accumulated by the travel undertakings. In some countries like Netherlands these funds are administered by Governments bodies, in others’ by the professional associations, unions, customer protection boards. In the initial step these funds may be government administered, but in course of further development and strengthening of relevant unions of travel undertakings these funds may be administered by the latter.

4. An important question in the regulation of issues providing security funds is also the distribution of these funds in the way which will not cause additional troubles for the travel undertakings and involve them into frequent judicial procedures. Such fear has been expressed also by the representatives of the field. Thus, further regulations should provide for a detailed procedure of consideration of disputes arising from the activities of the travel undertaking, and the funds should be released to the damaged party only after decent consideration of the case and settlement of the dispute.

a. Terms of the license

In foreign practice the license issued to the travel undertakings is ether for a certain period of time, subject to consequent renewal after the expiration of its terms, or is termless. However, consideration of the terms of the license is much dependent on the criteria under which the travel undertakings are to be licensed. Having in mind the proposed criteria, it seems to be unreasonable to provide certain time periods for the travel undertakings’ license in RA.

Conclusion

Examination of existing practice of regulation of activities of travel undertakings in various countries show that though there is no uniform approach to the issues of licensing of their activities, however, to insure the quality and reliability of their activities in RA, it is advisable to establish a certain “soft control", which in the transition period should be exercised in close collaboration with industry players. Such interference should not be limiting and the criteria for licensing/accreditation should not imply artificial limitations for access to the market for new travel undertakings, as well as create invincible obstacles for the ones who are already in business for years and have serious experience in the industry, thus stimulating “unfair” competition amongst the existing tour operators (agents).

70 In fact, in general, it should be underlined that the elaboration and implementation of licensing schemes in RA should be done hand in hand with the existing travel undertakings and their unions, the ones who have a word and certain input in the industry. The introduction of licensing procedure should be done gradually, in a non distorting way for the industry. At the same time while elaborating licensing scheme for travel undertakings in RA one should bear in mind also the fact that the costs of licensing should not be quite high, as these costs will undoubtedly pass on consumers.

71 PART II: ACCESS TO AND MAINTENANCE OF TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES

1. EQUAL ACCESS TO CULTURAL SITES FOR NATIONALS AND FOREIGNERS

Summary This Paragraph addresses the legal regime and equal opportunities for access to cultural sites and monuments by nationals and foreigners. Based on the analysis of RA relevant legislation in the field and existing international standards and recommendation, as well as study of foreign experience, the section examines two main issues: - legally guaranteed equal right to have an access to cultural sites, and - real opportunities of visiting cultural sites, including the issue of fees, which are not equal for different groups of visitors.

a. Existing legal framework in RA

Development of tourism industry is dependent also on the relevant opportunities for tourists’ access to the cultural values of the hosting country. Under Article 6 of the Law “On Fundamentals of Cultural Legislation” the definition of cultural values is broad and includes, among others, objects of cultural heritage, i.e. historical-cultural monuments.127 According to Article 7 of the above- mentioned law, the scope of regulation of the law embraces also the issues of preservation, study, use and promotion of objects of cultural heritage. The law does not provide for any specific regulations in the field, although several provisions of the law create necessary basis for further development of legislation in the field. The basis for equal treatment in the field of access to objects of cultural heritage is provided in Article 40 of the Constitution of RA. In accordance with the provision of this article, the right to participate in the cultural life of the society is provided for everyone, which means that there can be no differentiation for foreign citizens or people without citizenship, on one side, and citizens of Armenia, on the other side, also on the level of legislation. Following the Constitution, Article 11 of the Law “On Fundamentals of Cultural Legislation” reiterates the same principle: everyone has the right to interact with cultural values in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Republic of Armenia. Accordingly, Article 15 of the law provides for equal rights and obligations in the field of culture for citizens of Armenia and foreign citizens or people without citizenship, except for the cases provided by law or international treaty. In the field of access to tourism sites and facilities, no such exceptions are provided by law. Article 40 of the Law entitles everyone to take part in cultural life of the society. Thus, one can state that on the legislative level the access to cultural values in RA is guaranteed equally principles both to RA citizens and foreign visitors. b. Existing practice Still there are countries, where different fees for locals and foreigners are charged in some museums (Honduras, , , Turkmenistan, Russia,

127 Adopted by the National Assembly on November 20, 2002, Part 1, para 3 72 etc). While such practice has been abandoned in many European countries, developing countries still need analogical mechanisms to benefit economically from tourism activities and ensure equality between foreign and local visitors of the cultural sites, taking into consideration difference in costliness of the fee for the aforementioned groups. With this respect, Armenia is a step ahead. Inquiries made in a number of leading museums demonstrated, that the same entrance fee is being charged from local and foreign visitors128. Another related issue worth mentioning is the system of discounts, introduced in the places of interest. Several laws touch upon the issue of necessity of introduction of privileged use of cultural sites by certain groups. Thus, the Law on Social Protection of the Disabled mentions that access to cultural institutions for the disabled should be on concessionary terms, approved by the GOA (Article 26). Under the Law on Fundamentals of Cultural Legislation (Article 21) GOA is to establish concessionary terms of use of services provided by cultural organizations for children, pupils, students, disabled people, etc. In fact, there are no such regulations by GOA in existence, but most of the museums and cultural sites of Armenia have introduced favorable terms and a system of discounts for different groups.129 Taking into account the practice and low fees there is no urgent need for any legislative amendments in this regard. However, the problem is that visitors are often not aware of the discounts and other favorable terms of service in a certain institution. In order to make this information available, it is advisable for the authorized state body to order placement of the information about fees, discounts and other relevant terms in a visible place at the entrance of cultural site.

2. MAINTENANCE OF CULTURAL SITES

Summary This section refers to the right of property and obligation to maintain and preserve cultural sites. The main idea outlined in the section is the importance of considering lease or concession of historical and cultural monuments as an effective tool of preservation of the monuments, on one hand, and their development as objects of tourism, on the other hand.

In the view of existing Armenian legislation, immovable historical and cultural monuments (archeological, architectural, historical, monumental art) can be divided into three groups. The state lists of these monuments for each region (marz) are approved by the GOA. 1. Historical and cultural monuments that are the property of the state and are not subject to alienation: The issues of use of such monuments are regulated under the Law on Historical and Cultural Monuments of State Ownership not Subject to Alienation130. According to the law, monuments of historical and cultural value, including but not limited to churches, cross-stones, fortresses, tombs, either ancient or medieval, as well as buildings of museums, archives, historical compositions, historical and cultural reserves and contents of the buildings of Common Era and later are considered to be unalienable property of the state and can be used only for historical and cultural, scientific or cognitive purposes, including tourism.

128 See Annex 2, Chart 47 129 See Annex 2, Chart 48 130 Adopted by the National Assembly on April 11, 2003 73 2. Historical and cultural monuments, which are property of the state and can be alienated, and 3. Historical and cultural monuments, which are the property of local self-government bodies, natural persons or legal entities: The Law on Preservation and Use of Immovable Historical and Cultural Monuments and Historical Environment131 regulates the right of the owner to lease the historical and cultural monument. The tenant also has the right to enter into sublease agreement if provided by the initial contract. The lease contract contains specific provisions on preservation and maintenance of the monument. Ancient and medieval monuments can be used only for cultural, cognitive, scientific purposes. Other monuments can be used for any purpose not inconsistent with cultural significance of the monument and the purpose of its preservation. The whole process of alienation of monuments, except for state owned unalienable ones, is carried out by or under the control of the Agency of Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs. In case of alienation the new owner still has the obligation to preserve the monument and undertake actions132 for its due maintenance. The accessibility of historical and cultural monuments for tourism has been considered as an important direction of GOA policy since 1999, when the GOA emphasized the necessity to use tourism as a tool of preservation of historical and cultural monuments, by placing signs, advertising and popularizing the monuments, publishing booklets and other materials, containing information which would attract the tourists. This would lead first, to implication of cost based approach and self- financing, and then, to profitability133. However, practical steps towards realization of these points have still been insufficient. In terms of existence of legal basis and political will, one of the main obstacles is the lack of financial resources. One of the ways to overcome this obstacle is the attraction of financial resources from private sector representatives, at the same time providing them with an opportunity to benefit from the monument. In principle, the existing legislation on historical and cultural monuments provides for the opportunity for the state to either alienate or lease these monuments to private entities. At the same time, there are no legal regime differences for leasers and other users. It would be advisable if the authorized state body outlined the list of historical and cultural monuments with tourist attracting potential, which would be then leased to entities, chosen as a result of an auction or handed in on a concession. Mechanisms for lease, concession, administration of historical buildings exist in Romania. Lease is considered as financial resource for preservation of historical and cultural monuments also in Latvia.134 In both cases, the owner should draft model contracts and introduce terms, necessary for the leaser to develop maintenance strategy and plan tourism activities in the territory of the monument.

131 Adopted by the National Assembly on November 11, 1998 132 The obligations are regulated under Article 36 of the Law on Preservation and Use of Immovable Historical and Cultural Monuments and Historical Environment. Under the aforementioned article, the owner has to sign a pledge of preservation, inform the authorized state body on any change in right of property, lease or use, ensure the accessibility of the monument for research, examination and audit and undertake other measures for due maintenance and preservation. 133 Protocol of GoA meeting of 28 January 1999 134 Law of Latvia on Protection of Cultural Monuments, February 12, 1992 74 Apparently, long-term lease and concession require larger participation of controlling state body in the process. In order to secure the monuments it would be advisable to enrich the law with additional mechanisms of control, such as preliminary approval of plans for restoration and maintenance of the monument by the authorized state body, as well as permitting modernization of monument or some parts of it only upon schemes, prepared by licensed specialists, who are on the list of the authorized state body. Such mechanisms are provided, for instance, in Czech legislation.135

3. DISABLED ACCESS AND FACILITIES, BUILDING REGULATIONS AND DESIGN

Summary This section focuses on the accessibility of tourism facilities and sites for the disabled. It consists of the following main parts: - main trends in legal regulation of accessibility - analysis of international and European legal standards in the field - analysis of existing Armenian legislation - major problems and gaps - recommended solutions It should be stated, that legislation on the accessibility for the disabled is relatively new, and there is hardly much practice on its implementation. In spite of legal regulations, public places and consequently places of interest for tourists, as well as facilities such as hotels, food and trade items and places for rest and leisure are still not sufficiently adjusted to the needs of disabled. Results of the study demonstrate that main problems with accessibility for the disabled in Armenia are the lack of professional education for designers, builders and other staff on accessibility for the disabled, which results in improper understanding and application of the universal design principle. Also, few measures are taken in order to increase insufficient level of implementation of legal regulations and state control with this respect should be improved. Recommendations underscore the necessity of active participation of municipal authorities in promotion and control over the observance of accessibility norms, introduction of disability awareness component into educational programs, training measures and accessibility of information on facilities with access for the disabled.

3.1. Existing legal regulations

The following main features can in brief describe the prevailing trend in international acts and domestic legislation: - There are no specific regulations, concerning the rights of disabled people in the view of their tourism activities. Therefore, there is a unified approach towards the accessibility of public buildings, sites of recreation and culture for tourists and population of the certain country. - Most of the international regulations concerning the disabled access are of recommendation force and tend to gain customary significance, rising with the number of states, which implement those into their national legislation - The impact of similar regulations varies to some amplitude from country to country, largely depending on legal culture and non-legislation factors.

135 Act of the Czech National Council No. 20 of March 30, 1987, on the State Care of Monuments 75 International and European legal framework in the field:

Council of Europe documents 1. Recommendation No. R (92) 6 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on a Coherent Policy for People with Disabilities was adopted on 9 April 1992. Part VIII, Chapter 8 of the Appendix of the Recommendation in particular refers to social integration and environment of the disabled people in the field of leisure time and cultural activities. Under Para. 8.2. of the above mentioned chapter structural, technical, physical and attitudinal obstacles which limit the enjoyment of the above activities should be removed. In particular: - Access to cinemas, theatres, museums, art galleries, tourist venues and holiday centers should be improved - Awareness training for staff working in leisure and cultural centers should be made widely available - Cultural and leisure venues should be planned and equipped so that they are accessible and can be enjoyed by people with disabilities. Para. 8.3.of the same Chapter underlines that general guide books on leisure, tourism and culture should include all possible information on facilities available to people with disabilities, including transport, hotels, restaurants and facilities. They should indicate by accessibility symbols essential access facilities including toilets, facilities for people with sensory and learning difficulties, availability of assistance, etc. The symbols should follow international conventions, and the keys should be given in several languages. Such guides should be available in accessible forms, including Braille, large print and tape. Finally, the Recommendation stresses several examples of measures, which should be introduced in order to improve access and enjoyment of leisure, culture and tourism for specific groups of people with disabilities, which can, inter alia, include: - specific guidebooks for special categories of people with disabilities, describing particular facilities for people with learning difficulties or who are visually impaired; - encouragement of the use of audio-cassettes providing specific guides for visually impaired people; - provision of sign interpretation for cultural and leisure activities; - provision of audio-description in theatres and cinema for visually impaired people; - flexible arrangements for seating to enable visually and hearing impaired people to have access to suitable places in cultural performances; - provision of models, maps and relief plans for people with sensory and learning impairment. The Recommendation emphasizes that government institutions, leisure and cultural organizations should develop comprehensive access policies and action programs designed to bring significant and lasting improvements in access for all people with disabilities.

2. On 15 February 2001 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health Field) adopted Resolution on the Introduction of the Principles of Universal Design into the Curricula of all Occupations Working on the Built Environment (Res AP (2001) 1), which takes a pro-active approach by recommending the incorporation of universal design principles into the curricula of architects, engineers and town planners, and, by and large, into the training of all vocations working on the built environment. Recommendation calls the national governments for supporting realization of

76 principles of universal design both directly, when formulating national policy, and indirectly, taking such steps as they consider appropriate towards the application of the principles and measures contained in the appendix of the Recommendation in fields where these are not the direct responsibility of governments, but where public authorities have a certain power or play a role. The other key provision of the Recommendation is the promotion of training and educational measures by universities and other institutions. All these measures aim at improving accessibility - integrating people with disabilities into the community, contributing to the elimination of barriers to integration, whatever their nature, whether psychological, educational, family-related, cultural, social, professional, financial or architectural.

3. Recommendation 1592 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe towards Full Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities underscores the importance of further promotion and implementation of the right of disabled to social inclusion, which invites those member states which are not yet members (and the Republic of Armenia is one of these states), to consider acceding to the Council of Europe Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health Field and fully participate in the activities of the latter (Para. 11(iii) of the Recommendation).

4. Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society: improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015136, contains several provisions, which affect the access of disabled to tourism sites and facilities. Firstly, the measures taken should reflect the concept of “reasonable adjustment” especially in the context of access to older buildings or historic monuments (Section 3.2.1. para.3). Besides, the member states are to undertake specific actions to encourage institutions and relevant bodies dealing with culture, sports, leisure and tourism to undertake regular disability awareness training for their staff as a mainstream activity and to enable people with disabilities to enjoy access to culture, sports, tourism and leisure activities by, for example, encouraging providers to make their premises and services accessible through whatever means that are necessary (Section 3.2.3., paras. v. and vi.).

EU documents On 20 December 1996 the Council of EU and of the representatives of the governments of the member states meeting within the council adopted a resolution on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. The Resolution was based on the preceding Communication of the European Commission 96(406) of 30 July 1996. With respect to mobility and access of disabled the commission underlined that many public buildings are still inaccessible, and there still are many architectural and infrastructural barriers. “If we consider access in its broader sense we should also speak about tourism, leisure, and sports: access in fact should not be granted merely for working or studying purposes but in general to pursue every aspect of individual personality and to meet the normal requirements of everybody, such as traveling, practicing sports, having ”137.

136 Recommendation (2006)5 adopted on 5 April 2006 137 International Guidelines on Rights and Equal Opportunities for the Disabled Persons: http://www.disabilitaincifre.it/europa/e_europa.asp 77 UN documents 1. In 1994 General Assembly of the UN adopted Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.138 Although the Rules are not compulsory, they can become international customary rules when they are applied by a great number of States with the intention of respecting a rule in international law. The Rules offer an instrument for policy-making and action to persons with disabilities and their organizations. They provide a basis for technical and economic cooperation among States, the and other international organizations. The term "equalization of opportunities" means the process through which the various systems of society and the environment, such as services, activities, information and documentation, are made available to all, particularly to persons with disabilities. It is important mentioning that the main goal of the Rules is the provision of models for the political decision-making process required for the attainment of equal opportunities, bearing in mind the widely differing technical and economic levels, the fact that the process must reflect keen understanding of the cultural context within which it takes place and the crucial role of persons with disabilities in it. Therefore, setting a number of principles the Rules do not explicitly oblige the state to implement those in a concrete manner. Rules 1, 5,10 and 11 directly or indirectly touch upon the issue of disabled access. The key provisions, affecting the accessibility of tourism sites and information for the tourists are the following: - States should ensure that responsible authorities distribute up-to-date information on available programs and services to persons with disabilities, their families, professionals in the field and the general public. Information to persons with disabilities should be presented in accessible form. - States should initiate measures to remove the obstacles to participation in the physical environment. Such measures should be to develop standards and guidelines and to consider enacting legislation to ensure accessibility to various areas in society, such as housing, buildings, public transport services and other means of transportation, streets and other outdoor environments. - Accessibility requirements should be included in the design and construction of the physical environment from the beginning of the designing process. - States should develop strategies to make information services and documentation accessible for different groups of persons with disabilities. Braille, tape services, large print and other appropriate technologies should be used to provide access to written information and documentation for persons with visual impairments. Similarly, appropriate technologies should be used to provide access to spoken information for persons with auditory impairments or comprehension difficulties. - States should promote the accessibility to and availability of places for cultural performances and services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas and libraries, to persons with disabilities. - States should initiate measures to make places for recreation and sports, hotels, beaches, sports arenas, gym halls, etc., accessible to persons with disabilities. Such measures should encompass support for staff in recreation and sports programmes, including projects to develop methods of accessibility, and participation, information and training programmes. - Tourist authorities, travel agencies, hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities or travel opportunities should offer

138 Resolution 48/96 of March 4 , 1994 78 their services to all, taking into account the special needs of persons with disabilities. Suitable training should be provided to assist that process.

3.2 Armenian legislation on disabled access

In RA the rights of persons with disabilities are protected by a combination of special legislation and general legislation. Where general legislation applies to almost every aspect of disabled life, special legislation regulates aspects of medical care, education, employment, social protection and accessibility. Most of the above- mentioned aspects are of vital importance for the disabled residents of Armenia, while the last aspect, accessibility, is closely related to the scope of the research. The legal basis for disabled access, including the accessibility for disabled tourists, was unsatisfactory until 1993. Actually, there were no legal regulations that would serve as guidelines in the process of reappraisal of the “medical” approach to disabled people and recognition of the disabled people as members of the society, enjoying the same rights and opportunities for their realization, as all the other people. On 14 April 1993 the Supreme Council of RA adopted the Law on Social Protection of Disabled. Chapter 5 of the above mentioned law contains provisions on accessibility. In particular, the law regulates the obligation of state bodies and employers in RA to ensure favorable conditions for accessibility of social infrastructures, apartment houses, public buildings, production buildings and unimpeded access and use of public transport and means of transport, communication and information, places of leisure and recreation (Article 21). Article 22 prohibits design and construction of any building, if the latter is not adjusted to disabled use and accessibility. Other provisions of the law declare the obligation of adjustment of existing buildings (public and private) to the needs of disabled in the terms, approved by the GOA, as well as the responsibility of the authorized state bodies to take such measures as appropriate in order to satisfy the needs of disabled in case of impossibility to adjust certain objects (Article 23). The law also refers to the issue of accessibility of cultural sites. The only provision obliges the state and local self-government bodies to ensure the accessibility of objects of culture for disabled. Under Article 44 of the law, violation of the provisions of the law causes responsibility under the law. The law is in force, though a number of amendments have been made, none of those reflect principles laid down in UN Standard Rules. On 3 November 2005 the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the Strategy of Social Protection of the Disabled for 2006-2015. In the Introduction to the Strategy the Government expressed its commitment to the principles laid down in UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society: improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015 and pointed out that the provisions of the existing legislation on social protection of the disabled are not applied or improperly applied in practice because of insufficient certainty of mechanisms and lack of procedures of legal responsibility for violation of those. One of the main goals of the strategy is to ensure accessibility, equal rights and opportunities for the disabled in all the spheres of social life. Chapter 5 of the Strategy, namely «Ensuring accessibility for the disabled», outlines the current state, problems, the goal and the measures to be taken in the field of accessibility. Among the basic problems, the Government alludes to facts, that social infrastructure buildings are not adjusted to the needs of disabled, “which

79 prevents the latter from full-fledged participation in cultural life (including visits to cultural institutions)” – museums, theaters, concert halls, etc; there are no means of transport, accessible for disabled; disabled are not provided with equal opportunities. In other words, “though some issues of guarantees for equal opportunities are regulated by law, accessibility for disabled in every sphere of social life is not ensured” (Chapter 5, Problems, p. 1). The GOA also stresses some ways to achieve the goal – ensuring accessibility for disabled in every sphere of social life. Necessary directions include: - drafting and adoption of appropriate legislation, - preparation and adoption of building regulations in compliance with international norms and standards, - ensuring accessibility of means of transport (airports, railway stations, buses, electric transport) for the disabled, - guaranteeing accessibility of social infrastructure building which are in the stage of construction, - guaranteeing adjustment of already constructed social infrastructure buildings to the needs of the disabled by building ramps, - preparation of the list of institutions, which are prioritized to be rebuilt, taking into account their social significance and opportunities for adjustment, - placing beep signs and relief signs in central streets of Yerevan and centers of marzes in order to make the self dependent and safe movement of blind people possible, - introducing the institute of social servants for meeting and seeing off the disabled in the airports and railway stations, - establishing administrative responsibility for ignoring the needs of the disabled in the process of building. On 5 April 2006 the GOA adopted its Decree 392-N, by which Procedure for guaranteeing the accessibility of social, transport and engineering infrastructures for the disabled people and less mobile groups of population was approved. Under pp. 2 – 6 of the Procedure, during construction and repair of social infrastructures, provisions of law and norms concerning accessibility for the disabled and less mobile people are to be observed. In case of impossibility to repair existing buildings and other constructions, as well as historic-cultural monuments, due measures for the concrete situation are to be taken in order to guarantee the access for disabled. Moreover, all the new-built objects are to satisfy the norms of accessibility for disabled for certain type of building, otherwise the project papers will not be approved by the authorized body and the phase of completion of construction and putting the building in commission will not be recorded. It can be seen, that the procedure refers to building norms approved for different types of constructions and aims at improving the enforcement of these norms. Under p. 7 of the Procedure the streets, pedestrian subways, building surrounding areas, places of public rest and playgrounds must be equipped with ramps and necessary facilities, as well as beep or voice signs, lights and other means of precaution. With respect to the public buildings, including hotels, places for rest and leisure, cultural monuments and historical buildings, trade and public food items, banks, railway stations, airports, automobile stations, bus and minibus stops, the Procedure stresses, that they must be accessible for the disabled in accordance with the architectural requirements specification, and equipped with necessary tools and facilities (p.9). In case of impossibility to fully rebuild an existing public building, all the necessary facilities are to be concentrated in the areas, which are accessible for the disabled or can be adjusted for their needs. There are also regulations concerning inclusion of specially

80 designed rooms for the disabled in hotels, motels, camping places and other similar buildings. In theatres, museums, cinemas, circuses, concert-halls, clubs, etc, seats or places for the disabled must be situated so that the show, information, materials are fully perceived by the disabled and less mobile people. In compliance with the Procedure, the Minister of Urban Planning of RA approved the building norms for “Accessibility of Buildings and Other Constructions for less mobile groups of population”.139 The norms contain detailed regulations for accessibility of different types of buildings in order to meet the needs of the less mobile people. In particular, they establish standard norms regarding the general requirements for buildings and land, number and quality of entrances and traffic ways, sizes and placement of ramps, stairs and lifts, evacuation and safety norms, internal equipment (lighting, beep signals, buttons, etc), universal design of restrooms and other facilities. Disability issue is also referred to in tourism legislation, though in other context. Thus, the Law on Tourism and Tourism Activities obliges the hotel in case of ability to provide services for the disabled to place information about that in a visible place. This information should be visible from outside the hotel.140 According to GOA Decree No 946 on Hotel Qualification, existence of a ramp at the entrance is obligatory only for 5-star hotels and motels.141 c. Current stage of implementation in Armenia

Despite the existence of detailed regulations on the legislation level, the current stage of implementation of legislation provisions is not satisfactory enough. Two major problem areas can be outlined in the field: 1. Legislation on accessibility of the disabled is relatively new (the GOA approved the Strategy, which is more conceptual in its nature in November 2005 and the Order of the Minister of Urban Planning is still in the process of publication). It is therefore natural that the provisions of the above-mentioned pieces of legislation have not been fully applied. The process of rebuilding will take some time. In the Strategy the GOA itself stressed the possibility of gradual repair of roads and pavements in order to bring them into conformity with the building norms and standards.

2. The second problem is more related to the practice of implementation than to legislation. Actually, some provisions on disabled access were included in legislation since 1993 (see the Law on Social Protection of the Disabled), but in spite of legal regulations, public places and consequently places of interest for tourists, as well as facilities such as hotels, food and trade items, places for rest and leisure, were not adjusted to the needs of disabled. In Chapter 5 of the Strategy of Social Protection of the Disabled for 2006-2015 (November 2005) the GOA stated that there are really few social infrastructures adjusted to the needs of the disabled, in spite of measure taken in the previous years. According to the GOA, these measures included reparation of pavements and pedestrian crossings in central streets of Yerevan, as well as several buildings in services sector. Apparently, the number of sites accessible for the disabled tourists is yet little. Enquiries made in main museums of Yerevan demonstrate, that only a few of them have ramps and even less have installed a lift for disabled.142 Moreover, though most respondents consider that

139 Order No. 253-N, 10 November 2006 140 See Article 11, para 1, point 3 and para 2 of the Law 141 GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946 on “Adoption Of The Order And Conditions Of Providing Hotel Services, Certificates of Category Of Hotel Businesses And Procedure Of Certification”, Annex 2, para 4 142 See Annex 2, Chart 49 81 restrooms are adjusted to the needs of disabled, in practice the principle of universal design does not work; understanding of accessibility for the disabled is not similar.143

3.3. Gap Analysis, Conclusions and Recommendations

In general, legislation of RA reflects main principles of disabled access, established by UN and European standards. Provisions on disabled access are included both in thematic acts (such as Law on Social Protection of Disabled), and in general acts (e.g., the Law on “On Fundamentals of Cultural Legislation”, which regulates the power of the GOA to establish benefits for the disabled while using the chargeable services in the institutions of cultural heritage – museums, historical monument, etc.). However, both legislation and practice in RA are not free of certain gaps. Overcoming those deficiencies would help creating flexible and working conditions for the development of disabled tourism. a. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. There is a lack of mechanisms for holding the entities and persons responsible for applying and exercising control over the accessibility norms in RA. Article 22 of the Law on Social Protection of Disabled prohibits design and construction of any building, if the latter is not adjusted to disabled use and accessibility. However, such a strict provision does not succeed in its goal. Under Article 44 of the Law on Social Protection of Disabled, violation of the provisions of the law causes responsibility under the law. It's obvious, that the provision becomes declarative in terms of absence of regulations on the type of offence and possible sanctions in civil or administrative offences law. The GOA has stressed the necessity to establish administrative responsibility for ignoring the needs of the disabled in the process of building in Chapter 5 of the Strategy of Social Protection of the Disabled for 2006-2015. However, no provisions concerning such an offence have been included in the Code of Administrative Offences. Meanwhile, both the architects, responsible for the project and requirements specification, and the state officials, responsible for approval of project papers should bear the responsibility in case of violation of building norms, providing accessibility for the disabled. Draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, reflecting this approach, should be initiated.

2. Legislation on educational standards lacks introduction of disability component into educational programs for architects, planners, construction engineers. Currently, there are no regulations concerning inclusion of the disability component into state standards on educational programs. Promotion of training and educational measures by universities and other institutions is one of the key provisions of the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health Field) on the Introduction of the Principles of Universal Design into the Curricula of all Occupations Working on the Built Environment (Res AP (2001) 1). Armenia is not

143 As to disabled access issues in public transport, generally there is no specific regulation for the disabled access to buses, however an existing example of disabled access to taxies is provided below (Supra page 116)

82 a member to this Agreement and therefore is not obligated to undertake the educational and training measure, fixed in the Recommendation. The developed and medium developed states have different approaches in the field of disability component in education. Thus, in Netherlands, Greece, Hungary there is no disability awareness component incorporated in the training of planners, architects and construction engineers. At the same time, Germany, Japan, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic have taken the policy of inclusion of disability awareness component in the training of the above-mentioned specialists. Taking into account that Recommendation 1592 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe towards Full Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities underscores the importance of further promotion and implementation of the right of disabled to social inclusion and invites those member states which are not yet members (and the Republic of Armenia is one of these states), to consider acceding to the Council of Europe Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health Field and fully participate in the activities of the latter,144 it would be reasonable to include disability component into educational programs for certain specialists at least in state institutions, providing higher education. Alternatively, it would be reasonable if the authorized state body promoted training on principles of universal design. This would be timely, taking into consideration the necessity to overcome the aforementioned problem of different understanding of universal design and accessibility, arising out of lack of knowledge in the area.

3. Local self-government authorities could largely contribute to implementation of the provisions of UN Standard Rules. Apparently, the Rules are not binding on the States and do not give detailed specifications on putting the guidelines of the Rules into practice. Even prior to the adoption of the Rules, Recommendation No. R (92) 6 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on a Coherent Policy for People with Disabilities emphasized that government institutions, leisure and cultural organizations should develop comprehensive access policies.145 Development of policies is largely considered to be an efficient tool for implementation of UN Standard Rules, adopted in 1993. Sweden has demonstrated interesting solution in this respect. In Sweden, the Disability Ombudsman, the Swedish association of Local Authorities, the Federation of Swedish County Councils and the Swedish Co-operative Body of Organizations of Disable People (HSO) both separately and together worked for the usage of the UN Standard Rules, mainly in the 289 municipalities. This work focused on production of concrete disability policy plans based on the Standard Rules. According to this the disability policy plans have become a tool in the work of implementing the UN Standard Rules. As a result, the organizations developed a guide «Disability policy planning instructions for local authorities». The proposed instruction follow the principle that local authorities must go through rule by rule and analyze a) how society fulfils the standard rules today, b) what has to be done to fulfill the rules, c) how it is to be done - objectives and measures.146 Taking into consideration the important role of local communities within the concept of sustainable tourism development, it would be efficient to involve local authorities in policy planning of the area. The policies would help to develop a comprehensive chart of measures needed to improve

144 Para. 11(iii) of the Recommendation 145 Adopted on April 9,1992 146 Full text of the instruction and exemplary of disability policy plan is attached in Annex 14 to the Report. 83 accessibility and set priorities. This includes not only building standards, which are regulated by law in Armenia, but also accessibility of information, tactile markings on the floor, lifts with audio signals, buttons marked with Braille, recognizable patterns in the layout of a building and other equipment which are important features that can allow the disabled to get around easily and do not appear to be a subject of legal regulations.

b. Recommendation on further development of disabled access

1. Including measures for promotion of accessible tourism into Annual Program on Social Protection of Disabled No priorities have been outlined in the field of participation of the disabled in culture life, promoting opportunities for recreation and leisure by Annual Program for 2007.147 In the current stage there are more prioritized areas (social protection, medical care and support of disabled in RA). However, promotion of accessible tourism should be discussed as a potential direction of the state tourism policy in the next years. Inclusion of provisions promoting increase of accessibility of cultural and recreational sites, especially in marzes, will contribute to accessible tourism promotion. Slovenia, a relatively young medium-developed European country with population below 2 million, gives a good example of interconnecting the needs of local and foreign disabled people. Legal guidelines are laid down in the Act on Tourism, Strategy of Slovene Tourism 2007-2013, National Guidelines to Improve Built Environment, Information and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2005, and National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities 2007-2013, adopted in 2006. On the basis of these acts accessible facilities are developed not only in hotels, but also in farm tourism.

2. Providing for privileges for the disabled tourists in the legislation on civil aviation The Law on Aviation of RA defaults regulations on persons with reduced mobility or special needs. Contrary to this, Art. 11 of the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 gives priority to carrying persons with reduced mobility and any persons or certified service dogs accompanying them, as well as unaccompanied children (point 1). In cases of denied boarding, cancellation and delays of flights persons with reduced mobility and persons accompanying them, as well as unaccompanied children have right to care (meals and refreshments, communication means, hotel and accommodation) as soon as possible. The persons with disabilities or reduced mobility should also have equal or even more rights during flights and should not be refused. The policy towards the disabled and people with reduced mobility should be outlined in the Law on aviation, taking into consideration the corresponding provisions of EU Regulation.

3. Establishing a database of information on accessible tourism, which would contain information on hotels and other accommodation services, food, trade and other services, places of interest for tourists (historical-cultural monuments, museums, concert halls, etc.), accessible for tourists with disabilities

147 Approved by the GoA on September 7, 2006 84 Such an effective way of benefiting to disabled tourism development has been introduced in Belgium, Flanders. ”Accessible Flanders databank” project established a database, which contains detailed information on every building that has been evaluated, including precise measurements, to enable people with a disability to make their own decisions on how accessible the building is for them. The databank currently contains information on 180 accommodations. Another 120 accommodations will be added in 2007. The databank will contain a good sampling of the tourist infrastructure by 2009148. Another good example is the Slovenian experience. A Tourist Information Centre for Disabled People and Elderly was established in Ljubljana. This center provides information on tourism facilities and sites, accessible for people with disabilities149. Information about disabled access could be also provided in general tourism information centers.150 4. Acceding to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention is a result of final consensus on the issues of the disabled between the States Parties to UN.151 Under Article 30 of the Convention, concerning participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and , States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats, enjoy access to films, theatre and other cultural activities, in accessible formats, enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, monuments and sites of national cultural importance. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels; to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues and access to services from those involved in the organization of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities. The Convention is open for signatures since 30 March 2007.

5. Providing comprehensive training for stakeholders on UN and European standards, national legislation in the field of disabled access and examples of best practice of its implementation152 Tourist authorities, travel agencies, hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities or travel opportunities should offer their services to all, taking into account the special needs of persons with disabilities. Suitable training should be provided to assist that process.

6. Including accessibility for disabled in the service points, evaluated in the process of hotel qualification Additional points, granted to hotels for having installed and using equipment and facilities for the disabled or universal design and resulting in higher rate, would urge hotels to envisage the needs of disabled in their design and services.153

148 Materials from ”Europe for all – a Stakeholder Conference on Accessible Tourism”, Brussels, 18-19 January 2007, http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/services/tourism/accessibility_conference2007/bourgeois_en.pdf 149 Materials from” Europe for all – a Stakeholder Conference on Accessible Tourism” , op. cit. 150 About ‘Tourism information centers” see infra p. 129 151Adopted by Resolution 61/106 of General Assembly on January 24, 2007 by Resolution 61/106 152 Additional information on accessibility for disabled in a number of European countries can be found in Annex 16 to the Report. 153 Issues of disabled access in the frameworks of hotel classification schemes are discussed also in Para 1 of Part I of the Report. 85 PART III: TOURISM RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS

Summary Environmental issues in tourism can be considered from two major points. The first concerns tourism in nature areas protected by the state that will be addressed below. The second and nonetheless very important aspect is the impact of tourism activities on environment in general. Thus, Paragraph 1 of the following Part focuses on the existing environmentally friendly practices and analyses two basic ways of promoting their use in Armenia: - state imposed measures, which can take the form of either administrative- mandatory or economic-promotional, - voluntary initiatives, such as eco-labeling. In this regard environmentally friendly policies of tourism facilities (hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, etc.) are to be examined. Nonetheless very important aspect is the impact of tourism activities on environment in general. Paragraph 2 of this Part examines the types of protected areas under Armenian legislation and peculiarities of regime within each type, as well as analyses the tourism development possibilities in the territory of protected areas. Main issues reflected are: - zoning - management - pricing policy and economic value of protected areas - land issues and building regulations - ecotourism development

1. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, COMPANY POLICIES AND TECHNICAL MEASURES

a. Legislation and practice

Environmental orientation of the enterprise in the field of tourism services can lie in various spheres of enterprise's activities. Study of environmental policies indicates that the most common trends are: - energy saving (efficiency of lighting, heating and appliances; insulation and renewable energy use), - water efficiency (i.e. good maintenance; low-consumption appliances; flush offset; rainwater harvesting as well as using eco-cleaners), - waste treatment (minimization by encouraging, the “eliminate, reduce, reuse, recycle” principle; supplier take-back agreements; dosing systems; composting), - use of environmentally friendly transport, - promotion and use of environmentally friendly goods and services. Support of environmentally friendly tourism was considered to be a priority in the Decision of Council of European Communities on a Community action plan to assist tourism.154 It should be mentioned, that situation with environmentally friendly policies in Armenia is not the same in Yerevan and marzes. There are a few hotels with

154 92/421/EEC, 13 July 1992, Chapter II (6) (d) 86 environmentally oriented policy155 one of those in Yerevan and other two in marzes, where only products based on natural materials are used in design, furnishing and public food services. Moreover, these hotels contribute to sustainable tourism also by using the labor source of the respective territory (neighboring village, town, etc) and purchasing fresh agricultural products in place. The aforementioned hotels also maintain use of solar energy, waste treatment preventing pollution of rivers, collectors and water treatment (purification) equipment. However, apart from these lodges, there are no organizations concentrating on environmental aspect in policy- making. At the same time, many hotels undertake measures for energy and water saving, by installing necessary equipment (especially in lavatories in the rooms). Many public food organizations in Yerevan have equipped the lavatories with water saving equipment as well. However, the purpose of the equipment is not often clear enough for the customer and consequently, it frequently does not serve the purpose. Environmentally friendly treatment is not promoted by the organizations, using technologies for energy and water saving or waste treatment. Study of legislation and practice of different countries in the field of environmentally friendly policy and management outlines two basic directions for ensuring the implementation of eco-friendly policies on legal level – regulative measures and eco-labeling.

b. Regulative mechanisms for promotion of environmentally oriented management

Mechanisms for promotion of environmentally oriented management can be either administrative or economic in their nature. Administrative methods appear in the form of binding ecological rules and regulations; breach of those leads to responsibility under the law. However, examples of analogical approach of the state to the above-mentioned issue are rare, as inappropriate and excessive application of binding rules in the field of eco-friendly policy may result in worsening of conditions for business enterprise, which in its turn will affect the number of its potential consumers – the tourists. Countries are therefore more motivated to use economical mechanisms, aiming at promotion of introduction and implementation of environmentally friendly policies. Economic mechanisms imply regulations, aiming at increase of motivation of business enterprises in the field of tourism to seek for better implementation of eco- friendly policies in practice. They vary from tax exemptions and reduction of customs duty rate to granting of preemptive rights and other non-monetary incentives. Armenian legislation provides with some examples of economic mechanisms. The Law on Energy Saving and Restorable Energy156 declares promotion of establishment of new productions and services, contributing to energy saving as a separate direction of state policy. Introduction of legal and economic mechanisms, purported to encourage energy saving and development of restorable energy is deemed to be a principle of state policy in the field of energy (Article 5 of the Law). On the basis of the law, value added tax and customs duty exemptions were introduced for importing certain types of technological goods or energy carriers by legal entities or private enterprise.157

155 Mainly Tufenkian Heritage Lodges 156 Adopted by National Assembly on November 9, 2004 157 The exemptions are regulated under the Law on Approving the List of Goods with 0 Percent Import Customs Duty and Not Subject to Excise Tax, Which are Exempted from Calculation and Collection of VAT on Import When Imported by Organizations or Private Entrepreneurs, adopted on June 29, 2001 and amended in 2006. 87 The same approach exists in national water policy. Promotion of water saving by economic and financial measures is considered to be a principle of state policy in the field.158 At the same time, it has to be mentioned that there are no legislative provisions on environmentally friendly policies that would specifically obligate tourism enterprises. c. Eco-certification and other voluntary initiatives

One of the responses to the recognition of the importance of sustainability in tourism has been the creation and adoption of voluntary initiatives on the part of entrepreneurs, such as environmental and social codes of conduct, eco-certification systems, environmental audit programs, environmental management systems, and other self-regulation codes or schemes that have to do with the natural or socio- cultural environment. Among these initiatives, eco-certification has proved to be a universal way of attesting that tourism services are based on the principle of sustainability and environmentally oriented. Eco-certification carried out by a reliable organization helps to make certain goods and cervices more credible for tourists and increases the possibility of use of goods and services by non-residents, at the same time pursuing the goal of sustainable tourism development and environment protection.159 As the term itself indicates, voluntary initiatives are not the result of legislation, but rather they are adopted freely by organizations that wish to apply such schemes and benefit from their application. Such benefits can be economic (through cost reductions or higher selling prices) or take the form of an improvement in the company's image thus attracting new consumer segments that are willing to pay higher prices, stay for longer periods in the establishment, or become repeat customers, etc. In most cases, there is an economic benefit at the end, either for companies or for communities, in the short, medium and long terms. Among the more prominent voluntary environmental initiatives at the world level are the Blue Flag, the Green Globe certificate, the International Ecotourism Society's guidelines for tourism operators, the Green Leaf Award of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the International Hotels Environmental Initiative, etc. There is also a substantial number of initiatives that operate at the local and site levels. Furthermore, tourism organizations can also subscribe to schemes that are not specifically dedicated to the tourism industry, such as the ISO 14001 environmental management system and the Business Charter for Sustainable Development of the International Chamber of Commerce. Due to the growing interest in voluntary initiatives, there was a strong proliferation of such schemes in the 1990s, especially in Europe and North America.

158 Law on Fundamentals of National Water Policy, adopted on 3 May 2005 159 Advantages of eco-labeling can well be illustrated by the following example: Canadian company Cogent are the designers and patent holders of an environmentally friendly cleaning product, that bears the US Green Seal Label, Environment Canada’s Environmental Choice Label and the Envirodesic Certification label. They recently applied successfully for the European Eco-label, via Defra in the UK, to be licensed to put the Eco- label logo on their General Purpose Cleaner and subsequently distribute it in Europe from the UK. This is an example of where the EU Eco-label has an international cachet (there are other examples, from Australia, for instance) and shows the widely-held respect that it enjoys. From the manufacturer and producer’s point of view the Eco-label is widely recognized across Europe and thus makes the task of gaining a badge of environmental credibility easier as only one such label is required, rather than several national labels. The Label is also held in high esteem by manufacturers as it is accepted as proof that the product has top-level environmental credentials for that product range. The Eco-label label therefore brings benefits to manufacturers of universal recognition, acceptance in the market place and instant understanding of what the label signifies about the product that displays it.

88 The use of environmental labeling programs was recommended by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Agenda 21, the United Nation program of action for sustainable development explicitly provides that governments should encourage the expansion of environmental labeling in order to change consumption patterns. It says: “Governments, in cooperation with industry and other relevant groups, should encourage expansion of environmental labeling and other environmentally related product information programs designed to assist consumers to make informed choices” (UN, Agenda 21, Chapter 4, para 21). Moreover, environmental labeling programs are mentioned as an important tool in several policy papers by the Commission on Sustainable Development and OECD to promote sustainable consumption patterns (OECD 1991, 1997). The conclusions, drawn at the Conference in 1998 “Eco-labeling for a sustainable future”, organized by OECD on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the German “Blue Angel” scheme, underlined the role of eco-labeling as a policy tool to promote environmentally preferable products and services (OECD, 1999). Eco-certification in tourism industry can be treated in two ways: labeling of the service (accommodation services, public food services, etc) and labeling products, being used by hotels, restaurants, etc. That’s why, while considering eco-labeling organizations one should not focus only on those certification programs which provide for certification of services. There are a number of voluntary regional, national, and international eco- labeling programs for the hotel industry. Certification basis include: a) International standards for lodging properties to follow for certification: The ISO 14000 series on environmental management schemes is an environment-related information instrument that refers mainly to the company and its organization. Environmental management systems can additionally include requirements that relate to the product and its eco-profile, but this is not compulsory. The ISO14040 series provides guidelines and principles for conducting LCA studies. Life-cycle analysis (LCA) is a system of measurement that is typically used to assess the impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from resource extraction, through manufacture and use, to final waste treatment or disposal. However, LCA assessments frequently address only few environmental aspects, usually those for which there are related private markets (such as electricity and water). Also, there are ISO 14021:1999 (Environmental labels and declarations: Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labeling) and ISO/TR 14032:1999 (Environmental management: Examples of environmental performance evaluation (EPE). b) National standards c) Criteria, developed by eco-labeling organizations: Europe is a global leader in eco-labeling, particularly for tourism, and there are schemes and initiatives throughout the region. Nine of the most respected and longstanding national tourism eco-labels have allied to establish a European Association known as the Voluntary Initiative for Sustainability in Tourism or VISIT. VISIT contributes to sustainable tourism development through the verification of tourism products through their performance, helps to maintain and enhance service quality in tourism in Europe. The criteria are derived from data that support the claim of sustainable tourism good or best practice (i.e. environmental, economic and social benefit and/or efficiency). It should be mentioned, that there are no regulations or state policy on promoting eco-labeling in Armenia.

89 d. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. Environmentally friendly facilities, used in hotels, restaurants and other places visited by tourists should be promoted: consumers must be informed on how the water or energy saving or waste treatment equipment is to be used in order to serve its purpose. It was already stated above, that consumers are usually not aware of the fact that organization has chosen to follow environmentally friendly policy in certain issues, concerning service or products. Therefore, it should be advisable to place signs or notices, calling the customer’s attention for water saving. Practice in some restaurants in Greece, Hungary, Italy could serve as a good example. Information about the necessity of water saving e.g. is usually placed on the wall in the lavatory. Hotels can choose between placing the note in a visible place and including the information in instruction booklet, concerning technical equipment, placed in the room. Eco-friendly policy can be followed in a number of ways. Marriott Hotels in Greece, for instance, ask their customers not to leave dirty towels and sheets on the floor, but put them in the basket instead, which will help in water saving and reducing the quantity of chemical powders, threatening ecological balance. The request is made in the form of notice. Other typical ways of fulfilling the so called “green” policy include but are not limited to: - Guestroom recycle-bins Special containers with corresponding notices, placed in guestrooms so that the tourists recyclable items there, rather than in the trash. This approach can teach a hotel’s guests about the ease and benefit of recycling, and makes it easier for a hotel to sort recyclable items. - Gray water recycling Gray water is wastewater composed of wash water from the kitchen, bathrooms sinks and showers/tubs, laundry sinks and tubs, and washing machines (clothes and dish) where only non-polluting, biodegradable soaps are used. Recycling this water is done via using it to water gardens and landscaping and as it filters through the soil on its way to ground and subterranean water sources it is cleaned. Using it on the gardens and landscaping reduces the amount of fresh water needed for that purpose. - Transportation Some properties offer free transportation within its grounds, between the property and town, or within town (when the property is located in a town/city). It’s a service that can reduce air pollution and fuel consumption by increasing the efficiency of moving guests around. When the property uses a vehicle that runs on alternative fuels it's very conserving and efficient. - Water conservation Water use reduction methods range from more efficient practices to capturing water for use through water storage or conservation projects. More efficient practices include using low-flow toilets, shower heads, and faucets; washing sheets and towels less frequently (though of course between guests); planting xeric gardens - using native plants that don’t require much additional water beyond what falls from the sky; and gray water recycling systems. In order to promote the environmentally friendly policies in RA, a provision can be adde, in the Law on Tourism and Tourism Activities (Article 11, para 1) stating that the hotels should provide information on environmentally friendly policies in visible places.

90

2. State bodies, responsible for executing state policy in the fields of energy, water, waste (Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Environmental Protection) should take measures to implement the principles and directions of state policy in the field of environmentally-friendly policies Promotion of use of various energy carriers and energy-saving technologies by the consumers is considered to be a principle of state policy in the field of energy saving. Assistance to training and information dissemination in order to enhance use of energy saving technologies is considered to be one of the directions of state policy (Art.6 of the Law on Energy Saving and Restorable Energy). This can be done by publishing guidance and arranging training on modern environmentally friendly technologies. Additionally, the state bodies should undertake exhibitions of modern equipment on energy, water saving, waste treatment and as a result, amend (if necessary) the list of goods not subject to customs duty and VAT on import. Such actions arise out of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism,160 which reads as follows: “All forms of tourism development that are conductive to saving rare and precious resources, in particular water and energy, as well as avoiding so far as possible waste production, should be given priority and encouraged by national, regional and local public authorities”( Article 3, para 2).

3. Voluntary eco-labeling by the NGO sector can be assisted by developing criteria and minimum requirements for eco-labeling. In case of establishment, national eco-labeling organization could use the EU experience while developing such criteria. Some necessary elements for criteria development already exist, as some provisions on energy efficiency and water policy exist in national legislation and standards. Besides, Armenian National Institute of Standards is a member to ISO, which implies the possibility to use relevant ISO standards. However, there are many non-mandatory requirements that should not be included into legislation, but rather developed as criteria of the national organization. With this respect, EU approach could be useful.161 Indeed the EU Eco-label’s influence extends beyond Europe as far a field as Canada and New Zealand. Here its documentation is used to inform the development of local criteria by, for example, identifying the key environmental impacts associated with a certain product.

4. Promotion of eco-labeling should be assisted by the state Dissemination of case studies, illustrating how certain producers or service providers benefited from eco-labeling has proved to be one of the best ways to make eco-labeling popular. These examples can then be promoted to others with the aim of raising awareness regarding the advantage to business of eco-labeling products. These practices are widely applied in EU. Notably the EU Eco-label Marketing Management Group collects success stories, which are communicated by the European Commission’s own Eco-label newsletter.

5. Taking into account gap in the field of eco-labeling organizations in Armenia and advantages of eco-certification in the view of sustainable tourism development and envisaging such a possibility as a direction of future developments, the GOA can consider establishment of a state

160 Adopted by World Tourism Organization, A/RES/406(XIII) 161 EU Eco-label award scheme was established by Regulation of Council of European Communities (EEC) No 880/92 of 23 March 1992 91 voluntary eco-labeling organization, which would cooperate with certification programs of other states and EU Germany can provide a good example with respect to eco-labeling organizations, being the first European country, including eco-labeling in the scope of its state policy. In Germany, there are a number of private eco-labeling organizations, which have not precluded the state from establishing and maintaining a state organization - The Blue Angel162. The Blue Angel environmental label is the property of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety. The Federal Environmental Agency is responsible, among other things, for the development of requirements for the award of the Blue Angel. It was designed as an instrument of environmental policy which would harmonize with the market and enable the positive features of products and services to be labeled on a voluntary basis. As a result, it fits in well with the competition for the best possible ecological properties of products and services. Compared to 1978, when the first six awards were granted by the Environmental Label jury, now, about 3 700 products and services in 80 product categories bear the Blue Angel. The influence of the label is constantly expanding. There are several national eco-label schemes operating in different EU Member States. Outside of Europe, there are many other national eco-labels with schemes operating in such countries as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. All of these eco-labels share a similar goal – to serve as a market differentiator by making an award available for those products and services that achieve a high level of environmental performance. Such has been the growth and success of eco-labeling, that in 1994, the eco-label schemes formed an association called the Global Eco-labeling Network (GEN) to promote, improve and further develop eco-labeling. Key activity of GEN is to encourage co-operation between individual schemes. Cooperation takes different forms, with the exchange of information and working towards harmonization being prominent. This is a very practical approach to devising product criteria given the international nature of today’s market place. Criteria set for a product by one scheme are likely to be as relevant for another country’s eco-label. VISIT (a union of several European national eco certification programs) has management criteria which complement other environmental management systems. VISIT is open to all potential applicants of the predefined product group in the area of operation. All applicants who fulfill the eco-labels conditions and criteria are entitled to be granted a license and authorized to use the label. VISIT recognizes other eco- labels meeting the VISIT Standard. It can be concluded from the aforementioned, that establishment of national eco-label scheme is an efficient way not only because the private sector lacks such organizations, but also because national organization has a wide possibility of establishing cooperation with EU and Member States eco-label organizations, as well as organizations of those countries, whose citizens are already attracted to visit Armenia. Cooperation will give an opportunity for eco-labeled products or services to automatically bear the eco-mark of a recognized eco-label scheme, significantly increasing attractiveness of the service or good for the tourist.

6. The state should undertake legal and economic measures in order to implement recommendations of WTO regarding sustainability certification systems in tourism

162 The information about these organizations can be found in Annex 15 to the Report. 92 The WTO carried out an exhaustive study on tourism self-regulation initiatives, which was initiated in 2000 and completed in 2001. The results of this study were published with the following title: Voluntary Initiatives in Sustainable Tourism: Worldwide Inventory and Comparative Analysis of 104 Eco-labels, Awards and Self- Commitments. This study offers an evaluation of the effectiveness of existing programs, identifying similarities and differences among voluntary initiatives, finding out the factors that make them effective and successful in terms of sustainable tourism development. Based on its conclusions, it puts forward a set of guidelines for tourism enterprises that wish to adopt one of these voluntary programs, for organizations that manage these initiatives and want to improve the current systems, as well as for governments and NGOs to provide them with technical criteria and guidelines for the support and supervision activities they wish to carry out on such initiatives. According to the study results, great majority of certified tourism products are situated in Europe (78%), 17% in other continents, while 5% are intercontinental. 2/3 of eco-labels are created and administrated by private tourism associations and other NGOs, and 1/3 by government organizations. The average performance of certified accommodation establishments can be considered to be up to 20% better than the average performance of enterprises in Europe. After the conclusion of this study and following the recommendation of the WTO's Committee on Sustainable Development of Tourism, the Organization prepared a series of guidelines for governments regarding sustainability certification systems in tourism. These recommendations for governments especially underline the functions of promotion and coordination that governments must perform in order for certification systems to be effective, as well as providing guidelines on the establishment of certification criteria, in particular: 1. Develop the certification system through multi-stakeholder consultation processes, involving all relevant interest groups, such us different government authorities (tourism, environment, transportation, finance, education, etc); tourism trade associations and other private groups; academic, education and research institutions; NGOs; consumer associations; etc. The development and the operation of a successful certification program in many cases lays in the multi- stakeholder representation of the team awarding certificates and supporting the program. 2. Ensure transparency throughout all the stages of the development and operation of the certification system and establish an appeals process. 3. Make clear to the private sector the benefits, costs and other implications of certification systems. 4. Pay special attention to equitable access to certification, especially by small and medium size firms, as they can have more difficulties in meeting the costs and technical requirements than bigger companies. 5. Define core criteria and supplementary criteria specific for different tourism product and service groups (e.g. hotels and other accommodations, transportation services, restaurants, tour operators and travel agents, attractions, etc.). By this way consider the implications to destinations as a whole, and not just certain tourism product and service groups. 6. For each criterion, define indicators that are measurable and easy to understand by the different type of stakeholders involved in the certification process. 7. Base criteria and indicators on scientific research that evaluates the key environmental and socio-economic impacts of the sector. 8. Criteria can be set in different levels of requirements: from more easily achievable to very demanding criteria. Thus, the certification system sets a

93 framework for continuous improvement whereby applicants can achieve higher performance levels step by step. 9. Undertake periodic revision and update of criteria (e.g. every 2-3 years).

2. PROTECTED AREAS LAW (TOURISM ZONES, BREACH OF REGULATIONS, PLANNING)

2.1. General overview

From an economic point of view, the protected areas do not bring in high profits, in comparison to other possible ways of using the land. Resources present in protected areas can be utilized in various ways, whether focused on consumption (hunting, gathering) or non-consumption (various types of “ecotourism”). However, in order for these ways of utilizing the parks’ natural resources to become possible, there is a need for the development of suitable infrastructure and communication networks, as well as appropriate legislation and a need for ensuring a sufficient level of public safety. Although nature tourism is a good investment, its economic value is not adequately captured by governments. Tourism activity in a national park or any other protected area can serve as a self-financing mechanism and therefore as a tool of conservation. This is especially relevant for developing countries, such as RA. This will, however, only be possible if the level, type and management of tourism are appropriate and, in particular, the "carrying capacity" of the area is respected.

Protected areas law in Armenia

The basic act, regulating the legal regime of protected areas in Armenia, is the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas, adopted by the National Assembly on 27 November 2006. The law distinguishes four categories of protected areas: а) State reserves163 b) State preserves164 c) National parks d) Monuments of nature

163 It should be mentioned, that there are internationally recognized guidelines in the filed of categorizing protected areas. IUCN has made a distinction between 6 categories of protected areas, which were approved by the General Assembly of the IUCN in 1994. Protected areas are categorized according to their primary management objective. All categories are equally important and equally relevant to conservation. The categories imply a gradation of human intervention, ranging from effectively none at all in the case of some Category I areas, to quite high levels of intervention in Category V areas. It should be noted, however, that some countries may not contain the potential for using all categories. There are hundreds of different national names for protected areas. The IUCN guidelines are not intended to result in the re-naming of these reserves. Thus, Category I includes Strict nature reserves (a) and Wilderness areas (b), while the Armenian law uses other names, such as state reserve and state preserve. The important factor, worth taking into consideration is the regime of the protected area. Under Armenian law State reserve is a territory of international or national significance, scientific, educational, historic-cultural value with unique ecological, esthetical features where processes of development of natural environment take place without direct interference of a man (See “պետական արգելոց”, Article 1 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas) This definition and peculiarities of regime allow the GoA to consider State Reserve a Category I(a) protected area (State Strategy and National Action Plan for Development of Specially Protected Nature Areas, approved by the GoA on 26 December 2002) For more information on categories see www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/sensitive/prot-areas.htm . 164 State preserve is a territory of scientific, educational, historic-cultural, economic value, where preservation and natural reproduction of ecosystems and their elements are guaranteed (See ”պետական արգելավայր”, Article 1 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas) 94 Legal regime of activities and land use and restrictions differ in each of the above- mentioned 4 categories.

2.2. State Reserve

State Reserve (hereinafter SR) is the most strictly protected category of nature areas. Tourism activities in the SR are permitted only on cognitive purposes along routes, established by management plan of SR.165 Under Article 8, para 1(c) of the Law, the management plans are approved by the GOA, and Article 9 regulates the power of the state body, authorized in the field of environmental protection (which is the Ministry of Environmental Protection of RA) to prepare the draft management plans, which are then subject to approval. According to Article 6 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas, management plan includes basic information on the current state of the protected area, its development potential, biodiversity, zoning, boarders, maps and sketches of land use and allocation of natural resources, social-economic and environmental features of the area, expenses of maintenance of the areas and financial sources. Any activity, which infringes natural systems and endangers their preservation, is prohibited on the territory of SR.166 This includes, inter alia, construction of industrial buildings and accommodations, roads and infrastructure (electricity, telephone, other means of communication). The only objects allowed to be built in the territory of SR are facilities necessary for the normal functioning of the reserve (forest-guard house, boarder sign, etc.) Under the GoA Decree, concerning Khosrovi Forest SR,167 guaranteeing preconditions for development of scientific and cognitive tourism is one of the purposes of establishment of the strict nature reserve. Correspondingly, the Decree and its Annex 2 entitle the State Non-Commercial Organization “Khosrovi forest” SR to perform certain types of business activities, including organization of scientific- cognitive tourism (and ecotourism), providing services for such tourism, advertisement and dissemination of information about the reserve. Access to SR for tourism purposes is granted upon permit, issued either by the executive body of the State Non-Commercial Organization “Khosrov Forest SR” or by authorized state body (Agency of Biological Resources of the Ministry of Environmental Protection). There are no regulations concerning the procedure of granting or rejecting the permit for entrance to SR. State Non-Commercial Organization “Khosrov Forest SR” is responsible for the protection and maintenance of the SR. Under the Bylaws of the aforementioned organization, the protection and maintenance of the SR is carried out by the Guard Service of the Organization, which consists of Guard Department and guards. It's the function of the guards to ensure fulfillment of environmental norms and regulations in the territory of SR by persons and organizations, prevent any activity violating the regime of the SR, prepare and present reports about violations to the Director in order to start procedure for holding the offender responsible. The guards have the right to check that the tourist has a permit for entrance, seize the subject of the violation and the instruments used in committing thereof. The guards are entitled to be armed and wear a uniform (Annex 2 to the Decree, Chapter 4, pp. 22-24).

165 Article 26, para 1(1)(b) of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas 166 Article 16, p.13 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas 167 Decree on Reorganization of the State Institution ““Khosrov State Reserve” and Approval of the Bylaws of the “Khosrov Forest” State Reserve and the State Non-Commercial Organization ““Khosrov forest” State Reserve” of 30 May 2002, Annex 1, Chapter I, point 2(e) 95 According to the Government, giving tourists an opportunity to stay in the SR longer than needed for the passage of the route would result in changing the regime of the SR from Category I (the most strictly protected area) to lower category, e.g. national parks. That’s why tourists are only allowed to get acquainted with unique environment, flora and fauna of the SR without a right to stay in the reserve for the night. At the same time, the length of existing planned tourist routs in SR does not exceed a day trip. Some routes are interconnected. Certain parts of the routes are situated outside the boarder of the SR, so that if the route is longer than possible to cover within a day, or, if the tourist wants to continue over the next route, the tourist would be able to have accommodation for the night168. Management plans of the SRs have not yet been approved by the GOA, but drafts of these plans are in the stage of preparation. The Government considers approval of management plans an important step towards complete regulation and gap filling of the regime of SRs. In fact, the state non-commercial organization managing the SR and the Government will be reluctant to enlarge and promote tourism activities in SR's territory until approval of management plans. The justification of this approach arises out of environment protection purpose: without legal regulation of the regime and restrictions tourism activities in SR are fraught with serious consequences and unrecoverable harm to the ecosystems of SR. On the other hand, tourism in general and ecotourism in particular are potentially profitable for SR and can create a basis for self-financing, which is taken into account by the Government.

2.3 State Preserve

Legal regulations in the field of regime of preserves are not sufficiently clear. Under Article 18 of the Law, any activity, which infringes stability of ecosystems of the Preserve or endangers preservation of ecosystems, representatives of flora and fauna, objects of scientific or historic-cultural value, that need special protection, is prohibited in the territory of the state reserve. Para 2 of the same article refers to the bylaws of the state preserves, fixing that the objectives and peculiarities of the regime of each state preserve are to be regulated under the bylaws of the reserve. In other words, bylaws serve as a complete regulating mechanism, which outlines the boarders of preserve, divides the territory of the preserve into zones, establishes legal regime, building opportunities and permitted activities for each zone. Currently no bylaws of state preserves have been approved.

2.4 Monument of Nature

Regulations on the regime of the monument of nature are rather common: any activity, which endangers the preservation of the monument, is prohibited (Article 19 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas). Other peculiarities of the regime are specified in the of monuments of nature and vary depending on the features of the monument. Actually the law presumes no restrictions for tourist visits, provided they are not inconsistent with the need to preserve the monument.

168 In present aforementioned routes constitute parts of the drafts of management plans, which still need approval by the GoA. Additionally, the State Non-Commercial Organization «Forest Scientific-Experimental Centre» within the Ministry of Environmental Protection has ordered and printed a booklet about Khosrov Forest SR with the map and description of proposed 5 tourist routes and natural resources of the area. The booklet is in Armenian. 96 2.5 National Park

a. Legal regime National parks are divided into three zones: reserve zone, recreation zone and economic zone (Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas, Article 7). Each zone has its own legal regime. Basic points of the regime are regulated under the law, but the law itself refers to the bylaws of the national parks, leaving regulation of peculiarities of the regime to the bylaws of the parks. At the same time, the territory of the park can include territories of state preserves. Such territories have been included in Sevan and National Parks. Legal regime of such territories remains the same (Supra, para. 2.3.).

Legal regime of the Sevan National Park is affected also by the Law on the .169 Article 7 of the law fixed that the territory of Sevan National Park is the central zone of the lake Sevan and is subject to special regulation on limited economic and urban development activities. According to the law, any activity causing harm to the ecosystem of Lake Sevan is prohibited. However, most detailed rules on permitted and prohibited activities can be found in the bylaws of national parks. It should be mentioned that both the Bylaws of Sevan National Park and the Bylaws of Dilijan National Park contain identical regulations with respect to the regime of the recreation and economic zones. 1. Reserve zone of the park is subject to the same restrictions that apply in the SR. 2. Legal regime of the recreation zone of the park is milder. In particular, the law does not prevent from building. Among the activities permitted in the recreation zone stand the rest and recreation of the people, organization and providing of services for recreation, granting the land on lease for organization of recreation, access and parking for means of transport, pitching tents, sport fishing, cognitive tourism (Article 26, para 1(3)). In present there are two national parks in Armenia. Both have bylaws, approved by the GOA170. In addition to the permitted activities listed in the law, the bylaws mention long- term and short-term rest of the people, kindling bonfires and other activities for recreation in the outlined areas. Other provisions of the bylaws deal with prohibited activities, such as construction and exploitation of industrial and other buildings (objects) not related to organization of recreation, movement and parking of motor vehicles outside the road lines or in places, which are not designed for that purpose, use of natural resources for non-recreational purposes171. 3. Economic zone of the national park is relatively free. Industrial activities are allowed however to the extent necessary for normal maintenance and activities of the park. Thus, use of flora and fauna, such as fishing, for industrial purposes, is allowed, the same permit applies to the production of ecologically pure agricultural products and land lease for organization of such production, that contributes to the recreational service, organization of ecologically pure national crafts productions, movement of motor vehicles.

169 Adopted on 15 May 2001 170 Bylaws of the “Dilijan” National Park and the State Non-Commercial Organization ““Dilijan” National Park” was approved by the Decree of the GoA of 11 May 2002 and soon afterwards, on 30 May 2002 the GoA adopted a Decree on Reorganization of the State Institution ““Sevan” National Park” and Approval of the Bylaws of the “Sevan” National Park and the State Non-Commercial Organization ““Sevan” National Park”. 171 Section 2, pp.9,10 of the bylaws of Sevan and Dilijan National Parks 97 Building and exploitation of industrial and other objects unrelated to the activity of national park is not allowed.

It can be noticed that tourism as an activity is permitted in all four categories of protected areas in RA. In SR it takes the form of nature tourism and ecotourism in particular, in national parks it can take the form of rural, adventurous, nature or health tourism. Moreover, organization of tourism (particularly ecotourism), promotion of this type of activities is one of the direct activities and goals of protected areas. National parks are to go even further, not just organizing tourism in their territory but also providing recreational services.

b. Planning, land and construction issues in National parks

As it was already mentioned above, no construction is allowed in the reserve zone of the national park. Therefore, existing regulations touch the issues of planning and construction in recreation and economic zones. First of all, it should be mentioned that the land in protected areas of international or national significance is the property of the state. In order to ensure the integrity and regime of national parks, their territory can include land, which is not under the ownership of the state. However, the state owned land in the territory of protected areas is not subject to alienation to persons or legal entities. The latter can possess the land of state ownership under contracts of land lease or land development (building up)172. The territory of the protected area (except SR and reserve zone of the national park) can be a subject of a trust agreement.173 Procedure of granting the land to lease in the territory of national park is regulated under the GOA Decree, under which land can be granted to lease only on the ground of approved schemes of zoning and use of the land of such category, as well as urban planning and land planning documents174. State non-commercial organizations, managing the national parks, can grant the land to lease upon the consent of authorized state body and head of local self-government. The contractor is chosen as a result of contest (form of an auction). Commission for the contest is formed in accordance with GOA Decree No. 286 of 12 April 2001. Building activities in the territory of national park are possible only upon positive results of urban planning and environmental examinations.175

c. Consequences of breach of regulations

In fact, fulfillment of the requirements of regime in protected areas is the obligation of user of these areas. Article 28 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas states that breach of regime regulations of Article 26 of the same law results in termination of the rights of the user. Article 31 of the law contains a provision on

172 Issues of land lease and building up are regulated under Arts. 48 and 481 of the Land Code of RA (adopted on 2 May 2001). Also, the Land Code regulates the categories of land within the territory of protected area (Arts. 19-23), issues of land zoning and use schemes (Article 29) 173 Article 5 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas. Such an approach to the right of property of the land in protected areas complies with the Guidelines for Protected Areas Management Categories, prepared by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas with the assistance of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. According to these guidelines, the key test is whether the type of ownership is compatible with the achievement of the management objectives for the area. In many countries ownership by some form of public body (whether nationally or locally based), or an appropriately constituted non-governmental body with conservation objectives, facilitates management and is therefore to be favored in Categories I–III in particular. 174 Decree No.613 of 8 May 2003, Section 2 175 Section 3, point 12 of the Decree No. 613 98 responsibility for breach of the legislation on protected areas under the law. Other laws cover the issue of responsibility broadly.176 Breach of regulations and the regime of specially protected areas causes both civil and administrative liability. - Law on “Tariffs for Reparation of Damages, Caused to Fauna and Flora as a Result of Environmental Offenses” actually affects also the tourists, as the obligation to reimburse the loss can arise from misconduct, affecting fauna and flora, such as casual handling of fire, hunting and fishing or damaging the plants.177 According to Article 8 of the law, payment for the recovery of damage is made to state budget. - Issues of administrative liability, which is in particular a mechanism to hold liable not only the users of protected areas, but also officials, responsible for maintenance of the regime, are regulated under the Code of Administrative Offenses, approved on 6 December 1985. Offences include undue use of land (use for the purposes other than prescribed by law (Article 54)), destruction of plants and trees (Article 66) and fauna (Article 78) of the forest lands, destruction of species included in the Red Book (Article 91). While the aforementioned articles deal with offenses committed not only in the territory of protected areas, there is also a special article – Article 94, under which violation of maintenance regulations and regime of specially protected nature areas causes payment of fine. Generally the amounts of fine are comparable with the tariffs for civil liability, but the latter is much more efficient, since it aims at recovering of the actual loss to the protected area. - Law on Environmental Control was adopted on 11 April 2005. According to the law, the function of control is carried out by the Environmental Inspection of RA. Under Article 4 of the law, control, inter alia, encompasses the field of protection and preservation of specially protected areas.

2.6 Fees for using protected areas

Under Article 26, para 2 of the Law on Specially Protected nature Areas use of the protected areas (except for cases, when it is used for educational or scientific purposes) is chargeable. However, this provision of the law has not been further detailed. In present no entrance fees are charged. Tourists do not pay for visiting the protected area.

2.7. Gap analysis, conclusions and recommendations

Study of Armenian legislation on protected areas indicates that though SRs, State preserves and Monuments of nature still lack sufficient legal regulation, most of legislative preconditions for development of tourism in National parks exist or are in the stage of preparation. In fact, management plans of Armenian National Parks reflect the main trends of national park management, recognized worldwide. Structure and principles of the management plans are similar, for example, in UK (Yorkshire Dales National Park), New Zealand (Tongariro National Park), etc. However, there are two preconditions for the development of nature tourism. Firstly, the park’s “environmental” maintenance must be reinforced, for only an exemplary natural setting or exemplary architecture can attract tourists for long stays. Secondly,

176 Inclusion of responsibility norms into legislation on certain topic depends on the legal techniques approach. E.g. Bulgaria has taken the approach of inclusion of amounts of fines and civil liability provisions into Protected Areas law of Bulgaria (Arts. 81-86). With respect to the civil liability, it should also be noted that 177 Adopted by RA National Assembly on May 3, 2005 99 no matter how interesting the natural assets of the park may be, they are not per se enough to attract tourists without good, dependable facilities that are there when needed. This leads to a conclusion that development of tourism in the parks much depends on financial than legislative preconditions. First and most important task is formation of necessary infrastructure, including security signs, routes and facilities (such as sight balconies, arbors, restrooms). Some progress has been made in respect to tourist centers, which provide tourists with information on protected area, including security, liability information and information on sites and places of interest. Tourist center is established in Dilijan, four information centers in Sevan are in the stage of establishment.. However, most of the infrastructure is still in a poor state. In any case, there are some deficiencies in existence on the level of legislation and bylaws.

a. Gap analysis

1. Absence of flexible fee system lowers the potential benefit from tourism in protected areas. There is a lack of mechanisms for complete implementation of Article26, para 2 of the Law of RA on Specially Protected Nature Areas Article 26, para 2 emphasizes the principle of chargeability of use of the protected areas. The aforementioned paragraph does not provide for mechanism of calculation of fees for using the protected area for tourism purposes, referring this issue to other pieces of Armenian legislation. The Government has not yet approved such fees or provided a mechanism for their calculation. As a result, no entrance fees are charged in the protected areas in present. Actually, some of the developing states, such as Bulgaria, have put analogical provision in their legislative acts, but the chargeability is not a compulsory principle. Under Article 77 of Bulgarian Protected Areas Law (1998) for visits to protected areas that are exclusive property of the state, the Minister of Environment and Waters may introduce visitor fees. The amount of the fees and the procedures and manner of payment thereof shall be set in a legislative act of the Council of Ministers. The question arises: is there a necessity for RA to introduce fees for use of protected areas in the form of tourist visits? Best way to answer can be the conclusion based on the data from other states. It should be taken into consideration that for developing countries increase of the economic benefit of protected areas becomes the main source and prerequisite of their maintenance. The conclusion can be substantiated by some case law analysis, concerning national parks in particular. Few published international case studies exist that provide quantitative analyses of the contribution of tourism to park finances. In only a few cases parks have been shown to generate significant revenue above and beyond management costs. For example, the Galapagos National Park is reported to have recouped nine times its management costs, and tourism based on gorilla viewing in Rwanda generated significant profits prior to the civil war in that country. In both cases uncommonly high entrance fees are charged. Other results are mixed. An early report on Plitvice National Park, Croatia suggests that it is self-supporting. Keoladeo National Park in recouped 24% of total park management costs in 1995–1996. As a result of below-cost pricing policies, many of the benefits of tourism are not monetary and accrue to users rather than to governments or other funding agencies. Non-market values cannot be used to meet real costs, however. As a result, some countries, such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, have begun to adjust their pricing policies for protected areas and now charge comparatively high entrance fees

100 in an effort to generate greater revenues and achieve some element of cost recovery. A complete research for pricing policy design in Komodo National Park in Indonesia demonstrated, that even five-fold increase in the fees does not significantly affect the number of the tourists visiting the park. On the other hand, additional adaptations may increase benefits. First, a dual pricing structure may be adopted whereby domestic visitors pay less than foreign visitors. Although such a strategy is never entirely equitable, being based on broad assumptions about the relative economic well-being of different groups, it is nevertheless gaining credence in a number of developing countries and is accepted as an appropriate strategy by many foreign visitors178. In can be concluded that elaboration of pricing policy and approval of fees based on the policy by the GOA is a necessary step in Armenia. The following important factors should be taken into consideration: 1. pricing policy should be based on evaluation of attractiveness of the national parks and other protected zones for tourists; 2. pricing policy should focus not only on entrance fees, but on other revenue generating mechanisms, such as leases, admission fees, sales revenues, permits, service fees, donations by the “friends of the park”, etc. 3. funds from the fee source must be allocated so as to cover the costs of maintenance of protected areas, otherwise the willingness of tourists to pay will be less and the fee will not serve its basic purpose in developing country, such as RA. In fact, developing countries could be seen as subsidizing foreign visitors through less than optimal entry fees. The adoption of adequate capture mechanisms for the significant consumer surplus in nature-based tourism should take centre stage. Capturing the consumer surplus would help to offset the management costs of the sites. A study in Belize showed that implementing a modest fee program would generate sufficient finance to run its tourists sites. A good example of adequate fee policy can be seen in Honduras. A fee system for the reserve has been proposed, with charges of $7 for all visitors except island residents or children aged 5 and under. Seventy percent of the revenue would be earmarked for reserve management, while 30% would be earmarked for community development projects (alternative livelihoods, sanitation improvements etc.).

2. The procedure for applying and getting a permit to enter the territory of SR in RA is not regulated under Armenian legislation Access to SR for tourism purposes is granted upon permit, issued either by the executive body of SR administration or by authorized state body (Agency of Biological Resources of the Ministry of Environmental Protection). There are no regulations concerning the procedure of granting or rejecting the permit for entrance to SR. The mechanism of permit itself is recognized in different states. In countries such as New Zealand entry is permitted for scientific research and controlled by a permit system. In India tourists are not allowed to enter the territory of SR. In Sweden the regime of SR is regulated under the provisions of the Royal Decrees of 1 June and 11 October 1973 concerning the Establishment of Bird Sanctuaries and Large Nature Conservation Areas in Svalbard. Scientific research may be allowed if it does not conflict with the purpose of the reserve. Provisions include non-intrusive access for purpose of scientific research or recreation, provided these activities do

178 Materials are obtained from “Pricing policy for tourism in protected areas: lessons from Komodo National Park, Indonesia”, M.J. Walpole, H. J. Goodwin, K.G. Ward, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom

101 not spoil the natural environment. However, lack of regulations on procedure for getting a permit can potentially prevent visitors and especially foreign tourists from visiting the territory of SR, which will lead to a declared but not really existing access to SR. Taking into account the lack of practice in the field, it would be appropriate to regulate the procedure for applying for and granting permits by the act of Minister of Environmental Protection, fixing the criteria, under which the request for entrance should be evaluated. 3. Conditions for sustainable tourism development in the existing 23 State Preserves and Monuments of Nature are weak in terms of absence of approved bylaws and management plans Bylaws serve as a complete regulating mechanism, which outlines the boarders of preserve, divides the territory of the preserve into zones, establishes legal regime, building opportunities and permitted activities for each zone. Though being included in the list of protected areas categories under the Law on Specially Protected Areas, the state preserves don’t differ from any other territories of land in RA. Most of the preserves even don’t have outlined boarders. Approval of the Bylaws of the preserves and the institutions responsible for their management and maintenance should be prioritized. Problems with the Monuments of nature occur because of absence of passports. Though Article 19 of the Law on Specially Protected Nature Areas refers to the passports of monuments of nature, which are to specify the regime requirements for each monument, no passports have been developed yet.

4. It would be advisable to organize building up in the National Parks on the basis of General Scheme approved for the Park One of the problems revealed in the process of field research is the voluntary building up, which is a problem especially in Sevan National Park. There is no general planning, according to which land would be provided for lease or alienated. As a result, building up in the territory of National Park is rather irregular. It would be preferable for the administration of the park to order a General Scheme of the Park in accordance with zoning requirements, and permit building up on the basis of the scheme.

5. National Parks would benefit from inclusion of basic types of tourist products (direction of economic development of the park) in their management plans Management plan of the park must be the very act, dealing with the issue of planning of activities in the territory of national park, taking into account natural and recreational resources of the park. Dilijan National Park, for instance, is capable of offering mountaineering, mountain biking, bird watching, while Sevan might concentrate on other activities for tourists.. It must be noted, that management plans of Sevan and Dilijan National Parks contain sections on forms of tourism development, but comparison of these two plans indicates, that the wording in both documents is the same, which means that peculiarities and potential of each national park have not been duly reflected in the management plans. National Parks of Czech Republic provide good example of such an approach. On the basis of management plans Sumava National Park offers a good place for cyclists. In the northwest part of the territory, cycling paths are marked by wooden signposts with the symbol of a cyclist. In the southeast and central areas cycling paths are marked by yellow metal placards similar to those of footpaths. In Bohemian Switzerland National Park climbing is one of the traditional sports in the sandstone area. Main activities are reflected in the management plan of Yosemite National Park (USA).

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6. Funds from recovery of damages should be allocated so that the needs of preservation and development of the protected area are met According to Article 8 of the law on ”Tariffs for Reparation of Damages, Caused to Fauna and Flora as a Result of Environmental Offenses”, payment for the recovery of damage is made to state budget. However, it should be emphasized that protected areas are not economically profitable in the view of land use and are not a source of financial benefit for the state. In developing countries, finances coming from the protected areas can best be used for preservation and maintenance of protected areas. Consequently, it would be more efficient to direct part of the sums of recovered damages to the off-budget fund. According to the NGO representatives, analogical regulations exist for land use payment today and this proves to be an efficient way of protected area financing. Article 86 of the Protected Areas Law of Bulgaria provides with a good example of allocation of damage recovery sums. Under para 1 of the above mentioned article, for damages caused to protected areas, the guilty persons shall pay compensation based on a tariff adopted by the Council or Ministers but not less than the amount of the damage. Para 2 of the article states that the amounts collected under para 1 shall be transferred into: - The National Environmental Protection Fund, when the penal ordinances are issued by officials from the system of the Ministry of Environment and Waters - The Bulgarian Forest Fund when the penal ordinances are issued by officials from the system of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Agrarian Reform. - The relevant municipal fund when the penal ordinances are issued by officials of the municipalities. If the violation has been committed by a third person within properties or sites owned by natural or legal persons, the compensation shall be determined to the benefit of the relevant owner and if the violation has been committed by the owner of the property or the site, the compensation shall be transferred to the National Environmental Protection Fund. It should be mentioned, that in some states, e.g. Lithuania, the legislation does not properly regulate possible sources of money for nature conservation purposes. Entrance fee into the National Park in Lithuania (an estimated 1 million litas) goes to the municipality. This is considered as a gap in Lithuania, as the municipality is not the actual part that would use the funds to ensure nature protection. b. Recommendation of further development

1. Sustainable development of ecotourism in protected areas needs a comprehensive strategy NGO experts in the field indicate that ecotourism strategy development should precede adoption of management plans of protected areas. The fact that issues concerning protected areas are within the scope of regulation of different state institutions sets preconditions for absence of a unified approach and policy in the field of tourism (and especially ecotourism) in protected areas. Strategy and Concept are necessary tools for identifying target groups of tourists, visiting protected areas, for the number of those should be obviously limited in order to meet ecological problems and need of preservation of the area. There is an interesting approach in Bulgaria, which has an experience of interagency cooperation in the field of ecotourism. Thus, at the First National Forum “Ecotourism, Mountains, and Protected Areas – Partners in Prosperity” (2002), the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Environment and Waters and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests signed a Protocol for Cooperation for the field of ecotourism. Also, Bulgaria has

103 recently become again a leader in Europe by developing and adopting its National Ecotourism Strategy and Action Plan (NETSAP).

2. State non-commercial organizations, which perform management of the national parks, should develop a system of impact evaluation mechanisms. Legal regulation of such mechanisms should be included in the management plans of the parks. Actually, using this method would help to solve the problem, which exists in Sevan National Park and threatens Dilijan National Park in the nearest future. According to the NGO representatives in the field, the problem is that existing norms on carrying capacity of the parks are out of date. As a result, current carrying capacity of the parks is vague. Impact evaluation is a necessary step, which would help developing indicators of carrying capacity. It should be also taken into account that modern approach is that legal and binding regulation of carrying capacity norms is not efficient, as the capacity of the park can be subject to modifications. Therefore, there is a need for a flexible mechanism for periodical evaluation of carrying capacity of the park and development of strategy based on the results of the evaluation. There are different methods of impact evaluation. One of the most efficient ones is the LAC (limits of acceptable change) method. This method was effectively used in the protected areas of Finland. LAC was found to be a particularly useful approach to sustainability of nature tourism because it draws attention to human- induced changes and emphasizes that all the limits are set by managerial decisions; they are not ”the objective truth” in themselves. Moreover, consideration of the limits of acceptable change during the planning process helps to draw attention to development trends that are threatening the area, and to find ways of stopping this development. The Limits of Acceptable Change process was modified to fit the purposes of the nationwide Metsähallitus project. It turned out to be a nine-step process as follows: 1. The goals for nature tourism were set in Finland’s publicly owned protected areas 2. More specific desired future conditions were defined for nature tourism and its impacts. 3–4. A comprehensive list of indicators and ways of measuring them was developed. 5–6. Previous and current values of the indicators were inventoried. 7–8. Standards and desired future values were set for the indicators. 9. Management actions available to achieve or to maintain desired conditions were considered.179 Management of protected areas in the view of carrying capacity is the subject of UNEP Guidelines on Development of National Parks and Protected Areas for Tourism of 1992. Chapters 4 and 5, namely “Planning for Tourism in National Parks” and “Guidelines for Development of Tourist Facilities in National Parks” include detailed recommendations on necessary measures taken by the managers of protected areas.

3. In order to increase the quality of B&Bs in communities, situated in or close to the protected areas, the state could consider implementation of tax or other legal regime privileges. Field research and especially expert consultations have revealed the problem of low quality of service and poor conditions of B&Bs in villages or towns of Dilijan, Gegharkuniq and other regions, where tourists visiting protected areas are

179 Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 2, (available at http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2004/mwp002.htm )

104 potentially motivated to stay. In the view of experts, qualification of B&Bs would help to increase the quality of service and therefore promote tourism in the area, but qualification presumes that service provider is operating in legal field and paying taxes and other state duties, not reasonable for small B&B. Tax exemptions or rate reduction could serve as a significant incentive for attracting unregistered B&Bs to legal business field, which is a prerequisite for efficient state regulation and control over tourism services, provided by them.

4. Organizations, responsible for management of protected areas, should step towards the adjusting to UNEP Principles on implementation of sustainable tourism Part 2.c of “Planning Measures” calls the stakeholders to: - Introduce measures to control and monitor tour operators, tourism facilities, and tourists in any area. - Apply economic instruments, such as user fees or bonds. - Zone of land and marine as an appropriate mechanism to influence the siting and type of tourism development by confining development to specified areas where environmental impact would be minimized. - Adopt planning measures to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, reduce pollution and the generation of wastes, and promote sound waste management. - Introduce new or amended planning or related legislation where necessary.

In conclusion it’s worth mentioning that Government and environmental protection NGOs are often against enriching infrastructure in the territory of national parks. The purpose is the anxiety about the danger tourism can cause nature in general and to endemic species in particular. However, case studies from African national parks indicate, that this approach is not always justified. The Salonga National Park in Congo was created in 1970, in order to protect the bonobo chimpanzee which is endemic to the country’s forests. The park is inhabited by about 1,500 residents originating from several tribes. They inhabit the central part of the protected area. This is an agricultural community in which manioc, rice, maize and bananas are grown. Honey is gathered on park grounds. No infrastructure exists here for tourism. Due to its poor accessibility, including the lack of access roads, the park has never been visited by tourists. The local population is not aware of the value of the area and is not in any way engaged in its functioning. The main threat to the bonobo is posed by the poachers, who poach the animals for meat. Other threats such as war, lack of any government involvement, lack of infrastructure, technical equipment, and funds needed to pay for guards, may cause the species, which is such an integral part of the fauna, to further decrease in number or even go extinct. From the examples presented, one can draw the conclusion that when it is not possible for tourism to develop, the result is weak local development, which in turn results in the over-exploitation of park resources. The protected areas where tourism is able to develop are in a different situation. This is well-illustrated in the case of the Amboseli National Park. The benefits that the local population takes advantage of are almost exclusively the result of the development of tourism in the park.180

180 See Anna Dudek, “The development of tourism in protected areas and the exploitation of the natural environment by local communities in Africa and Asia”, Miscellanea Geographica, Warszawa 2004, Vol. 11 105 PART IV: SAFETY STANDARDS AND PRACTICES IN TOURISM FACILITIES AND SITES

1. FIRE SAFETY Summary Developed tourism industry assumes also ensuring safe environment during tourists’ stay in the country. One of the constituents of safety of tourists relates to the fire safety issues. RA fire safety rules provide binding regulations for fire safety issues and do not specifically address the fire safety issues in accommodation establishments and other tourism services. The following Paragraph examines existing fire safety regulations in RA, addressing issues of evacuation plan, fire extinguishers, fire fighting, alarm and alerting equipment. At the same time, a comparative analysis of existing regulations with the Council of Europe Recommendation specifically referring to fire safety in holes is provided and recommendations on further development of fire safety regulation specifically deriving from needs of tourism industry are made.

1.1. General overview of fire safety regulation in RA

Fire safety issues in RA are regulated basically by “Fire safety law” of RA181 and by “Fire safety rules” of RA.182 These legal acts refer to the relations of all the state and local-self governmental bodies, as well as organizations and citizens regarding the fire safety issues in general. Article 3 of “Fire safety law” refers to the main definitions included in the Law, under which: • “fire” is understood as is a burning, out of any control, which causes moral, physical and material damages to a person, to social and state interests and is dangerous for human life and health, • “fire safety” is protection of human beings, material goods, society and state from fire, • “fire safety means” are actions towards realizing fire safety rules. Under Law on “Fire safety law” the system of bodies responsible for fire safety includes the state and local safe governmental bodies, as well as organizations (Article 6). Article 8 of the Law addresses the binding nature of fire-preventing normative documents (technical regulations) for construction and reconstruction, as well as exploitation of buildings and houses. The compliance to the rules of fire safety and fire safety equipment is inspected in accordance with the RA Law on “Organizing and conducting inspections in the Republic of Armenia”. Chapter 5 of the “Fire safety law” in two separate articles provides the rights and responsibilities for organizations and citizens in the field of fire safety. The “Fire safety rules” of RA address the measures which must be undertaken to prevent fire, during the fire and after the fire in different fields. The Rules provide for the responsibility of fire safety bodies to fix in visible places of buildings special stands with fire safety phone numbers (Section 2, point 8). In addition Section 2 (point 9) of “Fire safety rules” special notification must be fixed in

181Adopted by RA National Assembly on April 18, 2001 182Adopted by Order of the Head of the Department of Emergency Situations to the Government of May 27, 2003 No 524

106 visible places in the buildings with prohibition of smoking. The Rules also require that fire exit stairs be always free (Section 3, point 16). The Section 8 (points 88 and 89) of “Fire safety rules” contains important provisions, which refer to the actions to be undertaken in case of fire. According to it, citizens are, particularly, obligated to inform fire safety bodies about fire as soon as possible and conduct special measures to put out the fire, save human lives and goods. Another important provision established by the Rules is the requirement for obligatory training in the field of fire-preventing security for the heads of various organizations or the employees appointed by the latter. It is worth of mentioning that the RA fire safety legislation does not specially refer to the fire safety issues in the hotels and other accommodation establishments. The “Fire safety rules” provide only two provisions directly referring to the fire safety issues in the accommodation services. According to point 97 of the Rules, in the rooms and lobbies of hotels, motels, campings there must be fixed pointers (signs, indicators) directing to exits in case of evacuation. Moreover, in order to insure successful evacuation of residents the staff of the hotels must be provided with means of personal defense (respirators, special masks, etc.) (point 98 of the Rules). It should also be emphasized that the fire safety requirements are not a part of classification standards for hotels (Annex 2 of GOA Decree of 10.06.2004 N 946 on “Adoption Of The Order And Conditions Of Providing Hotel Services, Certificates of Category Of Hotel Businesses And Procedure Of Certification”). Meanwhile, the classification standards established by the same Decree contain a mandatory requirement for the existence of fire-preventing facilities and fire-preventing instructions for classification of leisure homes, specialized camps and tourist sites (Annexes 5 and 9 of the Decree, points 5). It is, however, advisable to provide for a uniform approach to fire safety issues for all types of accommodation establishments in the hotel classification standards. At the same time, one should mention that the application for receiving a certificate of category includes necessary documents showing the conformity of the accommodation building to the requirements of fire safety established by the “Fire Safety Rules”. In the absence of the above-mentioned document the conclusion of the authorized state body in the field of fire safety should be provided (point 5 (c) of the GOA Decree N 946).183

1.2. Evacuation plan

Under Article 3 of Law on “Fire safety” the term “fire technical products” include fire extinguishers, information bank, fire suits, fire safety materials, special communication and governing means, computer programs, as well as fire prevention means. However, the Article 3 does not directly refer to the term of “evacuation plan”. One can state that evacuation plan is included in the meaning of Article 3, which refers to the fire safety documents though there is also no direct mention of evacuation plan. Thus, neither “Fire safety law” nor “Fire safety rules” of RA does not define what evacuation plan and fire extinguishers mean. Section 3 (point 11) of “Fire safety rules” provides that “when at the same time more than 10 people are present in a building, there must be fixed exit pointers (indicators) in visible places in order to inform people of exits in the case of fire”. The

183 The field research reveals that in practice qualified accommodation establishments may afford the existence of modern fire safety equipments in their establishments, however there are also other lodgings which do not comply with those requirements (See Annex 2, Chart 18). 107 same Article has a provision according to which in case there are 50 or more people present in building, a fire action plan is required for people responsible for this building. Thus, only this article somehow explains the idea of evacuation plan, but again does not directly speak about it and besides does not include other points that must be also included in evacuation plan. Examination of existing experience in other courtiers show that “evacuation plan” is considered to be a detailed sign giving instructions for what to do in case of a fire, on which are marked escape routes, emergency exits and other information about fire extinguishers, smoke ventilation hatches, location of toxic substances, location of fireman’s equipment, sprinkler/ CO2 systems e. c. So “Fire safety rules” and “Fire safety law” of RA must be amended and include this definition. In addition, “Fire extinguisher” is considered to be a cylinder (gas balloon) used to put out the fire. Thus, the definitions of “evacuation plan” and “fire extinguishers” should be also added to “Fire safety rules” or “Fire safety law” bearing in mind the above-mentioned definitions. Another important issue regarding the evacuation plan is how to define the “evacuation plan” so that during the fire people could find it quickly in visible places and coordinate their acts. In practice one can meet various names for the evacuation plan.184

1.3 Fire extinguishers

Under Article 3 of Law on “Fire safety” fire extinguishers are defined as means of fire-technical product. As already mentioned above, the term “fire extinguisher” is not specified in any other provision of above Law. Fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a handheld cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire. There are different types of fire extinguishers consisting from: dry chemical, 185 foams, water or clean agents (Halon, CO2.) Examination of existing practice in a number of countries, shows that contrary to the relevant legislation of RA, there is a legislative demand that the fire extinguishers must not only be put in necessary places of buildings, but also must include an advertisement on how they should be used. 186

184 The more popular definition are in particular: evacuation plan, situation plan, location map, site plan, fire escape map, fire plan, emergency map, etc. 185 Ammonium phosphate, Potassium bicarbonate, Sodium bicarbonate, which interrupts the fire's chemical reaction. More information is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_extinguishers#Types_of_ extinguishing_agents 186 For instance, in Australia the legal requirement is that the following information should be provided by enterprises: “To operate a fire extinguisher, remember the word PASS: - Pull the pin. Hold the extinguisher with the nozzle pointing away from you, and release the locking mechanism. - Aim low. Point the extinguisher at the base of the fire. - Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly. - Sweep the nozzle from side-to-side. More information is available at http://www.fire-extinguisher-depot.com 108 Thus, it is advisable that the RA “Fire Safety Rules” provide requirement for indicating the way of using the fire extinguishers, which will ensure the safety and efficiency of its use in emergency situations.

1.4 Fire-fighting, alarm and alerting equipment

RA fire safety legislation is silent on alarm and alerting equipments. These issues are addressed in details in the Council abovementioned Recommendation 86/666/EEC. Thus, under Point 7 of the Recommendation the emergency fire- fighting equipment is intended to fight the outbreak of a fire and must be distinguished from more powerful fire-fighting equipment intended to control an established fire and generally used by fire-fighting experts. The emergency fire-fighting equipment shall consist of portable extinguishers and equivalent fixed devices. Under the requirement of para 7.2 the hotels shall be equipped with a reliable acoustic alarm system, the noise of which must be distinguishable from that of the telephone system. Moreover, it must be possible to alert the emergency services easily either by the public telephone service or via a direct line or by any other suitable equivalent means (Para 7.3 of the Recommendation).

1.5 Gap analysis of RA fire safety legislation and recommendations

1. It is advisable that the RA classification standard for hotels and motels provided in the Annex 2 of the GOA Decree 946 establish minimal standards for fire safety for hotels and motels. An interesting approach in this respect contain new hotel classification standards for Lebanon, which envisage the following minimal fire safety rules for all ranks of hotels: • There must be operational, single-station smoke detectors in each guest unit, regularly maintained and tested. • From each guest unit there must be two separate means of escape to emergency exits with clearly marked signs and free from obstruction. The exits and halls must be equipped with security lighting, which must be powered by permanent energy sources/generators. • There should be a proper type and amount of fire fighting equipment such as hose reels, portable fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, depending on the area. Equipment must be available on every level of the building. It must be serviced regularly and staff should be trained in its use. • Notices in all bedrooms and public areas instructing guests as to what they should do and where they should go in case of a fire or other emergency. • Stairs and enclosed hallways must have smoke vents. The ventilation system must be controlled by an automatic fire detection system. • All constructions and facilities must be made of incombustible materials or at least materials covered with incombustible coating, according to reasonable common industry standards.187 2. The terms “evacuation plan” and “fire extinguisher” should be defined either in the “Fire safety law” or “Fire safety rules”.

187 Modernizing Lebanon’s Tourism Classification System, prepared by SRI International, USAID/Lebanon, February 2000, p. 20 109 3. The Law on “Fire safety” underlines the importance of educating people about fire safety rules. Thus joint measures should be undertaken in order to make theses studies more efficient and more common, so that the people and particularly the staff of accommodation establishments are trained and well-informed of those rules. 4. It suggested also, that the legislation of RA provides a provision indicating what kind of, how many, in what places and conditions should the evacuation plans be placed in buildings. When observing the western legislation, we can even meet an article about on what hight should the evacuation plan be placed on the walls which is also very important by the way. That is why all the definitions should be regulated and explained either in law on “Fire Safety” or the “Fire safety rules in details. 5. It is advisable that the legislation of RA creates the legal framework requiring or encouraging the hotels to use technology in buildings (sensors) to help people during their evacuation. For instance, giving them specific information on which route to take or providing them with a sensor at each door to let them know if there is fire or smoke behind the door. This requirement has been proposed as a minimal fire safety standard, which is mandatory for hotel classification in Lebanon for all ranks of hotels.188. 6. Relevant legislation of RA should include not only the definition of fire extinguisher but also provide basic rules of using it. Moreover, it is advisable to state that the instructions should be at least in Armenian and English. 7. In all the accommodation buildings there should be information about fire safety in visible places. In fact RA legislation is almost silent about this important issue. “Fire safety law” and “Fire safety rules” don’t include any other information besides fire exit pointers. People should be able to read in a visible place not only where from to escape and leave the building during the fire but also they should be provided with all the necessary basic information of other steps to do in case of fire emergency. 8. Current technical developments allow us to think also about new technologies such as sensors in order to prevent fires more effectively, technologies which will make possible the detection of smoke and fire behind the door, and thus make relevant amendments in the legislation and possibly making the existence of such technologies as mandatory requirement in the classification standards for all ranks of hotels in RA. 9. There should be done relevant amendments in the Law on “Fire safety” concerning the equipment of hotels with alarm and alerting systems as described in the above mentioned EEC Council Recommendation 86/666 On Fire Safety In Existing Hotels. 10. The fire safety legislation of RA should be amended by adding relevant provisions regarding to arrangement of fire escape routes as provided in the EEC Recommendation 86/666. The matter is that buildings may be equipped with fire extinguishers, evacuation plans, but if escape routes are arranged in a wrong way, the “Fire safety rules” will not be possible to enforce and follow in practice.

188 Modernizing Lebanon’s Tourism Classification System, Op. cit. 110 1.7. Recommendations deriving from EEC Recommendation on fire safety in existing hotels

As already mentioned above, “Fire safety rules” of RA address fire safety rules in hotels only with two provisions.189 Meanwhile, the EEC Council Recommendation of 22 December 1986 On Fire Safety In Existing Hotels is especially aimed at regulation of the fire safety issues in hotels. Thus, the Recommendation is a valuable source for elaboration and further development of fire safety regulations for hotels in RA. Council Recommendation states that the introduction of fire precautions in existing hotels is intended to: 1. reduce the risk of fire breaking out, 2. prevent the spread of flames and smoke, 3. ensure that all occupants can be evacuated safely, 4. enable the emergency services to take action. Thus, bearing in mind the Recommendation, a number of suggestions can be made in order to include some additional provisions in the “Fire safety rules” of RA, as provided below: 1. The Recommendation provides that the emergency fire-fighting equipment (extinguishers, etc.) should be provided and maintained in proper working order (point 2.7). The Law on “Fire safety” of RA limits only to the definition of the “fire extinguisher and it does not contain any provision regarding the proper condition and working order of fire extinguishers. 2. The Council Recommendation also regulates issues of coverings and decorations, electric lighting, heating, ventilation systems, safety instructions. In this respect, the “Fire safety rules” of RA simply provide that the power of lightings of Christmas trees in buildings should not exceed 12W (“Fire safety Rules” of RA, point 39). Meanwhile, the Council Regulation refers to the decorations which include not only Christmas tree lights but all other decorative elements in general. 3. Principal lighting system of a hotel establishment must be an electric lighting system. “Fire rules law” of RA only prohibits the use of candles and other dangerous light effects (point 87 of the Rules). It must also provide that inside the buildings the lighting system must be only electric. 4. Heating may be provided either by a central heating system or by fixed individual heaters. “Fire safety rules” of RA are silent about “central heating system”. The Section 5 of “Fire safety rules”, which refers to “Main fire safety requirements to heating and ventilation systems”, does not distinguish central and individual heating systems as in above mentioned recommendation. Besides, the Recommendation includes a provision (5.2) which requires that boiler rooms of the heaters must be separate from other rooms in the building which would be better also include in “Fire safety rules” of RA. The point 5.2.2 of the above mentioned recommendation provides that the walls of the boiler room must have a fire resistance (REI) of at least 60 minutes (REI60) and the door sets must have fire resistance (RE) of at least 60 minutes (RE 60); the doors must be self-closing and bear an appropriate sign indicating that they must be kept closed. This point 5.2.2 of the following recommendation is not also regulated by “Fire safety rules”. Thus the Fire safety rules should be amended in the view of the above-mentioned provisions of the EEC Recommendation.

189 See RA “Fire safety rules”, Chapter 3, points 97 and 98 and Section 3, points 11and 12 111 5. Under the Recommendation where an existing hotel is equipped with a ventilation system, measures must be taken to prevent the spread of fire, hot gases and smoke through the supply ducts of such a system. As already mentioned above the hotels in RA should be equipped with smoke ventilation system, consequently “Fire safety law” of RA should be amended. 6. Emergency fire-fighting equipment is intended to fight the outbreak of a fire and must be distinguished from more powerful fire-fighting equipment intended to control an established fire and generally used by fire-fighting experts. The Law on “Fire safety” regulates the issue of fire-fighting equipment but does not make distinction between their powerful and generally used types which accordingly are to be used in different cases. Thus, relevant amendments should be done also with this respect. 7. “Fire safety rules” should regulate not only the fire escape indicators and routes but also the issue of arrangement of fire exit routes as in the Council Recommendation 86/666. The Recommendation provides that the escape routes must be arranged and located in such a way as to lead independently into the street or into an open space large enough to allow people to move away from the building and to enable persons to evacuate the premises quickly and safely. 8. In fact Points 40 to 45 of “Fire safety rules” regulate the evacuation requirements but do not include several issues addressed in the above mentioned recommendation. The RA “Fire safety rules” provide that doors of evacuation routes of the building must open to outside. The term “outside” can be understood differently because it depends on what side of the door the person is standing. The following recommendation contrary to this provides that the doors located on the escape routes, must be capable of opening in the intended direction of evacuation (point 1.2).This definition can be understood in one way only, because “intended direction of evacuation” can be only from the building to outside of building. 9. “Fire safety rules” are silent also about mirrors. Contrary to this the Recommendation provides that mirrors which might mislead occupants as to the direction of exits and stairways must not be hung in escape routes (point 1.2.5.). 10. “Fire safety rules” mention carpets (point 45), which must be fixed on the floor, electric lamps which must be kept at crew (point 44), and prohibitions to make any obstacles on the evacuation routes (Point 42). However, these provisions do not contain anything about staircases which is also referred in the following recommendation. According to the Recommendation various criteria may be used to determine whether an existing hotel has a sufficient number of staircases (Para 1.3.). If the criterion used is the number of persons, hotels with two or more levels above the ground which can accommodate a total of more than 50 persons must have at least two staircases (para 1.3.2.). An outside staircase may be accepted as a second staircase, provided that it offers satisfactory conditions of safety (para 1.3.6.).

2. FOOD AND SANITARY STANDARDS

Summary Issues of sanitary standards and food safety are largely interconnected. Actually, on one hand food safety is treated as a part of sanitary-epidemic safety in general, on the other hand there are specific regulations, dealing with organizational aspects of food safety. Therefore, the Paragraph provides analysis of the following main issues: - Binding legal regulations in the field of sanitary safety,

112 - Norms on food safety, which are specially designed for organizations, producing and selling food, as well as providing public food services - Internationally recognized safeguard mechanisms in the field of food safety (HACCP procedures, implementation of precautionary principle) - State control over food safety, which primarily takes place in the form of conformity assessment - State control over the observance of sanitary norms - Responsibility for infringement of food and sanitary safety norms. Armenia has made significant legislative developments in the field; however, implementation of those is not completely achieved. Major problems, revealed during the field research concern the complexity of legal regulations, lack of training on proper fulfillment of requirements and lack of assistance on the part of the state. Provided analysis and recommendations are based on the examination of existing Armenian regulations and practices of their implementation, as well as comparison with the relevant experience in EU and USA.

2.1. Sanitary Safety

There are several levels of legislation, dealing with issues of sanitary safety – laws, subordinate legislation and standards. Sanitary standards and control over their observance are common both for residents and non-residents on the territory of RA. This principle is outlined in Article 3 of the Law on Ensuring Sanitary-Epidemic Safety of the Population.190 Article 4 of the aforementioned law establishes total obligation of observance of sanitary norms by persons, organizations, state bodies and officials. Persons and organizations are obliged to fulfill the requirements of sanitary legislation of RA, perform actions arising out of decisions of authorized bodies with respect to ensuring the sanitary safety. In addition, organizations must also take sanitary-hygienic and anti-epidemic measures to prevent and minimize environment pollution and inform the authorized body about any emergency situation or technological process, endangering the observance of sanitary norms. Article 13 of the law on Ensuring Sanitary-Epidemic Safety of the Population deals directly with general requirements of ensuring sanitary safety in the organizations, producing, transporting, storing and selling food and raw stock. Under the aforementioned article, the processes of production, transportation, storage and sale of food and raw stock must comply with the sanitary norms. In case of non- compliance food and raw stock items are subject to withdrawal from production or sale. Moreover, new technologies of food production, production of new types of food is allowed only after receiving positive results of sanitary examination. The issues of sanitary safety of the food are also regulated by GOA Decree No. 2313-N on “Technical Regulations on Requirements to Food Providing Services”.191 According to the Regulations, they apply to restaurants, cafes, bars, buffets, diners, food self-services, units of preparation and distribution of fast food, other units, undertaking activities of providing cooked food. Regulations cover safety of cooked food, raw stock, used for its preparation, and food services (Chapter 1, pp. 1 and 2 of the Technical Regulations). Chapter 3 provides for detailed regulations on:

190 Adopted by the Supreme Council of RA on 16 November 1992 191 GoA Decree No. 2313-N on “Technical Regulations on Requirements to Food Providing Services” of December 22, 2005 113 - Requirements to raw stock and food (toxicity, observance of Sanitary Norms on Hygienic Requirements to the Safety and Food Value of Raw Stock and Food192 and Quality Standards of Drinking Water193) - Requirements to storage and transportation of raw stock, food and cookery (information about the product on the label, packaging, observance of Sanitary Norms on Hygienic Requirements to Public Food Organizations194 and Sanitary Norms on Terms and Conditions of Storing Perishable Food195) - Requirements to organizations, providing public food services (lighting, observance of Sanitary norms, concerning affordable level of noise196, fire safety standards and norms, accessibility for the disabled, packaging and dish materials, air conditioning, etc.) - Requirements to personnel responsible for preparation and serving food (periodical medical examination under GOA Decree No. 347-N, 27 March 2003, vocational training, fire safety awareness, etc.) - Environmental requirements.

2.2 Food safety

Countries have different food safety experiences and food safety risks in domestic food supplies. Risk levels vary internationally due to differences in available technology, food production practices, cultural differences and geographic or climatic conditions. However, the differences between food safety standards, being impossible and inappropriate to overcome, should be minimized to the lowest possible level in order not to cause trade barriers and impact the willingness of tourists to visit the country. There are at least seven food safety regulatory trends that can commonly be found in industrialized nations: 1) Forming one agency to focus on food safety, 2) Using risk analysis to design regulation, 3) Recognizing that a farm-to-table approach is often desirable for addressing food safety hazards, 4) Adopting the HACCP system as a basis for new regulation of microbial pathogens in food, 5) Adopting more stringent standards for many food safety hazards, 6) Adding new and more extensive regulation to handle newly identified hazards, and,

192 Sanitary norms No. 2-III-4.9-01-2003 were approved by the Minister of Health on 28 March 2003 (Order No. 181). They contain detailed regulations on indicators, affordable levels of chemical elements and second helpings in various types of food. 193 Sanitary regulations and norms No. 2-III-A2-1-2002 were approved by the Minister of Health on 25 December 2002 (Order No. 876) 194 Sanitary norms No. 2-III-4.2-01-2003 were approved by the Minister of Health on 2 May 2003 (Order No. 302). These norms provide for detailed regulations on hygienic requirements to disposition of public food units, water-supply and drainage system, microclimate in production departments, heating and ventilation, necessary temperature for each season, lighting, noise, equipment, dishes and packaging, storing, raw stock treatment, serving, deratization and desinfection, personnel and treatment of certain types of food. 195 Sanitary norms No. 2-III-4.4-1-2001 were approved by the Minister of Health on 28 December 2001 (Order No. 961). These norms specify terms of storage and conditions of each type of food and cookeries (including packaging and temperature) 196 Sanitary norms No. 2-III-11.3-2002 on noise level were approved by Order No. 138 of the Minister of Health of 6 March 2002 114 7) Improving market performance in food safety through provision of information.197 Recent legislative developments in Armenia clearly demonstrate that the country has actually followed each of these steps on legislative level and is in the very beginning of implementation of some of them in practice. The agency dealing with the issues of food safety is the Ministry of Agriculture. However, the question of the authorized body will once more be referred to by August 2007, in the context of ensuring existence of unified control, traceability and farm-to-table approach under new Law on Food Safety. Food safety regulatory agencies worldwide are increasingly adopting the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system as a foundation for new regulations to control microbial pathogens in food. HACCP is a system of identifying, monitoring, and controlling hazards at critical control points in the food production and processing chain. The public sector in many industrialized countries mandates HACCP for some foods, while the private sector voluntarily implements it for other foods. Food manufacturing plants are required to have HACCP plans to monitor and control production operations. Plants must first identify food safety hazards and critical control points in their particular production, processing, and marketing activities. Plants must then establish critical limits, or maximum or minimum levels, for each critical control point. Each plant must list procedures for monitoring the critical limits to ensure they are met and the frequency of their monitoring activities. HACCP also includes steps for recordkeeping and verification. On November 27, 2006 the National Assembly adopted the Law on “Food Safety”. The Law is based on the principle of food chain or farm-to-table approach, which has been proposed and fostered in EU countries. One of the main advantages of the Law is that it provides for definitions of issues, regarding food safety, such as food chain, traceability, consistent with the corresponding definitions of Article 3 of the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.198 The Regulation (Preamble, p. 28) especially underscores the significance of the principle of traceability: “Experience has shown that functioning of internal market in food or feed can be jeopardized where it is impossible to trace food and feed. It is therefore necessary to establish a comprehensive system of traceability within food and feed businesses so that targeted and accurate withdrawals can be undertaken or information given to consumers or control officials, thereby avoiding the potential for unnecessary wider disruption in the event of food safety problems”.199 At the same time, for the first time in Armenian practice the Law establishes a self-control mechanism based on the HACCP procedures. This mechanism, as well as other procedures, established by the Law (procedure for taking the items for examination, peculiarities of control procedures, list of prohibited food supplements, procedure for managing the register of special food and procedure for detaining and destructing food items) will start as soon as the GOA approves subordinate legislation.200 The authorized body will provide producers of food with consultations and other assistance in introducing HACCP procedures.

197 Buzby, C. Jean, and Mitchell, Lorraine “Food Safety and Trade: Regulations, Risks, and Reconciliation”, International Trade and Food Safety, AER-828, USDA/ERS, November, 2003 198 Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002, Laying Down the General Principles and Requirements of Food Law, Establishing the European Food Safety Authority and Laying Down Procedures in Matters of Food Safety. 199 The same approach can be found in White Paper on Food Safety, presented by the Commission (COM/99/0719 final), 200 Deadlines for approval fall within the period from March to August 2007, the deadlines for certain actions aiming at implementation of the Law on Food Safety are provided in the Decree of the Prime Minister No. 108- A of February 17, 2007 115 The Law also reflects the precautionary principle approach. Food safety is a sphere where proper and timely measures are extremely important, as they can directly affect human health. That’s why principles and approaches in the field of state food safety control should not be the same as in the field of financial or fiscal control. In its Green Paper on the General Principles of Food Law in the European Union of 30 April 1997, the European Commission reiterates that protective measures should be based on risk assessment and where a full risk assessment is not possible measures should be based on the precautionary principle".201 On 13 April 1999, the Council adopted a Resolution urging the Commission, inter alia, "to be in the future even more determined to be guided by the precautionary principle in preparing proposals for legislation and in its other consumer-related activities and develop as a priority clear and effective guidelines for the application of this principle". The idea of precautionary principle is to prevent the hazards by taking the risk of decision making. Under new Law on Food Safety inspections and even measures such as withdrawal of the food from the market are based on existence of a reasonable doubt (Article 12). Where there is uncertainty as to the existence or extent of risks to human health, the institutions may take protective measures without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of those risks become fully apparent. Public food safety issues are also specifically regulated under Chapter 3 of the Law on Trade and Services. The Law contains various requirements to the organization of public food services, including, for example, existence of menu with information about quantity and price of each product, equipment necessary for proper preparation and serving of the food, lavatories, etc (Arts. 11, 12). The Law introduced an advanced approach towards skills and preparedness of employees of public food items, working immediately with the clients: according to Article 12, para 6, they must have a document attesting their professional training. However, the aforementioned paragraph of the law will be in force from 1 July 2008 in Yerevan and centers of marzes. The rest of the territory of RA will be subject to the regulation from 1 July 2010. Guarantee to be served by properly trained person increases the quality of information about food served in public food items and is an additional factor impacting the situation with food safety. Another important aspect of food safety is the awareness of the consumer. This issue is covered under the Law on Consumers’ Rights Protection and GOA Decree202. Information about the food producer provided to the consumer must comply with the requirements of the Law on Consumers’ Rights Protection and provisions of technical regulations. Information about the goods is provided to the consumer in the form of technical documentation, labels, price lists, conformity marks, declaration of conformity, conformity certificate or other ways, recognized by trade usages. The producer has to provide information about the organization or office, where consumers are eligible to complain about the products. The producer decides the amount of information provided to the consumer on its own, taking into account liability for incomplete information. The seller must ensure possibility for the consumer to become aware of the above mentioned regulations by placing them on notification boards or other accessible spots in the place of his activities.

201 The same approach is reflected in Resolution of European Parliament of 10 March 1998 on the Green Paper, Resolution of Joint Parliamentary Committee of the EEA of 16 March 1999 on Food Safety in the EEA 202 GoA Decree No. 1923-N on Approval of the Procedure for Making the Consumer Aware of the Information Concerning the Requirements and Contents of Information on Separate Types of Goods (Services), of November 7, 2002 116 2.3 Procedure for conformity assessment and certification

Obligatory certification

Technical Regulations govern the procedure for obligatory certification of conformity of public food services with the requirements of the Regulations. Under Chapter 4, point 29 of the Regulations, the conformity certification is proved by a certificate of conformity, issued in accordance with GOA Decree.203 Certification is one of the two methods of assessment of conformity of activities with the requirements of technical regulations (the other method is declaration of conformity). Certification is used in cases when declaration cannot be an efficient model of attesting conformity, because of the lack of evidence on the side of the public food services provider. In other words, certification and declaration aim at providing the certifying organization with necessary data for making a decision. In order to assess the conformity and issue the applicant a certificate, the certifying organization, chosen by the applicant, identifies the service, evaluates the conformity of technological processes of production of cookery and food prepared in place with the existing regulations, assesses the experience of service provider, estimates the conformity of serving process and the quality of service (convenience for the consumers, ethical and esthetical factors). Point 30 of the Regulations lists methods available for evaluation of each of the aforementioned factors, which include examination of technical documentation, testing, inspection in place, etc. Checking conformity of the cookery and food prepared in place is performed with the help of laboratory expertise. In case of positive results of the evaluation, the certifying organization issues a certificate of conformity. The certificate is in force for maximum three years from the date of issue. The certifying organization exercises control over the observance of technical regulations and is entitled to suspend the legal force of the certificate or cancel the certificate if the services are inconsistent with the safety requirements and there is no possibility to cure the non-conformity or it is not cured within a month from disclosure (point 8 of the GOA Decree No. 1170-N). The cancellation of the certificate is reported to the holder and authorized state body, responsible for inspections. It should be noted, that obligatory certification of conformity attests the conformity of food and public food services with the provisions of Technical Regulations. Therefore, in addition to control exercised by certifying organization (which is a legal entity or a private enterprise, accredited by state) there is also state control over the conformity certification process. State control is exercised by authorized national body (which is the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development) and the General State Inspector of State Control over Conformity of Goods and Services with the Requirements of Technical Regulations (the inspection is within the Ministry of Agriculture of RA – state body responsible for food safety). State control is carried out in compliance with the Law on “Organization and Execution of Inspections in RA”. According to the Law on Food Safety, food and items adjacent to food are also subject to obligatory conformity assessment (Article 9).

Voluntary certification

Obligatory conformity assessment and certification do not preclude an enterprise, providing food services or producing food from additionally applying for

203 GoA Decree No. 1170-N on Approving Schemes Applicable for Obligatory Certification of Conformity of Goods and Services and Identification Marks for the Schemes, adopted on August 12, 2004 117 voluntary certification. Voluntary conformity assessment and certification is also carried out by accredited organizations. Voluntary assessment certifies the compliance of applicant’s services, products, technologies, etc with national and international standards.

Standards Standards happen to be the next and most detailed level of regulations. Standards and their legal force are regulated under Law on Standardization of RA204. Standards (including both national and international standards, recognized by national standard system) are voluntary (Article 3.1 of the Law on Standardization). Standards are approved by National Institute of Standards under the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development. National Institute of Standards is a member of ISO. Under Article 6, para 4 of the Law on Standardization, examination of international standards and development of national standards is carried out by technical of standardization. Committees are composed of specialists and representatives of state and local self-governmental bodies on a voluntary basis. Failing voluntary composition, committees are being formed by the National Standards Institute. International standards and their use in technical regulations on products, production methods and services play an important role in sustainable development and trade facilitation through the promotion of safety, quality and technical compatibility. ISO covers some technical fields, a number of service sectors, management systems and conformity assessment. Increasingly, national health, safety and environmental regulations rely on international ISO standards to provide the technical specifications against which products can be evaluated. With the increasing of markets, international standards (as opposed to regional or national standards) have become critical to the trading process, ensuring a level playing field for exports, and ensuring imports meet internationally recognized levels of performance and safety. In this respect, recognition of ISO standards is an important and positive step for Armenia. In the field of food and sanitary safety ISO plays a dual role. On one hand, ISO standards give internationally agreed requirements for products, services, systems, processes and materials. This is especially crucial in tourism facilities, as tourist in Armenia will be eager to consume goods and services, complying with what he would reasonably use in his home country or anywhere else. On the other hand, ISO also plays an important role, when it is necessary to assess and to show whether or not requirements are being met: ISO/IEC 17000 offers standards and guides for these conformity assessment activities and the organizations that carry them out. ISO itself does not carry out conformity assessment activities. As it was already mentioned, conformity assessment is carried out by state accredited organizations. Accreditation is performed in accordance with the Law on Conformity Assessment.205 In spite of the principle of voluntary nature of standards, the Law has actually recognized ISO/IEC 17000 as binding (Art.19). Therefore, under existing Armenian regulations, the procedure of conformity assessment takes place in accordance with internationally recognized principles. In practice the situation with the standards is the following: only a few ISO standards have been recognized as being integrated into national standards system.

204 Adopted by the National Assembly of RA on November 9, 1999 205 Adopted on by the National Assembly on May 26, 2004 118 2.4 Control over the observance of sanitary norms

The issue of control is addressed in the Law on Ensuring Sanitary-Epidemic Safety of the Population (Article 24). The law regulates functions of controlling body but does not provide details, such as frequency of inspections, etc. As a result, frequency of inspections depends on the administrative decision of the controlling body varies from object to object. Thus, according to the results of field research, inspections in public food organizations take place from once a month to once a year206, but do not cause any serious problems to the business of these organizations.207 Structure and functions of the state body, responsible for the sanitary and epidemic safety in RA, were revised by the GOA Decree No. 1316-N.208 According to the Bylaws of the State Hygienic and Anti-epidemic Inspection of RA, the latter is a separate department of the Ministry of Health of RA, responsible for the control over sanitary and epidemic safety of the population and imposing responsibility measures. Control is exercised with the help of a number of measures, such as laboratory examinations, inspections, hygienic expertise, examination of the documents obtained from persons and legal entities, sanitary-hygienic and epidemic measures and preventive actions aiming at prevention of infectious diseases and poisoning, analysis and assessment of sanitary safety situation in RA, imposing responsibility on infringers of sanitary-hygienic norms and standards (Chapter 3, p.8 of the Bylaws). It should be stressed that aforementioned control encompasses almost every aspect of public facilities, including transport, production and realization of food, water state, sanitary standards in construction activities and elsewhere. In order to implement the requirements of the Decree, Minister of Health of RA issued Order No.1311-N “On Approval of Hygienic Norms “List of Sanitary- Bacteriological Examinations in Food Organizations”209. The order regulates the following issues, concerning organizations of public food and food production: objects subject to examination, bacteriological indicators in the aforementioned objects, norms and frequency of examination. Examinations are to be carried out in the process of general inspections by the State Hygienic and Anti-epidemic Inspection of RA; certain types of indicators are to be checked only in case of epidemiologic indication and certain types food items are subject to testing in case of importing them to RA.

2.5. Responsibility for infringement of sanitary and food safety norms

With respect to the issues of responsibility, both the Law on Ensuring Sanitary- Epidemic Safety of the Population and the Law on Trade and Services refer to “responsibility under legislation of RA”. Currently, national legislation provides mainly for administrative and in some cases – for criminal responsibility for the violation of provisions of the aforementioned laws and sanitary and food safety norms.

206 See Annex 2, Chart 29 207 See Annex 2, Chart 30 208 GoA Decree No. 1316-N208 of 15 August 2002 “On Reorganization of the State Hygienic and Antiepidemic Service of the Ministry of Health and Conformable Bodies and Approval of the Bylaws and Structure of the State Hygienic and Antiepidemic Inspection of RA”. 209 Norms No. 2-III-4.9-02-2006”, adopted on 17 November 2006 119

Administrative responsibility Code of Administrative Offences of RA contains several types of administrative offences, directly or indirectly referring to infringement of sanitary norms. The offences are the following: - Violation of sanitary, sanitary-hygienic, sanitary-epidemic regulations and norms, as well as hygienic standards (Article 42) - Failure to fulfill the instructions of state body authorized in the field of hygienic and anti-epidemic control or hampering the aforementioned body in exercising inspections, examinations and administrative responsibility procedures (Article 421) - Failure to perform timely waste collection, failure to ensure proper conditions for waste collection (Article 431) Besides Arts. 80-87 of the Code regulate administrative responsibility for activities resulting in atmosphere pollution in the field of construction works, exploitation of means of transport, production activities, plant protection, etc. The second bunch of norms relates directly to the issue of food safety. Article 158 of the Code established penalties for public food merchants and service providers, who sell products over expiry date, sell products or services, subject to certification, without required certificates or other labels, sell products not complying with the norms of technical regulations, sell products prohibited under the Law on Trade and Services, or fail to organize quality checking laboratories in certain agricultural products markets.210 It should be noted that above-mentioned articles generally cover any case of violation of sanitary standards by nature persons or officials, including but not limited to food safety standards. Punishment for administrative offences in all cases mentioned above is a monetary administrative penalty, which is calculated on the basis of minimum wages in RA.

Criminal responsibility Under Criminal Code of RA, a criminal sanction in the form of fine, prohibition of engagement in certain type of activities or certain position, or imprisonment is imposed for violation of sanitary-epidemic regulations, which negligently resulted in mass diseases or intoxication. The same conduct resulting in severe health hazard or death is punishable by imprisonment.

2.6 Gap analysis and recommendations

It should be stated, that Armenia has developed a significant bunch of legislation in the field of sanitary norms and food safety. The basic laws were already mentioned above. Additionally, numerous legal acts of the GOA and Minister of Health regulate issues of packaging, labeling and information, which must be provided to the consumer.211 At the same time, analysis of recent regulations on sanitary and especially food safety demonstrates that legal solutions are fully based on experience and approaches of EU countries and other industrialized states. The basic problems are therefore of non-regulatory nature and lie within the level of implementation of legislative provisions into life. This is particularly important for

210 Markets where products, subject to obligatory examination, are sold. 211 Apart from the decrees and orders mentioned above, the GoA has approved Technical Regulations on Polymeric and Polymer based Plastic Products Adjacent to Food (Decree No. 679-N, 25 May 2005), Requirements to Forms and Contents of Labeling Food and Food Supplements Imported to Armenia with Information in Armenian (Decree No. 1838-N, 21 December 2006), Timetable of Implementation of the Requirement of Obligatory Armenian Labeling of Food (Decree No. 616-N, 20 April 2006). 120 legal regulations that are relatively new and unusual for Armenian practice, such as introduction of HACCP in the field of food safety, for instance. At the same time, field research has demonstrated, that most of sanitary norms are considered to be up-to- date and fully enforceable.212

1. It is recommended that state bodies responsible for policy making and control in the field of observance of sanitary and food safety regulations cooperate with the stakeholders in order to achieve better conditions for implementation. Field research demonstrates that there are currently almost no organizations in the field of food services in Armenia, which would operate on the basis of HACCP. Also, most of the sanitary requirements are hardly to observe. One of the main reasons of this situation is the complexity of legislation in the field. State bodies concentrate on performance of control actions, but it should be important from the point of view of public awareness to provide also consultative services to stakeholders. Such an approach has already been adopted in Law on Food Safety with respect to introduction of self-control mechanism based on HACCP principles: as it was already mentioned above, the authorized state body will provide assistance, guidance and training for food producers implementing HACCP. It would be preferable to undertake similar measures to raise public awareness and especially stakeholders’ knowledge in the field of implementation of sanitary and food safety legislation.

2. It is recommended that state bodies responsible for policy making in the field of standards in cooperation with NGOs operating in field of public food services, take measures to promote voluntary conformity assessment of public food providers. Actually, the field of safety of food and public food organizations is fully within the scope obligatory conformity assessment. But the obligatory assessment proves the conformity with GOA requirements, which are not always known by visitors. As it was already mentioned above only a few ISO standards have been recognized as being integrated into national standards system. HACCP procedures (apart from those considered obligatory by virtue of law) are neither recognized as national standards nor implemented into the system as international standards. In this circumstances activities of accredited organizations, which would provide an assessment and certification of conformity with HACCP becomes very important for those organizations, which are not forced to implement HACCP procedures under the law or have not yet implemented HACCP in accordance with timetable approved by the GOA. Voluntary HACCP, as well as ISO certification could also be useful for B&B service providers in regions, which do not fall under the regulations of the Law on Food Safety. At the same time, existence of internationally recognized certificate is one of the factors (though not the key one, according to experts) contributing to increase of popularity of public food organization.

3. It would be preferable to provide more details on regulations, concerning traceability of food. Articles 9 and 16 of the Law on Food Safety refer to the traceability requirement very briefly. Traceability must be ensured, information must be provided to state bodies, sale of food is prohibited without existence of documentation, enabling to trace it. However, there are no regulations on what information exactly should be recorded in order to ensure implementation of traceability requirement.

212 See Annex 2 to the Report, Charts 15,16,27,28 121 Under Article 18 of the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, food and feed business operators shall be able to identify any person from whom they have been supplied with a food, a feed, a food-producing animal, or any substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed. To this end, such operators shall have in place systems and procedures which allow for this information to be made available to the competent authorities on demand. Food and feed business operators shall have in place systems and procedures to identify other businesses to which their products have been supplied. This information shall be made available to the competent authorities on demand. The corresponding regulation proposed by the US Food and Drug Agency is more precise. Under the proposed rule, manufacturers, processors, packers, distributors, receivers, holders and importers of food would be required to keep records identifying the immediate source from which they received the food, as well as, the immediate subsequent recipient, to whom they sent it. FDA's proposal allows companies to keep the required information in any form that they prefer. Records may be kept in any format, paper or electronic, provided they contain all the required information. For persons other than transporters the proposed rule would require the records to contain the following information for each article of food: - the firm's name, and the responsible individual representative of the firm that was the immediate previous source or the immediate subsequent recipient of the food, - the address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of that person, if available, - the type of food, including brand name and specific variety, - the date received or released, - lot number or other identifier number, if available, - the quantity and type of packaging, - the name, address, telephone number of the transporter who transported the food. Taking into consideration lack of practice on traceability in Armenia and relatively new legal regulations, regulations on minimal data for tracing should be provided in GOA acts, based on the Law on Food Safety.

122 PART V: TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Summary Development of tourism in RA is much dependent also on the developed transport infrastructure, in order to make the access to various tourism sights possible. Except the general public transport, transportation of tourists to sights by tour buses has its peculiarities and needs special regulation deriving from the needs of comfort and safety of tourists. Promotion of taxi service, car rental regulation, as well as developed airline transport infrastructure is of significant impact for making Armenia an attractive tourism location. On the other hand, the safety of transportation, compliance to traffic rules and road ethics are another issues of concern for tourists. The Paragraph 1 of this Part examines road traffic regulations in RA and addresses issues of safety of transportation. In this respect of specific stress is existing regulation for seat belts, street lightening, road signs and signals. Meanwhile, Paragraph 2 addresses tour bus, taxi, car rental, air transport regulations in Armenia. Examination of the mentioned issues is accompanied with useful examples of transport regulation in other countries, as well as analysis of EU regulations and other international documents.

1. TRANSPORTATION SAFETY

1.1. Background of road traffic regulation in Armenia

Armenia's economy is highly dependent on road transport, both for the internal movement of goods and people and for the regional traffic essential to keep the economy functioning.213 RA legislation relating to transport includes in particular RA Law on “Automobile transport” of 05.12.2006, RA Law on ”Road Traffic Security” of 08.07.2005, RA Law on “Automobile Roads” of 05.12.2006, GOA Decree of 23.05.2002 N 924 “On Adoption of the Rules of Road Traffic”, GOA Decree of 16.08.2001 N 762 “On The Order Of Organizing Competition For Choosing The Organizations to Provide Regular Transportation Of Passengers By General- Purpose (Public) Automobile Transport In RA”, GOA Decree of 26.10.2006 N 1699 “On Adoption of the requirements to the traffic lights, the rules of their use and location and the requirements to the traffic lights, the rules of their use and location”, Order of the RA Minister of Transport of 17.04.1997 N 116-00032 on “Adoption Of Licensing Procedure For Providing Automobile transport Services In RA”. In October 25, 2004 RA has ratified also the Convention on Road of November 8, 1968, as well as it is a party to Treaty on “Binding insurance of the

213 The total road network in Armenia is just under 7,800 of which 77 percent are paved. The road network is divided into Interstate Highways (1,440 km), Regional Roads (2,621 km) and District Roads (3,727 kin). The Interstate Highways include 60 km of four lane highways serving the highest density routes. Extensive areas of the highway network cross mountainous terrain and altitudes often exceed 1500 meters. For more details see Republic of Armenia, Transport Sector Review, Report No. 16625-AM, (In Three Volumes) Volume II: Technical Report, Infrastructure Operations Division Country Department IV Europe and Central Asia Region, of May 30, 1997 (available t http://www- wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1997/05/30/ 000009265_3971104184345/Rendered/INDEX/multi_page.txt ) 123 passengers during the international automobile transportation“ signed in Saratov in 13.01.1999 and ratified by the RA National Assembly in 05.04.2000, and the Convention on “International transportation of Passengers and Languages” signed in Bishkek in 09.10.1997 and ratified by the RA National Assembly in 05.04.2000, which had a significant impact on development of legal framework in the field of transportation. 214

The Law on “Automobile transport” regulates the relations regarding exploitation of vehicles and providing services for transportation of passengers, luggage and goods, the rights and obligations of the entities involved in this process and the issues of the security. Law on ”Road Traffic Security” establishes the basic principles and directions of state policy relating to the road traffic security, the legal basis for organization and security of road traffic transport and the authorities of relevant state bodies and non-governmental organizations in this respect, as well as basic rights and responsibilities of participants of road traffic. Moreover, the Law is aimed at protection of life, health and property of citizens, their rights and legal interests through prevention of threats to traffic security, especially prevention of road transport accidents and reducing their consequences. The Law categorizes transportations of passengers based on: a) the administrative-territorial distinction: intercity,215interregional (between “marzes”216 of RA) and interstate, b) the form of organization: regular, non-regular c) the purpose: public, tourism and special (Article 9.2. of the Law).217 The “Automobile transport law” requires licensing for transportation of passengers by certain kinds of vehicles in accordance to the RA Law “On Licensing” (Article 8 of the Law).218 One of the important requirements of the “Automobile transport” law is that the entities exercising transport of passengers by public transport must ensure the risk of their civil responsibility in case of damage to the life, health or property of third persons (Article 8.2 of the Law).

1.2. Seat belt regulation

Article 24 of RA Law on ”Traffic Security”, which determines the basic obligations of the proprietors of the transportation facilities and drivers, prohibits transport passengers without the safety belts being fastened (Article 24, para 5 (b)).

214 The basic legal documents regulating the passenger transport by road in EU include in particular: - Council Regulation (EEC) No 516/72 On Introduction Of Common Rules For Shuttle Service By Coach And Bus Between Member States, which is very important for tourist industry, since shuttle services are those services that carry pre-arranged groups of passengers from the same place of departure to the same destination in repeated outward and return journeys, - Council Regulation (EEC) No 517/72 of 28 February 1972 laid common rules for regular and special regular services by coach and bus between Member States, - Council Regulation (EEC) of 20 December 1985 on the harmonization of certain social legislation relating to road transport(EEC) No 3820/85, - Council Regulation No 117/66/EEC of 28 July 1966 On The Introduction Of Common Rules For The International Carriage Of Passengers By Coach And Bus. 215 Intercity transportation exists when the transportation from the starting point to the point of destination exceeds 50 kilometers. 216 “Marz” is a territorial administrative unit in RA 217 Under the meaning of RA Law on “Automobile transport law” the ‘bus’ is a vehicle with more than 8 seats, the ones with 9-17 seats are considered to be ‘microbuses’ (Article 2). 218 Adopted by the RA National Assembly on May 30, 2001 124 Exceptions from this rule are established for transportation of children up to 12 years old without putting on the safety belts, as well as the instructors while teaching to drive. Meantime, Article 26 provides also the obligation for passenger to be fastened by safety belts while traveling by a transport which has safety belts. The same obligations both for drivers and passengers are fixed also in the RA GOA Decree of No 924.219 Moreover, the Above-mentioned Decree also prohibits the exploitation of vehicles if the safety belts provides by the structure of the vehicle are missing or not working or there are evident damages on the band (Section 6, para 11). Thus, in fact the legal requirement for putting the safety belts exists is the RA legislation, however the practice of their implementation still remains unsatisfactory. The issue of safety belts is under strict control of many developed European countries. Safety advocates say safety belts prevent injury and save lives and automobile insurance companies advocate safety belt use.220 Yerevan driving schools teach the use of safety belts as a primary lesson, though not all instructors follow the practice themselves. Generally, drivers mention several reasons for not wearing safety belts in Armenia: shortness of roads, absence of safety belts in older cars, inconvenience of safety belts in cars of Soviet make, and being ostracized for wearing them. Safety belts in Soviet-era cars, such as Ladas and Nivas, are also of less quality compared to safety belts in cars of foreign make. Safety belts in foreign cars allow the driver to move freely while driving and hold the driver and passengers firm only in the case of braking. And safety belts in Soviet-era cars strain a person and don’t allow him or her to breathe easily. Currently continue to rebel against the country’s compulsory safety belt law. Probably one of the major issues is the responsibility for breaking all the above-mentioned rules regarding the safety belts.221 Recently, serious amendments have been made to the RA Code of Administrative Offenses provides,222 which, inter alia, has restricted the responsibility for driving of transportation means without fastening the security seatbelts arising the fine of 5000 Armenian drams (Article 1233). However, in reality the problem goes deeper than the size of the fine. Not only restricting the punishment but also ensuring the unavoidability of punishment is the necessary measure for changing the existing situation. Thus, one of the important measures to implement seat belt fastening culture in Armenia is to influence the public mentality, as well us to ensure the unavoidability of responsibility for not fastening the seat belts.

219 RA GOA Decree of 23.05.2002 of No 924 “On Adoption of the rules of Road Traffic”, see Section 2, para 2.2 and Section 21.9 220 According to the Institute for Highway Safety, an industry association in the United States that monitors safety belt use, thousands of lives could be saved each year if there were stronger enforcement of safety belt laws.

221 In one of his interviews the head of the RA Police Public and Media Relations Department Sayat Shirinyan addressing to the question of enforcement of safety belt mentioned that even thought the law provided a fine of 300 drams (75 cents) for violators, police did not enforce it. “Many understand that it is important, but they don’t do it,” the police spokesman says. “It is a matter of national mentality.” (Source http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1196) 222 Adopted be the National Assembly on 2007, February 21 125 1.4 Street lighting

RA Law on “Automobile Roads” of Armenia includes only several articles connected with street lighting. 223 In the range of main categories the law defines the street lights (Article 2), as well as states that Government of RA establishes main requirements to road signs and traffic lights (Article 4). Examination of traffic lights regulations in developed countries show that they are inclined to setting up street lighting rules in details. For instance in Washington, USA (City of Vancouver) the Transportation Services is responsible for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and repair of the City's Street Lighting System. 224 The City's policy is that street lighting is an urban service and as such should be provided like other services. Street Lighting is provided to improve roadway safety. Street lighting is generally not provided in alleys. Standards for roadway lighting are generated by the Illuminating Engineering Society.225 As mentioned above, the legislation of developed countries regulate traffic relations in details to ensure security of traffic and avoid road accidents. It is advisable to provide similar regulation also in RA legislation in particular, providing: 1. Recommendation on "average luminance level", 2. Necessary minimum quantity of street lights, 3. Regulating the quality of street lights.

1.5 Road ethics

a. General overview Road ethics is much spoken about nowadays all over the world. Yet very few countries have separate regulations on road ethics, because road ethics rules are generally included in common driving rules or laws. For example, the “Automobile transport law” focuses its attention on special issues: 1) On automobile roads are prohibited damages of street lightings, green plants, road gates and other structures (Article 10). 2) Passengers are allowed to get on and off the autobus only in special bus stops (Article 14). 3) In case when all seats are occupied, any stops for gathering passengers are prohibited except if passengers inside the bus demand to stop in order to get off (Article 14). 4) During transportation use of any alcohol, narcotic materials, as well as smoking in the bus are forbidden (Article 14). The transportation of autobuses with one door and more than 17 seat places inside the bus is prohibited (Article 14).226 However the basic document establishing more or less precise set of rules on road ethics is the GOA Decree N 924, which provides the rights and obligations of

223 Adopted by the National Assembly on 05 December, 2006 224 Available at http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps1733/amccg6.htm 225 The recommended "average luminance level" ranges from 0.3 Candelas per Square Meter for local, residential streets to 1.2 Candelas per Square Meter for Major Arterials in a Commercial area. The city maintains 5500 street lights. Approximately two thirds of the lights are 100 watt, high pressure sodium lights, most of which can be found in residential areas. Of the other one third, most are 200 watt, high pressure sodium. The lighting on the arterial street system is primarily 200 watt, high pressure sodium. Most of the street lights are mounted at from 20 to 35 feet, typically 30 feet. 226 Certain rules on road ethics can be inferred also form Article 24, 25, 26 of the Law on “Road Safety”. 126 the drivers and pedestrians, establishes rules of traffic for both drivers and pedestrians. Thus, though there is no specific regulation of road ethics rules in RA transport legislation, however certain rules exist in various provisions of relevant laws and GOA Decrees. Towards the maintenance of road ethics rules serious step has been the adoption ofthe law on introducing amendments in the Code on Administrative Offenses, which provide more restricted rules for exploitation of vehicles and enhanced fines for breaking these rules.227 Thus, responsibilities for the following cases can particularly be underlined from the point of improvement of road ethics: 1. Transportation breaching the rules provided for transparency of windows of transportation means and for curtains (Article 123), 2. Transportation with a transportation means out of order or with technical defects (Article 123), This may refer to cases when the transportation mean has any technical problem, for example connected with brakes. 3. Breaking the rules connected with setting the special technical attributes to transportation means (Article 1231), This may refer to red or blue lights on the transportation means which can be used only by special permission. 4. Driving of transportation means in improper condition (Article 126). This refers to cases when drivers drive the transportation means under impact of alcohol which exceeds the limit of 1.6 gr. 5. Driving of transportation means by people not having this right (Article 128). This can happen when the driver has an illegal license or the time of license is expired. 6. One of the great problems of road traffic nowadays is also the breaking of traffic rules by pedestrians. That’s why the Article 131 of the following law can be also necessary for maintaining the road traffic rules. 7. Damages of traffic ‘passing lines’ or of other road structures (Article 140). This can refer, for example, to constructions on the roads or installing advertisements on the roads without special permission etc. 8. Breaking the rules concerned the identification number of transportation means (Article 1235) can be also a new push for maintenance the road ethics rules. For example, the following rules are broken by driver if the identification number of the transportation means does not correspond to special standards or is not visible or when the identification number of transportation means is fake etc. 9. Breach of rules on traffic lights (Article 1243) and the traffic speed (Article 1244).

Thus, In terms of improving the road ethics is important to disseminate the knowledge on the issues and to design special courses for teaching future drivers road ethic rules in details. In addition, bus drivers should pass special courses organized by state bodies to develop strong customer service skills for having ability to coordinate and manage large groups of people.

227 Law on “Amendments and additions to the Code on Administrative Offenses of RA”, adopted by the National Assembly on February 21, 2007. 127 1.6 Road infrastructure, signs and signals

The development of transport infrastructure in RA is much dependent also on existence of dually furnished bus stops, elaborated bus schedules, existence of relevant roads design, etc. In 2006 GOA adopted the Program addressing issues of enhancing the capacity of roads, reduction fussiness of traffic areas, regulation of public transport stops.228 Another important issue for regulation of traffic is the elaboration and implementation of road signs and signals. In this respect, the Rules referring to the requirements, implementation of location road signs have been elaborated by the Ministry of Transport and Communication.229 The latter defines the road signs located on automobile roads, requirements to their technical condition, exploitation, implementation, etc,. The Rules are in general terms elaborated in the view of Vienna Convention on roads, signs and signals. Thus both the Convention (Article 2) and the Rules (Section 5) provide for the following group of signs: danger warning signs, priority signs, prohibitory signs, mandatory signs, special regulation signs, information and facilities of service signs, direction, position or indication signs.

2. CERTAIN MEANS OF TRASNPORT NECESSARY FOR TOURISM PURPOSES

2.1 Tour bus regulation in RA

a. Overview of RA legislation

Access to many tourism sights in RA is possible only by the use of transportation facilities. Thus, organizers of tourism service very often use relevant buses, which are either their property or rented. In international practice buses for transfer of tourists are referred as ‘tour buses’. The special purpose of use of the tour buses and the peculiarities of the transportation by them, promoted existence of differentiated regulation for tour buses in many countries, which establishing certain requirements to the technical condition, accommodations, facilities, safety of tour buses, and even provide for special requirements to the drivers of tour buses (training, licensing, language requirements, etc. ). The definition of the means of transport under RA Law on “Automobile transport” includes the term “autobus”, but the “tour bus” term is missing. The only mention is the provision in Article 9 of the Law on “Automobile transport”, which defines 3 kinds of transportation of passengers among which is transportation for purposes of tourism (Article 9.2. of the Law on “Automobile transport”). In the meantime, Article 27 of the Law on “Automobile transport” provides separate regulations for transportation of children and schoolboys/girls for tourism reasons. The article states that in case of such transportation by three or more buses, it is to be organized by prior notification to the bodies of state motor licensing and inspection department by an escort. In addition the following basic requirements should be kept while transportation:

228 GoA Decree of October 26, 2006, No 1651 229 Rules Referring To The Requirements, Implementation Of Location Road Signs of 21.12.2006 (available at http://www.mtc.am/?p=100&ln=hy&newsid=259&highlight= ) 128 1) Passenger transportation is allowed in case of presence of special inspectors, guides and adults, 2) Tours must be organized at daylight, 3) Speed exceeding of tour buses is prohibited (more than 60km/h), 4) The windows during the transportation must be closed and there should be a guide at each door of the bus. While exercising tourists’ transportation the choice of guides, instructions on use of the transport and the rules of conduct are provided by the customer who orders the service (Article 27, para 3 of the Law on “Automobile transport” ). The Law on “Automobile transport” establishes general requirements to drivers of public transport in general, without specific reference to the tour bus drivers (Article 28, para 2). Thus, RA legislation relating to automobile transport does not provide any specific regulations for tour buses. One of the most important issues while transporting passengers by tour bus is existence of relevant facilities and accommodations inside the bus. In fact, these facilities may even differ depending on the duration of the tour. The field research shows that a common reason for tourist concerns in RA is non- working or improper working air conditioning system in tour buses. In general the tour buses must also be equipped with pharmacy-boxes with necessary medical attributes. Besides, in cases the tours are long-way the tour buses should be equipped with Water-Closets. Thus, there are important issues which should be specially addressed in the transport legislation of RA, so as to ensure that the buses for transport for tourist have all the relevant minimal facilities necessary for the comfort of tourists. It is worth mentioning that there should be established also special requirements for professional training of tour bus drivers. There should be a requirement, for instance, for “classroom trainings” and “behind-the-wheel” instruction to develop the professional skills of tour bus drivers. The need for certain procedure of qualification and training of tour bus drives has been underlined also by organizers of travel services and practicing guides in RA. Being directly in contact with the tourist, the tour bus drivers also have a significant impact on the quality of the organized tour. Thus, they need special training in reacting in emergency situations, communication techniques, etc.230 b. EU directive on tour buses

The basic legal document addressing the transportation of passengers by tour buses in EU is the Council Regulation No 516/72 on the introduction of common rules for shuttle services by coach and bus between Member states. 231 The Council Regulation provides for an authorization for operating shuttle service and sets that each authorization issued to the carrier shall specify particularly the following: - the type of shuttle service, - the route of the service, giving in particular place of departure, place of destination, stopping points , and frontier-crossing points, - the length in kilometers of the route of the service,

230 In a number of places like Quebec there is even a separate licensing scheme for those wanting to be driver- guides. In Quebec those must have a coach- driving license and are required to speak English and French. 231 Council Regulation No 516/72, 1972, February 28 129 - the registration marks of the vehicles with which the service may be operated, - the number and dates of the journeys, - schedules, - the period of validity of the authorization (Article 3). During the tours, there are common cases when passengers may desire to return not with the same group and with the same tour bus buy with another one of the same tour agency. The Article 9 (point 1 ) of Council Regulation provides permission to accept on any return journey of the passenger who made the outward journey, with another group, on condition that the total number of such passengers in no case exceeds 25% of the number of passengers carried on the relevant outward journey. Similar regulation is advisable to provide also for tourists in RA legislation. Article 10 of Council Regulation also gives opportunity to passengers, who return from the journey, to get off the tour bus not only in the place from where they have started the journey but also to be set down in other three places which must be included in the territory of the state from where the service departs. The Article states that the holder of an authorization may be authorized to take up passengers during the outward journey, and to set down passengers on the return journey at not more than three places, other than the place of departure, situated in the territory of the state from which the service departs. The Council Regulation No 516/72 provides another important provision which points out that the passengers using a shuttle service, must have in their possession throughout the journey individual or collective indicating: - the name or names of the passengers - the route served - the dates of the outward and return journeys and the duration of the stay at the place of destination - the inclusive charge for the journey or, in the case of services covered by Article 6, the transport charge (Article 18). Mentioned provisions are very important from the reasons of security, possessing such a data about the identity of persons on the tour bus is necessary for measures to be undertaken in various emergency situations to assists the lost or injured passengers. c. Gap analysis and recommendations

1. Transportation of tourists by tour buses falls under the general requirements of transport legislation, which does not take into consideration the peculiarities of transport of tourist and special needs of equipment, conditioning and other facilities in the tour buses. It is advisable to establish special regulation on tour buses and transportation of passengers by tour buses bearing in mind also the mentioned Council Regulation in order to address the above-mentioned issues of comfortable and safe transportation of tourists. 2. From the reasons of safety, it must be underlined the need for individual or collective travel document for the passengers using a shuttle service, containing relevant information for their identification and mention about the journey, as provided in the Council Regulation. 3. The tour bus regulation in RA should also address issues of special training and qualification of tour bus drivers. The training may be also organized with the framework of certain professional association in the field (e.g. Guide’s guild, Tour operators’ union, etc.), which can elaborate also certain (probably voluntary) procedure of certification of those who passed the training of tour

130 bus drivers and comply with the basic requirement of training, knowledge of language, communication skills necessary for a tour bus driver. Existence of a list of trained tour bus drivers will help also the organizers of travel services to chose and hire a qualified tour bus driver.

2.2. Car rentals

The Civil Code of RA232 provides a separate chapter referring to the contracts of rent of vehicles. Under Article 646 contracts on vehicle rental must be signed in a simple written form. The Renter bears all the costs of exploitation and insurance of the vehicle, unless otherwise provided in the contract of rent (Article 649). RA Civil legislation provides the age of 18 as the age of reaching full legal capacity for citizens. In fact this is the age when the person is legally allowed to sign any contract, including contract for renting a car. Examination of foreign experience in car rental regulation shows that basic emphasis is made not as much on detailed regulations of car rental issues by the law, but on the elaboration of their own car rental regulations and requirements by car renting companies.233 The renting companies set rules on minimum rental periods, requirements of certain types of insurance, provide liability for damages caused to the rented property, regulate the amount of fuel the car should be filled with when returning back, etc.234 For instance, under the car rental rules of a Car Rental Company in Diego area for renting a car: -Valid driver's license must be presented at time of rental, -Major credit card or check card in the name of the renter must be presented at time of rental, -On vehicles rented for a term less than 30 days, a $500 refundable security deposit will be charged on the client’s credit card at the time of rental.235

Thus, promotion of car renting practice in RA assumes the need for more precise regulation of the field bearing in mind the peculiarities of car renting affairs. For the development of car rental practice of significant aid are model contracts, addressing the rights and responsibilities of the parties, as well a establishment of their own regulation by the car renting companies.

232 Adopted by the National Assembly on May 5, 1998, Articles 645-652 233 Many leading car rental companies as AVIS, Hertz, etc., have developed their own well drafted rules and requirements on car renting. 234 For more details see http;//www. avis.com, http;//www.hertz.com 235 Moreover, under San Diego’s Access Car Rentals’ regulations: Renter is responsible for all tolls and fines associated with violation of local, state or federal law. -Renter is responsible for fuel usage. Vehicles returned with less fuel than at time of rental, will incur a $5.00 per gallon refueling charge. -No towing is permitted with any vehicle. -No pets of any kind are allowed in any rental vehicle. -No smoking is allowed in any vehicle. -No returns on Sunday. -All vehicles must be returned clean or renter will incur a cleaning fee. -Renter is responsible for all window and/or tire damage. -A complete list of regulations and requirements will be provided at time of rental.

131

2.3. Taxi service regulation

a. General overview

RA Law on “Automobile transport” includes a number of Articles concerning taxi service. T0hus Article 17 is the basic Article in RA legislation providing requirements for transportation of passengers by taxi cabs, under which the vehicle for providing taxi service, should be furnished with: 1) taximeter, 2) special signs which show the taxi’s occupied condition, 3) with special information about driver and the organization providing the taxi service, 4) all taxi-cabs must a chessboard pattern in order to make their identification for passengers possible. Moreover, under the Law the transportation of the passenger by a taxi cab must be exercised through the shortest way allowed for traffic, in case otherwise is not demanded by the passenger (Article 18.8 of the Law on “Automobile transport”). The only requirement to taxi drivers set in the Law is that the taxi-cab drivers must have at least 1 years’ experience in driving a vehicle of class B (Article 28 of “Automobile transport law”). No other requirements are provided to the age, professional qualification, health condition of taxi drivers, etc. The payment for transportation by taxi-cabs is done according to the indication of the taximeter (Article 18). Moreover, the Law states that the taxi- cab driver must provide a receipt for payment in case it is required by the passenger (Article 18.5 of the Law on “Automobile transport”).236

c. Taxi licensing procedure

The Law on “Automobile transport” envisages a licensing requirement for providing taxi services (Article 17). Currently the procedure of licensing of activities of automobile transport of passengers is governed by the Order of the Minister of Transport No 116-0003, which refers to all kinds of automobile transportation services and in fact does not consider peculiarities of taxi service.237 Development of taxi service market created the need of elaborating a separate procedure and special requirements for licensing of taxi services, as a result of which a Draft GOA Decree setting a procedure for licensing the activities of transportation of passengers by taxi cabs has been introduced to the GOA.238 Under the Draft Decree the license for providing taxi services is termless. The Decree provides special requirements to the taxi stations, which must have facilities for everyday technical checking of taxi cabs and everyday medical inspection of the drivers. 239

236 Moreover, currently, certain taxi services even provide announcements in taxi cabs informing the passenger that in case of the taximeter is off during the transportation, the passenger has right not to pay the driver. 237 Order of the Minister of Transport on Licensing of Automobile Transportation Services in RA, adopted by on 1997, April 17 238 The Decree hasps been adopted by the GoA and is still in process of ratification. 239 Under the Decree the taxi stations with more that 3 taxi-cabs must have: a) Relevant space for parking of cars of at least 20 sq. m for each car, b)Estacada for technical inspection of the cars, c) Аid post for everyday medical inspection of the drivers. 132 The licensing commission is to examine the compliance of technical conditions of the taxi-cab and necessary documents to set requirements and issues a license within 15 days after receiving the application. The Decree provides that taxi cabs must correspond to the following: a) the date of production of cars should not be than 10 years, b) there should be a taximeter in a visible place for passengers, c) the cab should have a cross riveting on its sides, d) the cab be equipped with a light indicating that the taxi-cab is free, as well as a yellow “TAXI” sign, e) there should information about the taxi service and the driver of the particular cab. Another noteworthy issue under the Decree is that among the documents necessary for application for licensing is the proof of insurance of passengers.

d. Foreign approaches to taxi regulation

Examining the basic requirements to taxi cabs in other countries one can state that in general terms they are the same as those mentioned above under the new licensing procedure of RA. However, number of other useful examples can be brought, which can be considered in order to further develop the provided procedure. Thus, in Czech Republic for instance there is also a requirement that “inside the vehicle there must always be a detailed fare list setting out all fares used”. Existence of such a pricing list is a necessary security from misleading especially foreign customers unaware of taxi tariffs in RA. Moreover, there is an explicit requirement that “Taxi drivers must always issue the customer with a receipt printed out by the taximeter, so that it must never be hand written. Moreover, there is clearly stated what information should be included in the receipt, in particular: vehicle registration number, its taxi serial number, business name, registered address or permanent residence address of the taxi service operator. The driver then fills in by hand on the receipt the journey start point and destination and adds his signature.240 In a number of countries regulation of taxi service market is exercised by an independent commission established by the state body, which set rules for taxi service activities, elaborate taxi policy and rules of ethics in the field.241 provides an interesting example of setting rules of relations between taxi drivers and passengers with disabilities under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance.242 This Ordinance lists very important issues which need to be observed by taxi drivers and passengers with disabilities, in particular: “1.When a person with a disability hails a taxi, the driver should stop the taxi as close to the person as traffic conditions permit in order to facilitate the person with a disability boarding the taxi. 2. If mobility-impaired passenger has difficulty in boarding and (or alighting the taxi independently, the driver should offer assistance to the passenger and, if necessary, help the passenger to place properly in the taxi any wheelchair or other auxiliary aid(s). A driver who has difficulty in providing such assistance to a passenger should clearly explain his difficulty to the passenger.

240 For more information see http://www.praha-mesto.cz, http://www.pis.cz/en/prague/transport/taxi 241 Thus for instance, the Minister for Transport of Ireland has established the Commission for Taxi Regulation as an Independent Public Body. Commission for Taxi Regulation became functional, independent public body with its management, staff, administrative, financial and operational structures. The principal function of the Commission for Taxi Regulation is the development and maintenance of a regulatory framework for the control and operation of small public service vehicles (SPSVs) and their drivers, for the benefit of both operators and consumers alike. (See http:// www.taxiregulator.ie ) 242 Adopted by Equal Opportunities Commission of Honk Kong in 1998 (available at See http://eoc.org.hk) 133 3. Drivers should take care that their conduct (verbal or otherwise) does not offend, upset or humiliate a passenger on the ground of that passenger’s disability or on the ground of the disability of a person accompanying that passenger. 4. Drivers should not interfere with other drivers providing taxi services to persons with a disability. 5. Some passengers with a disability may have difficulty in reading the fare as indicated on the fare-meter.

In RA it is noteworthy also to think over the mechanism for investigation and returning the lost goods in taxis. Hereby, the examination of foreign practices, reveals certain measures that can be implemented also in RA, in particular: 1. Establishment of 24 hour hotline for lost properties on taxis by a radio station and taxi associations where passengers can apply to. It would be better that a certain taxi association could be developed in RA, which will promote establishment of joint radio stations, which would announce the information about passenger or their property which had been left in taxis. 2. Installation of taxi passenger information Light Emitting Diode(LED) display panels and plates at major taxi stands will help to find the passenger who has left his/her property in the taxi. The latter will be an additional mechanism to make the information about the lost goods available to the passengers enabling people seeing the information about the lost property on the LED display panels fixed at taxi stands. 3. Distribution of taxi passenger information flyers at the Airport will enable to find particularly foreign passengers and return his/her lost property at the airport before his/her departure. e. Reporting complaints

Development of the taxi service sector is much dependent also on further insuring relevant mechanisms of reporting complaints by the passengers. Neither RA transport legislation, nor the practice has developed specific procedures for providing complaints against transport service. Meanwhile the examination of foreign experience provides certain interesting examples. For instance the existing Complaint Procedure in provides opportunity of lodging complaints to the City of Prague Council in the following cases: - overcharging(taxes, fees) - driver conduct or unwillingness or refusal to accept a passenger - bad condition of taxi vehicle, non-issuance of a receipt, incomplete receipt, taximeter not working. In Ireland under the 2003 Taxi Regulation Act, the Commission for Taxi Regulation is responsible for the following complaints: - Complaints in relation to the condition and cleanliness of the vehicle - Complaints in relation to the conduct and behavior of taxi service operator or driver - Overcharging or other matters relating to fares - Matters relating to the hiring of a taxi-cab.243

243 For more information see http://www.taxiregulator.ie/index.jsp?1nID=93&2nID=94&pID=105&nID=143

134 f. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. It is advisable to add a provision in the GOA Decree on taxi licensing insuring that “inside the vehicle there must always be a detailed fare list setting out all fares used”. 2. To stimulate the culture of using taxi-meters, it is advisable that either the GOA Decree or the Law on “Automobile transport” enables the passengers not to pay for the provided services in case of transportation by turned-off taximeter. 3. From the point of enhancing the taxi service quality for tourism purposes one should underline that in RA there are quite few taxi services that can provide taxi-drivers with the knowledge of foreign language. This is a quite important issue for tourism purposes, therefore certain measure should be initiated in this respect. Hereby, one can also mention the effectiveness of publication and dissemination of information booklets on taxi services, mentioning also taxi services offering drivers with the knowledge of foreign language. 4. It is advisable to address also the issues of passengers’ waiting time for taxis and establish a mechanism of receiving a feedback on this. 5. It is also advisable to promote certain mechanism for reporting complaints by the passengers. At the same time, in modern business, it should be encouraged that the taxi service administration creates its own complaint form. 6. Increasing number of taxi services in RA, creates mature ground for proposing creation of certain association which will participate in the further promotion of taxi policy and sector development, self-regulation in RA. It may be involved in dissemination of taxi booklets, receiving complaints, organizing training, elaboration of measures for further improvements of service, etc. 7. Besides the introduction of new procedure for taxi licensing, it is also advisable to continue works on elaboration of taxi policy comprising the major programs for further development of the sector in RA. For the regulation of the taxi service market in RA the following can also be noted: 2) special areas for taxi pick up/drop off points, 3) a 24-hour hotline and/or other forms discussed above, for lost property reporting, development of taxi driver award schemes, etc. In all those processes an important input can be made by the stakeholders (e.g. the private sector, relevant professional association etc.).

2.4 Drivers’ hours for public transport a. Regulation in RA Article 28 of “Automobile transport” law of RA provides also requirements for driving hours of drivers (point 3). According to RA Law on “Automobile transport” of Armenia the duration of driving a public transport must not exceed 9 hours and 48 hours during a week. The drivers’ rest must not be less than 10 hours. Driving of a public transport with more than 4 hours duration without rest is prohibited (Article 27).

135 b. Regulation of driving hours in EU

Driver’s hours, as well as the break and rest periods are more precisely addressed in a number of EU Directives. Particularly, Sections 4 and 5 of the Council Regulation No 117/66/EEC of 28 July 1966 On the Introduction Of Common Rules For The International Carriage Of Passengers By Coach And Bus, provide for the following regulation: “Driving period between any two daily rest periods or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period, hereinafter called 'daily driving period', shall not exceed nine hours. It may be extended twice in any one week to 10 hours. A driver must, after no more than six daily driving periods, take a weekly rest period as defined in Article 8 (3). “The weekly rest period may be postponed until the end of the sixth day if the total driving time over the six days does not exceed the maximum corresponding to six daily driving periods. In case of international carriage of passengers, other than on regular services, the terms 'six' and 'sixth' in the second and third subparagraphs shall be replaced by 'twelve' and 'twelfth' respectively. The total period of driving in any one fortnight shall not exceed 90 hours”.(Article 6). Another important issue underlined by the Council Regulation are the breaks and daily rest periods for drivers. As stated above RA “Automobile transport law simply provides a requirement for rest when driving a public transport with more than 4 hours duration, but does not specify the minimal time-periods for the rest. Meanwhile, Section 7 of Council Regulation states that: “1. After four-and-a-half hours' driving, the driver shall observe a break of at least 45 minutes, unless he begins a rest period. 2. This break may be replaced by breaks of at least 15 minutes each distributed over the driving period or immediately after this period …. 3. …In case of national carriage of passengers on regular services Member States may fix the minimum break at not less than 30 minutes after a driving period not exceeding four hours. Such exceptions may be granted only in cases where breaks in driving of over 30 minutes could hamper the flow of urban traffic and where it is not possible for drivers to take a 15-minute break within four-and-a-half hours of driving prior to a 30-minute break…” In addition Section 8 of the Regulation provides that: “1. In each period of 24 hours, the driver shall have a daily rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours, which may be reduced to a minimum of nine consecutive hours not more than three times in any one week, on condition that an equivalent period of rest be granted as compensation before the end of the following week…. 2… During each period of 30 hours when a vehicle is manned by at least two drivers, each driver shall have a rest period of not less than eight consecutive hours… 3. The daily rest period may be taken in a vehicle, as long as it is fitted with a bunk and is stationary.” In addition to the EU regulation, for instance in US drivers may drive for 10 hours and work for up to 15 hours—including driving and non-driving duties—before having 8 hours off duty. Drivers may not drive after having worked for 60 hours in the past 7 days or 70 hours in the past 8 days. Most drivers are required to document their time in a logbook A long-distance driver may drive for 11 hours and work for up to 14 hours—including driving and non-driving duties—after having 10 hours off-duty. A driver may not drive after having worked for 60 hours in the past 7 days or 70

136 hours in the past 8 days unless they have taken at least 34 consecutive hours’ off- duty. Most drivers are required to document their time in a logbook.244

d. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. “The Automobile transport law’ of RA provides the same working hours for both: short distance and long distance drivers. 2. RA “Automobile transport law” does not define short distance drivers and long distance drivers. To organize the tours more effective it would be better to make several additions in the law in this respect. 3. It is advisable follow the above-mentioned detailed regulation of drivers’ break and the rest periods as provided in the Council Regulation No 117/66/EEC in RA legislation.

2.5. Air transport infrastructure

a. General overview

The tourism relations are important to overview also from the viewpoint of air relations. Nowadays, air relations in RA are mainly regulated under the Law on Aviation.245 Armenia is also a member to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules to International Carriage by Air signed in Warsaw on 12 October 1929, as well as by convention on International Civil Aviation, done at Chicago on 7 December 1944. b. Competitiveness of Armenian air market and Open Skies Agreements

The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation introduced nine freedoms of the air for those states that have adopted the Convention and enter into bilateral treaties that may grant any of the following rights or privileges for scheduled international air services, which in particular link to the following: − Fly across the territory of either state without landing. − Landing in either state for non-traffic purposes, e.g. refueling without boarding or disembarking passengers. − Land in the territory of the first state and disembark passengers coming from the home state of the airline. − Land in the territory of the first state and board passengers traveling to the home state of the airline. − Land in the territory of the first state and board passengers traveling on to a third state where the passengers disembark. − Transport passengers between the territory of the granting State and any third State without going through the home state of the airline, etc. Implementation of the aforementioned freedoms is possible due to open skies agreements. The term open skies refers to either a bilateral or multilateral Air Transport Agreement, which liberalizes the rules for international aviation markets and minimizes government intervention (the provisions apply to passenger, all-cargo and combination air transportation and encompass both scheduled and charter services).

244 Available at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos242.htm 245 New law was adopted on February 22, 2007 137 Most of the existing open air agreements include the following basic principles and provisions: ƒ Free market competition (no restrictions on international route rights, number of designated airlines, capacity, frequencies and types of aircraft), ƒ Pricing determined by market forces A fare can be disallowed only if both governments concur ("double-disapproval pricing") and only for certain, specified reasons intended to ensure competition. ƒ Fair and equal opportunity to compete All carriers of both countries may establish sales offices in the other country, and convert earnings and remit them in hard currency promptly and without restrictions. Designated carriers are free to provide their own ground-handling services ("self handling") or choose among competing providers. Airlines and cargo consolidators may arrange ground transport of air cargo and are guaranteed access to customs services. User charges are non-discriminatory and based on costs; computer reservation system displays are transparent and non-discriminatory. ƒ Cooperative marketing arrangements Designated airlines may enter into code-sharing or leasing arrangements with airlines of either country, or with those of third countries, subject to usual regulations. An optional provision authorizes code-sharing between airlines and surface transportation companies. ƒ Provisions for Dispute Settlement and Consultation Model text generally includes procedures for resolving differences that arise under the agreement. ƒ Liberal Charter Arrangements Carriers may choose to operate under the charter regulations of either country. ƒ Safety and Security Each government agrees to observe high standards of aviation safety and security, and to render assistance to the other in certain circumstances. It should be mentioned, that the GOA outlined the crucial role of open skies policy and promotion of entrance of foreign airlines into Armenian market as far back as 2000. In particular, monopoly in the field of civil aviation and, as a result, high costs and low quality of service, as well as lack of cooperation with foreign airlines was considered to be one of the main reasons of low quality of tourism product in Armenia246. Open skies were considered to be an important step towards promotion of competitiveness in the sector. Following the aforementioned assertion, Armenia signed air transport agreements with Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Lebanon, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Syria, and several other states. On 15 March 2007 the GOA expressed its consent to sign an open skies agreement with the USA. The Constitutional Court has yet not given its preliminary opinion on the compliance of the obligations of the GOA, arising out of the agreement with the Constitution. Situation is the same with the air transport agreement with Czech Republic. It would be advisable to further implement the policy, expressed by the GOA in 2000 and consider possible agreements with other states.

b. Issues of reimbursement of loss and liability of the carrier

1. Art. 63 of the Law on Aviation provides for the liability of air carrier and the right of care of passengers (meals and refreshments, communications means, hotel

246 Protocol No. 15 of GoA meeting of 20 April 2000 on Concept on RA Tourism Development, Section 2 138 accommodation) in case of delay of the flights. Under existing regulations the passengers will be offered communication means when the delay is more than 4 hours and accommodations when the delay is more than 8 hours. At the same time, Art. 63 covers general liability of the carrier for the loss, incurred to the passenger as a result of delay of carriage of passengers or luggage, but does not provide for more specific regulations, which presumes, that in case of claim party claiming the loss must prove its existence and amount. Providing the passenger an opportunity to claim full amount of loss in case of delay, national legislation does not contain any additional financial guarantees for the passenger. EU legislation in the field demonstrates more passenger-oriented approach. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights provides for detailed regulations on compensation and other measures, taken by the carrier in case of delay. Under Art. 6 of the Regulation when an operating air carrier reasonably expects a flight to be delayed beyond its scheduled time of departure for two hours or more in the case of flights of 1500 kilometers or less; or for three hours or more in the case of all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometers and of all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometers; or for four hours or more in the case of all flights not falling under first two mentioned cases, and in case when delay is at least 5 hours, the passengers will be offered to have right to reimbursement within seven days of the full cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not made, or for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger’s original travel plan etc. With some exceptions, this rule shall also apply to passengers whose flights form part of a package. It can be concluded that if services provided in case of delay are regulated under Armenian Law on Aviation, the issue of financial compensation is linked to the proof of actual amount of loss. It would be advisable to supplement the law on Aviation with provisions on compensating the full cost of ticket in case of delay, taking into consideration approach, laid down in the Regulation. Such a choice will be a preferable option for passengers, who do not intend to prove the amount of loss, caused as a result of delay. At the same time, this is a minimum amount of compensation, which does not preclude the passenger from claiming the total amount of actual loss.

2. The aforementioned Regulation contains other provisions on liability and reimbursement. Thus, Art.10 deals with the issue of upgrading and downgrading. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class higher than that for which the ticket was purchased, it may not request any supplementary payment. If an operating air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, it shall within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3) (these are cash, electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheques or, with the signed agreement of the passenger, travel vouchers and/or other services), reimburse: (a) 30 % of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1500 kilometers or less, or (b) 50 % of the price of the ticket for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometers, except flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometers, or

139 (c) 75 % of the price of the ticket for all flights not falling under (a) or (b), including flights between the European territory of the Member States and the French overseas departments. Art. 5 provides for detailed regulations of measures taken by the carrier in case of cancellation. In particular, the article provides for assistance, re-routing and compensation, unless: (i) they are informed of the cancellation at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure; or (ii) they are informed of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than two hours before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than four hours after the scheduled time of arrival; or (iii) they are informed of the cancellation less than seven days before the scheduled time of departure and are offered re-routing, allowing them to depart no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and to reach their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival. The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier. The aforementioned approach could be used in order to further develop provisions on reimbursement and liability of the Law on Aviation. Fixed compensation based on the distance of flights is a preferable solution.

3. Lack of mechanisms of efficient information flow can be considered as another gap in national legislation. General information about the rights of the passengers is a separate subject issue of the Regulation: Art.14 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 provides an obligation of air carrier to display a legible notice containing the following text in a manner clearly visible to passengers: “If you are denied boarding or if your flight is cancelled or delayed for at least two hours, ask at the check-in counter or boarding gate for the text stating your rights, particularly with regard to compensation and assistance”(p.1). The air carrier should also provide the passengers a notice setting the rules for compensation and assistance in a written form in cases if the boarding is denied or cancelled (p.2). Taking into consideration, that awareness of the passengers of their rights with respect to special services and compensation is an important prerequisite for realization of these rights, introduction of similar requirement in the Law on Aviation would help to develop a good practice, based on the law.

4. Field research has revealed a problem, concerning luggage claim or loss reimbursement procedures in the airport. Major problems are: - poor delivery services (passenger is obliged to come to the airport in order to get the delayed ) - lack of accessible information on claiming procedure Following the Warsaw convention, the Law on Aviation deals with liability of the carrier but does not specify the procedure of applying for compensation for absence, damage or loss of baggage. It would be preferable if the Law on Aviation provided for establishment of a department inside the airport where passengers would apply to for compensation for the loss, damage or absence of their baggage or their injuries. Special application forms for above mentioned cases and complete information on the procedure should be easily accessible for the passenger.

140 PART VI: SECURITY OF TOURISTS AND PROTECTION OF THEIR RIGHTS

Summary Supporting attractive tourism environment in the country is much dependent also on the existence of effective mechanisms for tourists’ right protection, ensuring their safety and security. One of the important guarantees for protection of tourists’ rights is existence of proper contractual relations between the travelers and organizers of travel services, providing details of the offered tour package and regulating the issues of responsibility for the beach of tour contract. Another significant issue for civilized tourism service is that the tourist should be provided with precise information about the details of the tour, the country visited and other adequate information necessary for the tour. The latter, on the other hand, assumes regulation of the responsibility of travel service provides for delivering misleading information to travelers. A useful mean for supplying information on the country visited, tourists’ rights and security is also establishment of tourist information centers. The level of safety of tourists at the destination is an essential factor while marketing the country as a beneficial tourism location. Hereby, such issues as safety of tourists at accommodation establishments and tourism sights, assistance in various emergency situations, as well as their life, health and property insurance are concerned. In addition, such issues as existence of proper mechanisms for quick settlement of tourism disputes, entry visa regime for tourists and regulation of export of cultural values and souvenirs are also necessary to consider while developing tourism industry in the country. Thus, in the following Part of the Report the above-mentioned issues are examined in the light of existing RA legal framework. Furthermore, examples of regulation of relevant issues in the national legislations of other countries and European Council documents are provided for consequent development of the field.

1. General Overview

Ensuring efficient mechanism for protection of the rights and interests of tourist is much emphasized by WTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, which declares as a task of the public authorities to provide protection for tourists and visitors and their belongings. It further underlines particular attention must be paid to the safety of foreign tourists owing to the particular vulnerability they may have. Under the Code the state authorities should facilitate introduction of specific means of information, prevention, security, insurance and assistance consistent with the needs of especially foreign tourists.247 The basic legal act regulating relations between the consumers and providers of tourist services in RA is the Law on Tourism. According to the Article 4 of the Law one of the major principles of RA tourism policy are: ƒ promotion of tourism by creation of legal, economic and structural conditions, ƒ creation of relevant conditions for protection of lawful rights and interests of tourists. One of the key entities directly in contact with tourists, thus directly relating to the issues of tourist rights are tour operators and the travel agencies in particular. That is the major cause that the RA Law on Tourism pays a special attention to the

247 WTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism of 1 October 1999 (A/RES/406(XIII)), Article 1(4) 141 regulation of relations between the customers and travel undertakings relation with providing tourism services. 248 Relations between the organizers of travel services and travelers arising from the non-delivery or inappropriate delivery of the service fall also within the regulation of the RA Law “On Consumer protection”, which deals in general with issues of protection of interest of consumers from the activities of service providers. 249

2. TOUR CONTRACTS a. General overview According to Article 2 of Law on Tourism of RA “tour package” term is deemed to be a complex of tourism services which combines at least two types of services: a) connected with transport and accommodation (and relating to the latter) services, b) services not connected with transport and accommodation and which constitute the significant part of the tour package. The service provided by tour package must cover a period of more than twenty-four hours or include at least overnight accommodation.250 Here, one should mention that similar definition exists also in other national laws, however, there is one important point missing in mentioned definition provided in RA Law. To create a package the element must be “sold at an inclusive price”, which means that even if travel undertaking arranges both accommodation and transportation services for the customer, however the latter pays the hotel directly afterwards, then the provided service by the travel undertaking will not be considered a package.251 However, invoicing separately for individual elements does not by itself unmake a package if the other criteria are kept. 252 The “package” definition in RA Law does not also further detail the scope of services which are considered as not connected to transport and accommodation. This kind of services are defined in Finland Package Travel Act (1079/1994),253 which states that the services not associated with transport and accommodation

248 It is noteworthy that, for instance, the Laws on Tourism of Lithuania, Estonia, do not contain detailed regulations in this respect. Meanwhile, quite detailed provision exist in the Bulgarian Law on Tourist, which basically follows the provisions of the Council Directive on package travel, package holidays and package tours of June 13, 1990 No 90/314/EEC. The provision of these Directive are widely implemented also in the RA Law on Tourism, thus one can notice many similarities in the regulations existing in Bulgarian law on tourism and RA Law relating to the issues of tourist rights protection. At the same time in a number of countries the subject issues are regulated by a separate act, for example Finland Package Travel Act (No 1079/1994), United Kingdom Package Travel Regulations, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations of December 22, 1992, No 3288 249 Adopted by National Assembly of RA on July 26, 2001 250 Similar definition exists in the National Law of other countries, as Estonia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, United Kingdom Package Travel Regulations, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations of December 22, 1992, No 3288 251 Thus, under the UK Package Travel Regulation the “package" means the pre-arranged combination of at least two of the following components when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or includes overnight accommodation: (a) transport; (b) accommodation; (c) other tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package (Regulation 2(1)) Under Lithuanian Law of Tourism ‘package of tourist services’ means an assortment of planned tourist services for sale, comprised of at least two tourist services at general cost, inclusive of transportation and /or accommodation, when the duration of services shall exceed a 24-hr period. 252 See Question and Answer Guidance on the UK Law Relating to Package Travel, November 2006 URN 06/1640 (available at http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file35634) 253 See para 2 of the Finland Package Travel Act (No 1079/1994) 142 include for example arrangements relating to meals, leisure, activities or meetings or other similar services which do not decisively affect and price of package. Under the RA Law on Tourism, tourism services are provided to a customer by signing a written contract. In this respect one should mention that there are certain exceptions from the binding requirement of signing a written contract in national laws. For instance the Lithuanian Law on Tourism, provides for signing a tour travel contract not in all cases, but only “when the consumer is offered at least two tourist services, the trip lasts longer than twenty-four hours or the trip includes night accommodations” (Article 7). Finland Package Travel Act (1079/1994) states that “if a contract is entered into immediately before the package takes place and it would therefore be unreasonably inconvenient to provide the contract conditions in writing, the information concerning the conditions may be supplied to the traveler in some other suitable form (paragraph 7 of the Act). RA Law further specifies certain information that must be in all cases provided in the contract. (Article 16, para 4), in particular used transport vehicles, their category and identification signs, date and hour of departure and return from the starting and end point and the route of the trip, time of arrival and duration of stay, type and category of the food and entertainment establishment, number and kind of meals included in the tourist trip; common price announced for all services included in the contract, other payments not included in the price, term and way of payment; visits, , transfers and other services included in the common price, etc. 254 Moreover, in case of absence in the tour contract of the mandatory provisions provided by the law, if disputes arise thereon the reasonable explanations of the consumer are to be take as a ground (article 17, para 2 of RA Law on Tourism). Thus, tour contract is the basic document establishing the terms and conditions of the tourism services to be provided and a serous guarantee for tourist rights and interests. Well drafted tour contact is important for avoiding further misunderstandings and complaints for the provided services, as well as to seek the responsibility of the travel undertaking in case of the breach of the contract. Underlining the role of the tour contract the Law on Tourism of Lithuania even provides for approval of standard form of a tour contract by the State Department of tourism (Article 7, para 4). Field research shows that in practice each travel undertaking elaborates its own contract form.255 However, from the point of ensuring the exultance of legally correctly drafted contracts, balance between the interest of consumers and providers of tourism services and avoiding misunderstanding over the terms of the contract it is advisable that the professional union of travel undertakings elaborate a Model tour contract form.

b. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. The definition of the “tour package” in the RA Law on Tourism should be further clarified in order to infer that to create a package the consistent elements must be offered for sale at an inclusive price. Moreover, it is advisable to further define the

254 In basic requirements to the tour contract in fact are the same also in the Law on Tourism of Lithuania (Article 7), (Article 30). Only, the latter provides also for two additional provisions to be included in the contract: ‘- deadline by which the user shall have the right to refuse the contract without owing forfeit or indemnification, as well as deadline by which the user must inform the tour operator or tourist agent that he cedes his trip to a third person; - minimal number of participants if such is necessary for the fulfillment of the trip and deadline of informing the user when this number is not achieved and the trip can be cancelled.’ 255 See Annex 2, Chart 41and 42 143 scope of activities considers to be not connected to transport and accommodation in the sense of definition of tour package in the RA Law on Tourism. 2. RA Law on Tourism does not address the situation when the tour contract cannot be performed as a result of lack of participants in tour. In these cases the tourist must be informed about it reasonable time before and his/her payments must be refunded and moreover the tour operator must compensate the damages for non- performance of tour package. It is advisable to include such a provision in the Law on Tourism of RA. 3. For better protection of the rights of tourists, as well as promotion of use legally correct tour contracts in the business it will be helpful to have a Model tour contract form, which can be in fact introduced by the professional union of travel undertakings.

3. PROVIDING INFORMATION TO TOURISTS

3.1 Pre-contract information on the conditions of the tour package

In order to guarantee the awareness of customers while receiving a tour package the Law on Tourism of RA mention the basic information that should be provided to the customer before issuing a tour package. The Law on Tourism declared the right of tourist to receive from the travel undertaking, in a language understandable by him/her all the necessary information on the legislation relating to tourism, the national traditions, religious customs, nature, culture, history, etc. of the country of arrival, as well as about terms of insurance and the tour contract (Article 17). In the fulfillment of the above-mentioned rights of tourist the Law imposes certain obligations on the travel undertakings while providing tourism service and signing tour contracts. Thus, under the Law travel agencies are obliges to fix in visible places of their tour office the following information for customers: v. photocopy of certificate on state registration, vi. the form of the mode-contract with tourists, vii. informational, advertising and other materials about the country of arrival, viii. List of countries with dangerous diseases ix. informational materials and visa formalities, x. all necessary information about the national traditions, religious customs, nature, culture, history and other places of tourism interest, specially protected monuments, legislative, religious requirements and prohibitions of the country of arrival important to know during the tour. Moreover, RA Law on Tourism sets out the main information that must be provided to tourists before signing the tour contract (Article 16, para 2), which includes particularly the following: xi. passport and visa requirements,256 xii. health requirements and limitations in the country of arrival and transit (special injection requirements, etc. ), xiii. information about transportation taxes and special payments, xiv. customs limitations during transportation of passengers, xv. information about currency exchange rate,

256 It is advisable to clarify this provision further mentioning that the travel undertaking must provide information about the length of time it is likely to take to obtain the appropriate passports and visas. 144 xvi. requirements for life, health and accident insurance. In addition the Article specifies the information required to be provided to the customers before rendering services under the tour package, in particular: xvii. address and phone numbers of partners, whom customers can apply for assistance in case of any problems, xviii. information on the journey duration, places and short stops in course of the journey and the places of stopping periods of parking, xix. in case of tourism packages of children the means of direct line for reaching them. RA Law on Tourism does not also impose an obligation on travel undertakings to provide brochures to customers. Other national laws also do not contain mandatory requirement for providing a brochure, however, they generally set that if a brochure is produced it must indicate in a legible, comprehensive and accurate manner certain specified information.257 An interesting example in this respect exists: the Finland Package Travel Act which provides that “the contract conditions and the other information in the brochure are binding upon the organizer. The conditions and the other information may, however, be amended, if in his brochure the organizer has reserved the right to amendment and has in a clear manner informed the traveler of the amendment before the contract is entered into or if the parties have later agreed the amendment. The RA Law on tourism does not directly underline the binding character of the information provided before signing the contract. It does not specify the cases when the provided information can be lately changed. Meanwhile, the Council Directive On package travel provides that “the particulars contained in the brochure are binding on the organizer or retailer unless: - changes in such particulars have been clearly communicated to the consumer before conclusion of the contract, in which case the brochure shall expressly state so, -changes are made later following an agreement between the parties to the contract”. 258 The basic provision existing in the RA Law on Tourism, which provides a guarantee from further amendment of the conditions of offered packages relates to prohibiting the unilateral amendment of the price of the tour package, unless the tour

257 For instance under the UK Package Travel Regulation indicates that the price and adequate information about the following matters to the extent that they are relevant to the packages must be offered: - the destination and the means, characteristics and categories of transport used; - the type of accommodation, its location, category or degree of comfort and its main features and, where the accommodation is to be provided in a Member State, its approval or tourist classification under the rules of that Member State; - the meals which are to be included in the package; - the itinerary; - general information about passport and visa requirements which apply to the nationals of the member State(s) in which the brochure is made available and health formalities required for the journey and the stay; - either the monetary amount or the percentage of the price which is to be paid on account and the timetable for payment of the balance; - whether a minimum number of persons is required for the package to take place and, if so, the deadline for informing the consumer in the event of cancellation; - the arrangements (if any) which apply if consumers are delayed at the outward or homeward points of departure; and - the arrangements for security for money paid over and for the repatriation of the consumer in the event of insolvency (Regulation 5). 258 Council Directive on package travel, package holidays and package tours of June 13, 1990 No 90/314/EEC 145 contract provides the opportunity for that. In any case the travel must substantiate enhancement in the price of the tour package, and only on the grounds that relate to: -transportation expenses -customs duties, taxes and fees chargeable in airport and ports, -the exchange rates applied to the particular package. An important guarantee is also the provision prohibiting increase of the price of the tour package during 20 days before the tour (Article 16. para 5).259 From the point of providing information to tourists another noteworthy provision existing in the Council Directive states that “any descriptive matter concerning a package and supplied by the organizer or the retailer to the consumer, the price of the package and any other conditions applying to the contract must not contain any misleading information. When a brochure is made available to the consumer, it shall indicate in a legible, comprehensible and accurate manner both the price and adequate information…”.260 In fact, any tourism undertaking who provides misleading information concerning a package would be liable to compensate the consumer for any loss which the consumer consequently suffers. RA Law on tourism does not directly address these issues.

3.2 Tourist information centers

a. General overview The quality and accessibility of information for tourists is another issue in need of improvement. According to observation of interviews with tourism agencies, one of the problems is the way of informing tourists about their rights and security in tourism places. Many tour agencies claim the absence of information. Moreover, many information desks in tourism places are introduced only in Armenian and this is a real obstacle for tourists, who don’t know Armenian, to be informed about their rights and responsibilities in tourism places. As a result, the above mentioned tour agencies inform tourists about security issues only orally, which can not be considered as a real guarantee. The GOA has outlined basic measures for 2007, aiming at increasing tourists’ awareness. These measures include renewal and review of the website of ATDA in order to enrich it with interactive maps and complete information about hotels, restaurants, tourism agencies and places of interest of any kind (including museums and other cultural sites), as well as publication of information leaflets about every region of Armenia.261 The aforementioned measures will improve the situation but they do not preclude Armenia from introducing another effective model – tourism information centers. It should be mentioned that Armenia has already implemented this approach for development of tourism in protected areas. Thus, management plans of national parks contain requirement on establishment of tourism information centers in the territories of the parks. Developed network of tourism centers in every region will provide tourists with opportunity to get all the necessary information, which is impossible within one website or information portal.

259 The same time period exist in Bulgarian Law on tourism (Article 34). The UK Package Travel Regulation provides for 30 days period of time (Regulation 11 (3)). 260 Council Directive No 90/314/EEC, Article 3 261 GoA Decree No. 153-N, 1 February 2007 on Approval of 2007 Tourism Development Plan and Measures for its Implementation. 146 Estonia’s practice can serve as a good example of organization and maintenance of tourism information centers. To organize informing of tourists on conditions of tour packages, tour contracts, etc, the law on tourism of Estonia suggests a special solution by forming special information centers. According to paragraph 26 of the following law, a tourist information center collects and organizes impartial and competent information on tourism services and the provision thereof and sights of interest in the administrative territory of the county of location of the tourist information centre and forwards such information to persons interested in tourist information and other tourist information centers and persons designated by the Government of the Republic. The main mission of such centers must be collecting information on tour services and providing it to tourists. Such kind of centers must not have any right to defend tourists’ rights but only to inform them. The compulsory requirement of such services must forbid such centers to provide tourists with any misleading information. According to law on tourism of Estonia tourism information centers may provide only the following services for a charge: 1. booking an accommodation for the same or following twenty-four hour period, 2. intermediation of sightseeing services, 3. rental of equipment for sightseeing services, 4. intermediation of passenger services within Estonia, 5. sale of souvenirs and photography supplies, 6. sale of publications introducing tourism services and sights of interest, 7. sale of postal and communications services. This means that as in Estonia, in Armenia should also mainly provide information about tour services. Other activities of such centers must not be connected with performing of tour packages, or defense of tourists’ rights or compensation of tourists’ damages. b. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. The RA Law on Tourism should contain a provision directly prohibiting any misleading information to tourists relating to the conditions of tours or tour contract. 2. The RA Law on Tourism should provide separate provision addressing the nature of tour brochures and the binding character of the information contained there. RA Law on tourism should also directly mention the binding character of the information provided before signing the contract, and adopt the abovementioned provision of the Council Directive On package travel regarding the cases when the later amendment of already provided information is possible. 3. Armenia should also have tourist information centers, which would organize the informing process of tourists on various issues arising form their tourism activities. Such centers in fact should not deal with the issues of performance of tour packages, or defense of tourist rights or compensation of damages.

147 4. CONSUMER PROTECTION, BREACH OF TOUR CONTRACTS AND COMPENSATION OF DAMAGES

a. General overview As already discussed in previous paragraphs of the Report, RA Law on Tourism provides certain provisions which establish requirements of providing complete and precise information to the customers (tourists) on the conditions of the provided tour package, information about the provided of the tourism service, as well as other details necessary to know before taking the tour. The Law on Tourism, however, does not address the relations arising from breach of the conditions of the tour package by the provider of tourism services. These relations are regulated in more details by the RA law on “Consumer rights protection”, which addresses issues of protection of consumer rights arising from the relations of providing services and sales of goods. The Article 27 of the mentioned Law, addressing issues of shortcomings revealed in the provided services, entitles the consumer in particular, to the following: 1. Require to eliminate shortcomings, 2. Require to reduce the price of the services, 3. Require to compensate expenses occurred by the consumer while eliminating shortcomings, 4. Require supplying services once again. According to the same Article the consumer has a right to withdraw from the contract and require full compensation for damages. However, the “Consumers’ rights’ protection” law of RA does not fully regulate these relations. The above-mentioned provision in the Consumer Protection law in general terms comply with the ones existing in the Council Directive No 90/314/EEC, which sets the following rights for consumers in case if supplied service does not correspond to the offered tour package conditions: -either to withdraw from the contract -or to accept a rider to the contract specifying alterations made and their impact on the price, -or to take a substitute package of equivalent or higher quality (Article 4, points 5,6). Moreover, the Directive mentioned that if the replacement package offered is of lower quality, the organizer shall refund the difference in price to the Consumer, or to be repaid as soon as possible all sums paid by him under the contract. Neither Tourism law of RA nor the “Consumers’ rights’ protection” law of RA do not give the organizer opportunity to make arrangements in tour package in case when there are differences between the services offered and those supplied. This is provided in Council Directive No 90/314/EEC (Article 4, point 7), which defines: “Where, after departure a significant proportion of the services contracted for is not provided or the organizer perceives that he will be unable to procure a significant proportion of the services to be provided, the organizer shall make suitable alternative arrangements, at no extra cost to the consumer, for the continuation of the package and where appropriate compensate the consumer for the difference between the services offered and those supplied”. Moreover, the consumer should be entitled to withdraw from the contract not only in above mentioned cases but also if “he/she has good reason to believe that consequence of a situation for the reason of force majeure, the package can not be brought about in the agreed manner or in such a way that his/her life or health will

148 not be endangered.262 This is an additional guarantee and should be added to Tourism law of RA. From the points of protection of consumer rights it is important to refer also the cases when the provider of travel services is entitled to withdraw from the tour contract. RA Law Tourism in fact does not address this issue, however bearing in mind peculiarities of travel services and their big dependence on a number of factors out the control of the organizer of travel services it is important to provide certain cases when the latter will have the right to withdraw from the contract. In this respect, for instance the Finland Package Travel Act provides the opportunity for canceling the travel package in the following two cases: 1. First, when there are too few participants. In this case the organizer is entitled to cancel the package in the event of too few participants only if he has stated in the brochure or in the contract conditions that the package is dependent upon the number of participants. The organizer shall also indicate the deadline for informing the traveler in the event of cancellation. When the organizer cancels the package he shall without delay refund what the traveler has paid, unless the traveler receives a substitute package. 2. Second, the package and other travel arrangements can be canceled for reason of force majeure or if in consequence of some other unexpected circumstance when the package cannot be brought about without a risk to the traveler’s life or health. The traveler shall be immediately informed of the cancellation of the package. The organizer shall without delay refund the payments the traveler has made, unless the traveler receives a substitute package (Paras 11 and 12 Finland Package Travel Act). At the same time, it is advisable to address in the Law the cases when the traveler is also entitled to withdraw from the contract. In this respect the Act provides that the traveler is entitled to withdraw from the contract, if: 1) he has good reason to believe that in consequence of force majeure the package cannot be brought about in the agreed manner or in such a way that his life or health will not be endangered, 2) the organizer has substantially increased the price of the package or by virtue of the contract conditions made other fundamental changes to the contract, or 3) the traveler has suffered an unexpected and serious occurrence and it would be unreasonable to demand that he participate in the package; if the traveler dies before departure, his successors are entitled to withdraw from the contract. The organizer shall without delay be informed of the withdrawal. If withdrawal from the contract occurs in accordance with abovementioned point 3, a reliable explanation of the incident which has prevented participation in the package shall also be presented.

b. Gap Analysis and Recommendations 1. Thus, the travel services have certain peculiarities in need for more specific approach than the one provided in general in the consumer protection legislation. These peculiarities should be dually considered and addressed in the Law on Tourism of RA, in order to provide necessary guarantees for protection of both: the interests of tourists and organizers of travel services. From this viewpoint, it is advisable to review provisions of the RA Law on Consumer Protection and provide certain basic regulation for the case of breach, non-fulfillment or cancellation of the tour contract/travel package by the tour organizers in the RA

262 Such provision exists, for instance, in the Finland Package Travel Act, 1079/1994, paragraph 15 (1) 149 Law on Tourism bearing in mind the specificity of the travel services and taking into consideration the abovementioned provisions of Council Directive No 90/314/EEC. 3. It is advisable to have an additional provision in the RA Law on tourism addressing the cases when the tour contract/tour package can be unilaterally canceled by either party of the contract as discussed above in the example of the Finland Package Travel Act. 4. From the points of consumer protection it is important to regulate also issues of sharing the responsibility between organizers of travel services and providers of certain service for the package (e.g. transport, accommodation). In fact, the approach should be that tour organizer or retailer shall be liable to the consumer for proper performance regardless whether a supplier hotel or air carrier is responsible. It is justified from the needs of protection of consumers’ interests and not involving them into separate lasting litigations. The organizers of travel services may further claim the reimbursement for the compensated damages from their counteragents in the form of the regressive claim.

5. SECURITY AND INSURANCE OF TOURISTS AND THEIR GOODS

a. General overview One of the basic preconditions of marketing RA as a tourism friendly country is creating relevant preconditions for security of tourists. RA Law on tourism declares the rights of tourists to life, health and property protection in the country of their arrival (Article 17). Article 21 of the same law, addressing the system of tourist security, deals with the issue simply relying on placing an obligation on the organizers of travel services to undertake measure to insure security of tourists during the organized tours and prevent injuries or accidents to the latter, however, not further defining the measures to be initiated. The Article also states that special bodies must be aware of accidents of tourists, but again defaults many provisions in this field. For instance, it does not name those special bodies mentioned in Article 21 and further state that relevant state bodies must be immediately informed about emergencies with the tourist. In order to provide guarantees for assistance to tourists in various emergency situations the Finland Package Travel Act (1079/1994) defines as the obligation of organizer to assist the tourist during the tour in case the traveler falls sick, suffers an accident, becomes victim of a crime or suffers some other injury. The organizer shall assist him in obtaining medical attention or earlier transport home or in investigating the crime or injury and in other necessary measures (paragraph 16). Moreover, the Finland Package Travel Act indicates damages that are subject to reimbursement by the organizers of travel service caused by their fault. Thus, under the Act “the traveler is entitled to compensation for personal, material and property damage caused by a failure in the organizer’s performance if the failure or the damage is due to negligence on the part of the organizer or of some other trader whom the organizer has called upon in performance of the contract. In order to avoid liability for damages, the organizer shall prove that there was no negligence on his part”(para 23). RA Law on Tourism contains also a provision regarding the safety of tourist in accommodation establishments, providing that the accommodation services should adopt and implement an internal regulation to insure the safety and security of the customers (Article 11, point 3). Moreover, the RA Civil Code provides that

150 accommodation establishments are responsible for the goods of the customer, except but the loss or damage to the currency and other valuable property. The accommodation services are responsible also for the loss of currency and other valuable property in case they were handled for keeping to the accommodation establishment or have been placed in the personal safe. The agreement (declaration) excluding the responsibility of accommodation establishment is void (Article 852). From the points of security and safety of tourists one should mention also the development of mechanism of insurance for tourists. Regarding incoming tourists, the field research shows that in most cases they receive insurance in their home countries, In RA, insurance relations are regulated by the Law on “About Insurance” of RA. According to the RA Law, an “object of insurance” can be life, health, property, etc. The insurance certificate includes the name and place of insurance object, condition (Article 14, point 9). In this respect, for instance the Act on Certain Conditions of Business Activities in the Field of Tourism263 of Czech Republic, states that the insurance company shall also hand over the tour operator documents intended for clients, which shall contain information on concluded insurance, especially identification of insurance and the method of reporting an insured event, the tour operator shall be obliged to hand this document over the client simultaneously with the travel contract(paragraph 6, point 3). The terms and conditions of insurance must not include any misleading information. Moreover, the above mentioned Act of Czech Republic, points out that “An insurance company shall be not entitled to refuse an insurance benefit or reduce its amount in case the insurance company, after an insured event has occurred, finds out the tour operator intentionally supplied false or incomplete background information which were essential for the conclusion of an insurance policy. In this case, however, the insurance company shall be entitled to claim compensation from the tour operator (paragraph 7, point 3). This is a serious guarantee that should also be provided by the RA Law on tourism. b. Gap Analysis and Recommendations

1. Bering in mind the needs of guarantying the safety and security of tourist it is advisable to further develop provisions of RA Law on Tourism in the view of establishing additional and real guarantees for safety of tourists. Thus, it is advisable to regulate obligations of providers of tourism services in the Law to assist tourists in various emergency situations, as well as indicating the damages that are subject to reimbursement by the organizers of travel service caused by its fault. 2. Hereby, one should also underline the necessity of reviewing RA insurance legislation in order to address special needs of insurance relations arising from tourism services as discussed above. 3. Tourism and tourism activities law” of RA must directly mention during the course of the package traveler falls sick, suffers an accident, becomes victim of a crime or suffers some other injury, the organizer shall assist him in obtaining medical attention or earlier transport home or in investigating the crime or injury and in other necessary measures.

263 No 159/1999 coll., adopted by Czech Republic 151 6. EMERGENCY AND RESCUE SERVICES

Organization of first aid and emergency, or rescue services for tourism is subject to the following general regulations under the Law on Rescue Forces and Status of the Rescuer.264 Rescue activities can be conducted either by state specialized forces or by voluntary rescue forces, established as NGOs (Art. 5). Rescue services can also be performed as a business activity. Rescue activities include but are not limited to mountain rescue, snow rescue, water rescue, search and rescue. State rescue forces are organized both on all-state, regional and municipal level. Voluntary rescue forces can be organized freely, however, the provisions on rescuers require to complete the forces with rescuers, who have necessary skills and health and have been certified by the authorized state body (which is the RA Rescue Service). Organization, providing rescue services is also subject to certification. Art. 9 covers the issue of technical equipment of rescuer and the rescue transport, which is a necessary prerequisite for the rescue activities. It should be stated that almost every aspect of activities, rights, obligations and guarantees of the servant of state rescue forces are thoroughly regulated under the Law on Rescue Service of RA.265 With respect to non governmental organizations (either NGOs or enterprises), providing rescue services there is a key act, approved by the GOA – Decree on Establishing Procedure and Terms for Certification of Rescue Organizations and Rescuers.266 Procedure for applying for certification is not complicated: requirements to rescuers can be classified into the following three groups: - requirement to have accomplished a training course (for beginners), - health requirements - professional requirements (for specialized groups of rescuers) Certification is obligatory and is takes place every three years. Apparently, legal regulations of rescue field in Armenia have been significantly improved in the last two years. Existing legislation creates a basis for operation of private rescue organizations and private rescuers. Opening the field for NGOs and especially private enterprise undoubtedly contributes to increase of competition and quality of rescue services for tourism. Travel undertakings would be eager to establish contractual relationship with specialized rescue organizations rather than applying to state organization. This is predominantly efficient in case of specialized tour providers (adventurous tourism, mountaineering, etc.) It would be advisable for the administrative bodies of protected areas to enter into agreements with rescue organizations, which would undertake rescue activities in the territory of the area.

7. SETTLEMENT OF TOURISM DISPUTES

a. General overview

One of the basic peculiarities of tourism disputes is that the tourist is in general short of time to apply to a court in a case breached of his/her rights by travel undertaking. The lack of knowledge of foreign legislation and procedures for applying

264 Adopted on 25 May 2004 265 Adopted on 8 July 2005 266 GoA Decree No. 1391-N, adopted on 28 September 2006 152 for protection of their interests create additional impediments in this process. Thus, certain simplified procedures should be developed in order to address the needs of tourism prompt settlement of tourism disputes. RA Law on tourism mentions that in case of non-performance or improper performance of tour contract the tourist is entitled to apply to a state court (Article 17, point 3). The other provision in the Law on Tourism, much or less addressing the issue, is the statement that in case of absence in the tour contract of mandatory provisions defined by the law, if disputes arise thereon the reasonable explanations of the consumer are to be taken as a ground (article 17, para 2). However, bearing in mind peculiarities of tourism disputes it is also important to provide certain time limits for raising issues on breaches and shortcomings during the provision of tourism service. For instance, Finland Package Travel Act states that “the traveler may not allege a breach of a contract if he does not inform the organizer of the breach within a reasonable time after he has perceived or should have perceived the breach” (para 18 of the Act). In addition the Council Regulation No 90/314/EEC also states that the consumer must communicate any failure in performance of a contract which he perceives on the spot to the supplier of the services concerned and to the organizer and/or retailer in writing or any other appropriate form at the earliest opportunity. The obligation must be stated clearly in the contract. The Regulation also provides that in cases of complaint the organizer and/or retailer or his local representative, must take prompt efforts to find appropriate solutions.267 It is noteworthy, that both the Council Regulation and the national Law are limited only at setting a procedure of reporting about shortcomings of tour services and time-limits of reporting them. However, they in general do not provide any alternative procedure for settlement of tourism disputes, other than the state courts. In the majority of countries with developed tourism relation and NGO sector in the field in practice there have been developed alternative dispute settlement mechanisms, like tourism arbitration, mediation, conciliation within certain NGO’s, major stake have also Consumer protection board.268 The fact that settlement of tourism disputes within the court is not common even for RA is revealed during the field research, and organizers of travel services also mentioned that they try to avoid significant disputes and in the most cases are willing to settle them by compromise and respecting the interests of the client.269

b. Gap Analysis and Recommendations 1. As already mentioned, the basic peculiarities of tourism disputes including the little time for tourists to apply to a state courts, lack of knowledge of foreign legislation and procedures create the necessity of developing certain simplified procedure for protecting tourist rights and interests. In the meantime quick settlement of tourism disputes is beneficial also to providers of travel services who in practice, are also interested in out-of-court settlement of any controversy. 2. From the point of simplification of tourism dispute settlements one issue that is advisable to address in the RA Law in Tourism is that there should be provided time

267 See in particular Article 5 to 7 of the Council regulation 268 For instance, according to the Czech Act on Certain Business Activities in the field of Tourism the contract shall also include the procedure how a client should lodge his/her claims resulting from the breach of a legal obligation of a tour operator. 269 As mentioned by the majority of the organizers of tourism service the basic principle they bear in mind is that “the client is always right” ( See also Annex 2, Charts 43 and 44) 153 limits for raising issues on breaches and shortcomings during the provision of tourism service bearing in mind the above-mentioned relevant provisions of the Council Regulation, as well as Finland Package Travel Act. 3. In further improvement of tourism dispute settlement, it is advisable to put special stress to promotion of alternative dispute settlement mechanisms within professional unions, Consumer protection board and travel undertakings. Development of such kind of mechanism in RA is much dependent also on promotion of traditions of ADR, in general, as it is not much common currently. Hereby, one should again stress the role of NGO sector in the field which can promote certain ADR mechanisms for civilized business affairs. Further development of tourism activities in RA, may make it possible also the establishment of certain Board for Protection of Tourist Rights, which accepting the tourist’s claims, will overlook all the documents connected with tour package and services supplied to tourist and will represent the tourist’s interests in the court and protect tourist’s rights. This kind of agencies must work apart from travel undertakings to guarantee objectiveness.

8. SIGNS IN TOURISM SITES AND FACILITIES

Continuous and steady growth of international tourism leads to far more divergences between people from different cultural systems, with difference in speech and customs. This implies a strong need for simple and widely understood tools for communication, like signs and symbols relevant to safety, security and comfort of tourists. The issue of graphical symbols and standardized terminology was taken up by a number of different bodies. The World Tourism Organization reported in 1989 on The Standardization of Tourist Signs and Symbols (PG(VI)B.5.1 in relation to tourist attractions, services and facilities. Work was also undertaken on public information symbols in the early 1990s by CEN (the European Standardization Committee) in cooperation with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Some of these symbols specifically covered hotel and restaurant services.270 Bearing in mind language and cultural differences in countries use of signs instead of written notices has become a trend also in EU legislation. At the same time issues of safety signs are addresses by EU regulations, and in particular the EC Safety Signs Directive (92/58/EEC) on the use and provision of safety signs in work places. The purpose of the Directive is to encourage standardization of safety signs throughout all of member states of the European Union. This will help all countries easily identify and understand safety signs wherever they are seen. The Directive defines "health and/or safety signs" as signs providing information or instructions about health and/or safety at work by means of a signboard, a color, an illuminated sign or acoustic signal, a hand signal or a verbal communication. It also defines the terms "prohibition sign", "warning sign", "mandatory sign", "emergency escape or first-aid sign", "information sign", "signboard", "supplementary signboard", "safety color", "symbol or pictogram", "illuminated sign", "acoustic signal", "verbal communication", and "hand signal". Signs must be provided where hazards cannot be avoided or adequately reduced by preventive measures. Wherever appropriate, signs used for road, rail, inland waterway, sea and air transport must be installed inside undertakings.

270 Examples of graphic symbols, relating to tourism facilities are provided in Annex 13 of the Report 154 Currently, few organizations in Armenia place signs for security and tourism comfort. Moreover, field research has revealed the problem of informing the tourist about dangers he or she can face during the trip. The problem of security signs was already referred in the other part of the Research,271 however, if management plans of national parks expressly provide for development of necessary infrastructure (including signs), the same cannot be asserted with respect to other places of interest and facilities for tourists. Therefore, it can be concluded that unification and implementation of security signs should be a priority. It would be advisable for the government to undertake the following measures in order to implement the international experience in the field: ƒ Review existing symbols for security and comfort signs in order to make it in line with symbols, established by the aforementioned international organizations. ƒ Develop a time-schedule for placement and replacement of signs in tourism sites and facilities.

9. BANKRUPTCY OF TOURISM ENTERPRISES

From the point of protection of tourists rights and ensuring the reimbursement of damages caused by non-fulfillment or incompliance with the tour contract is the regulation of the procedure of bankruptcy of tourism undertakings. Bankruptcy of tourism enterprises is not a subject to any specific regulations and is administered in accordance with RA Law on Bankruptcy.272 Under the Law, bankruptcy is announced as a result of court proceeding. Legal entity or private enterprise can be announced bankrupt either upon its own application (voluntary bankruptcy) or upon the claim of creditor, if the debtor is insolvent. The threshold for application constitutes existence of a debt of AMD 500 000, in case of 30 or more days delay of undisputable payment obligation. Arts. 82 and 83 of the law lead to a conclusion, that tourists’ claims against the tourist enterprise in the process of bankruptcy are to be satisfied at the cost of sold property of the enterprise, however, almost in the ultimate turn, unless their claims are secured. 273

10. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR INVESTMENTS IN TOURISM SECTOR

Legal regime of investment is not the same for local and foreign investors, and that is also the case with investments in tourism sector. There is no specific regulation and all kinds of investments are being regulated under the civil legislation and the Law on Foreign Investments. In fact, the Law on foreign investments establishes the principle of “most favorable” regime, which presumes certain privileges for foreign investors compared with local investors. The Law adopted in 1994, when promotion of foreign investment, attraction of financial, managerial resources and advanced technologies was probably one of the highest priorities of the state. Economic situation at that time and severe shortage of local investment resources dictated the necessity to attract foreign investors by ensuring favorable

271 See supra Para 2 of Part III of the Report 272 A new Law on Bankruptcy, complying with European standards in the field, adopted on December 25, 2006. 273 From this point another important issue is providing safety bonds by travel undertakings which has been discussed supra Paragraph 3 of Part I of the Report. 155 conditions. As a result, the law provided for a wide range of types and ways of investment. Chapter 2, namely “State guarantees for protection of foreign investment” provides for guarantees in the field of legal regime, customs, recovery of loss, legislative stability, etc. Privileges include but are not limited to the following: - In case of amendment of national legislation, governing foreign investment, the initial legislation in force at the time of investment is to be applied to the investor at his choice. - Foreign investment is not a subject to confiscation. Requisition can take place only in the state of emergency, upon court decision and full reimbursement. - Employees of a foreign investor are free to export their property, profit, loss reimbursement sums and remuneration for the work. - Import of goods, the list of which is approved by the government, for replenishment of nominal capital of the foreign investment company is free of import duty. - Other privileges can be provided by the law. The above mentioned privileges apply to the companies with foreign investment, if the latter constitutes no less than 30 percent at the time of establishment. It can be concluded from the following that with respect to the issues of taxes, legal registration, law enforcement and other aspects of activities of foreign investor principle of national regime applies. In the scope of it, foreign entities/persons and locals are equal in rights, obligations related to business activities. On the other hand, the principle of “most favorable regime” can be observed in the areas, where aforementioned privileges apply. In those areas conditions for foreign investment are more auspicious. It should be mentioned however, that the GOA realizes the necessity of equalization of legal opportunities for foreign and local investors. It becomes obvious from the Concept of Investment Policy of the RA274 that Government considers important to: - provide equal opportunities for business to foreign and local investors, - provide national and most favorable regimes to foreign investors, - further liberalize investment regime and abolish administrative obstacles, - implement international norms and experience in the field of investment, - further promote attraction of investment, which will contribute to introduction of know-how and advanced technologies In the last couple of years legislation has been significantly improved to meet the need for creating favorable conditions for investments. Amendments to the Civil Code, improving regulations on property rights, and the new Law on Commercial Arbitration in line with UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration aim at unification of regulations in the field with majority of countries. Despite the fact, that Government has outlined the main directions of development of the field and necessary actions in the Concept, there are some measures, such as classification of real rights, development of commercial arbitration, implementation of high standards of corporate governance, that haven’t been completed yet. Thus, it is recommended to draft and adopt a new law on Investment, which would be based on the principle of equal opportunities for local and foreign investors and would serve as a framework act for evaluation and further amendment of other relevant legislation and development of subordinate legislation.

274 Protocol No. 15 of GoA meeting of 21 April 2005 156 Also, it would be advisable to foster establishment of trade delegates’ offices in the states, which would be eager to invest in tourism in Armenia.

11. LEGAL REGULATIONS FOR EXPORT OF CULTURAL VALUES AND SOUVENIRS

a. Legal regime for export under domestic legislation

In general, tourists can freely export souvenirs under general rules on export. Rate of customs duties for export is 0 percent, no duty is paid for export (Article 102 of the Customs Code of RA). However, there are specific regulations with respect to cultural values. Export of cultural values is regulated under the Law on Export and Import of Cultural Values.275 “Cultural values” within the meaning of the law include items, which resulted cultural uniqueness of Armenia and are often purchased by visitors. Such items, inter alia, include: - archeological findings - paintings - sculptures - icons - works of applied art (glass, clay, cloth, wood, bone, metal, etc) - works of traditional national crafts - furniture, tapestry, carpets, national dresses, items (Article 4 of the Law). The Law prohibits export of extra-valuable objects of cultural heritage. The exhaustive list of such values was approved by the GOA on 13 October 2005276. Export of other categories of cultural values is subject to either simple or more complicated procedures. GOA Decree277 has established the lists of works of arts, including applied arts, which can be exported without a certificate of right to export or photo of the item, ratified by authorized state body. The first list (Annex 1 to the Decree) includes works of art, graphics, sculpture, , design works, photographs, compositions, etc (which can be considered as cultural values). These items are subject to simplified export in case their age does not exceed 50 years. The second list (Annex 2 to the Decree) contains items, which can be exported without any complicated procedures if their age does not exceed 75 years. These items include but are not limited to: - Cross-stones - Hand-made carpets of serial production and manufactured carpets - Models of historic-cultural monuments - Published books, photographs, cards - Souvenirs - Commemorative , postage marks. Apparently, export of the above mentioned Annex 2 items, which were obtained in the territory of Armenia, is not a subject to any special restrictions. Actually these are the items, which are not considered to be cultural values, and are treated as “items of cultural significance”.

275 Adopted on 6 December 2004 276 GoA Decree No. 1643-N on Approval of the List of Extra-Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage 277 GoA Decree No. 245-N on Regulation of Cultural Values and Items of Cultural Significance, approved on 26 February 2004 157 Cultural values, which are not included in the above mentioned lists, can be exported if the exporter has a certificate of right to export. The certificate is issued by the authorized state body as a result of examination. State duty for getting a certificate constitutes 5000 AMD.278 Also, there is a category of cultural values, included in protection list of the state, which can be exported if the State does not purchase them from the owners within a month from the date when the owner applies for export permission. Cultural values, except for those mentioned in Annex 1 to the Decree, are subject to obligatory examination, which is carried out by organizations licensed by the state (Article10 of the Law). Such an examination is a prerequisite for export permit, because its purpose is to find out whether or not the item can be considered as “cultural value”. Upon the results of the examination, the authorized state body (which is the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs) seals the photo of exported item and thereby ratifies, that the item does not need a certificate. The state body can also find that: - the item is generally not subject to export, - it can be exported only if the State does not enjoy its preferential right to purchase the item from the owner-exporter within a month from the date when the owner applies for export permission, - it can be exported in case of certificate of right to export, - it is not a cultural value within the legal meaning of this term and is therefore not subject to any special regulations for export (for instance, if the exporter presents an Annex 2 item, which is an “item of cultural significance”, but not a “cultural value”). In other words, person, exporting an item from the list provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2 to the Decree can voluntarily apply to the state body to get ratification of the photo of the item for export. In case of application the photo is sealed in a day, and certificate of right to export is issued in two days (Article11, paras 4, 5).

b. Gap analysis and recommendations

1. Criteria for requiring a certificate or license for export should include not only the age, but also the value of the cultural item. Generally, the procedure for export is rather simple. Even if the tourist prefers to get a ratified photo, which is not obligatory in most cases, as it was already mentioned above, terms (1 day) and requirements for getting it are minimal. Similar procedures apply in European countries. At the same time, it should be observed that EU countries have mostly developed a unified approach towards categorization of items of cultural value. The question of whether the item is subject to simplified procedure or license for export depends not only on the category and age of the cultural goods, but also on its value. In other words, inclusion of an additional criterion (such as value) makes the selection of export procedure more flexible and corresponding to categories of goods. For instance, Armenian legislation requires certificate of right to export (which is similar to license in EU countries) if the work of applied art, souvenir or similar, which is considered to be a “cultural value” is 50 or more years old. The value of the item is not taken into consideration, which means, that a tourist, who wants to export a worthless wooden figure, which is older than 50, is still obligated to apply to authorized body and get a certificate for export. It is suggested to consider inclusion of the value criterion into the examination process for items with age exceeding 50

278 Article 17, para 1(a) of the Law on State Duty 158 years’ threshold. Relevant EU experience in the filed could be useful to determine the correct approach. Thus, in Netherlands, export licenses are issued by the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The question of whether or not a license is required depends on the value and the age per category of cultural good. For example, for drawings, a minimum threshold value of 15 000 Euros has been adopted, and a minimum age threshold of 50 years. If a drawing exceeds both these thresholds, an export license will, as a rule, be required. The same approach exists in UK, though the thresholds for exports to other EU states and non EU countries are differentiated. A photographic art work or any assemblage of such photographs to non-EU state is subject to Individual Export License or can be exported under the terms of Open General Export License, if it is over 50 years old and its value exceeds GBP 10 000. No license is needed for export of postage stamps and other articles of philatelic interest. Any object less than 50 years of age at the time of export can be freely exported to another EU country, and any object less than 50 years of age at the time of export which belongs to its originators can be freely exported to a non-EU country. The same approach was laid down in the Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 of 9 December 1992 on the Export of Cultural Goods. Under the Regulation, the assessment of whether or not the conditions relating to financial value are fulfilled must be made when an application for an export license is submitted. The financial value is that of the cultural object in the Member State, in whose territory the cultural object in question was lawfully and definitively located on 1 January 1993 or in whose territory it is located following either lawful and definitive dispatch from another Member State, or importation from a third country, or re-import from a third country after lawful dispatch from a Member State to that country.

2. Information on export must be available for the tourists in advance. Despite regulations on export of souvenirs and cultural values are simple, the mere fact of categorization of values for export may cause additional difficulties for the exporting person. Currently, the web site of the Customs Office of Armenia contains information about export of souvenirs and artifacts, which is however based on previous legislation and not updated279. Updates by the Customs Office in line with the provisions of legislation adopted after 2004 would be very useful. In addition, it would be preferable if legal regulations in the form of booklets and guidelines for the exporter were available in easy format in the information center of the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs in order to clarify cases, when examination is necessary and cases when there is no need for any prior steps, as well as find out the list of organizations, performing examination activities. A good example of analogical practice can be taken from the UK. Department for Culture, Media and Sport of UK has developed standards of service with respect to provision of information. Guidance leaflets for exporters are available from the office of the Department free of charge280. The staff is fully informed about the export licensing requirements including the applicable monetary limits. The Department provides advice on the cases when license is required and the type of license that will be needed.

279 http://www.customs.am/culture/culture.php 280 See Annex 18 to the Report 159 12. ENTRY VISA REGIME FOR TOURISTS

On 25 December 2006 the National Assembly adopted a new Law on Foreigners, which clarified major problematic issues concerning legal regulation of entry visa regime. The law: - establishes several types of visas (visit, official, diplomatic, transit) – visas for tourists fall within the first mentioned category, - lists the grounds for refusal to issue a visa, - obliges the GOA to regulate the procedures and terms for applying for a visa, discussing the application and examining document attached thereto and issuing or rejecting a visa. The GOA has not adopted the procedure yet. The Law on State Duty has also been amended in order to improve and unify the duty for visa. Currently, the duty for getting visa at the boarder and applying for getting the visa to Armenian consulate in the tourist’s country or third country has been unified and constitutes AMD 15 000 in both cases. Generally, procedure for application for a tourist visa is not complicated. Recently Armenia has introduced a mechanism for providing an online visa via website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Though currently online visa is valid only while passing the boarder in Zvartnots airport, the Government is planning to expand the online application program.

160 CONCLUSIONS

After recognition of tourism as a dominant sector of RA industry important legislative reforms have been undertaken in order to face the challenges of building competitive tourism sector, creating preconditions for the industry develop, initiating both legislative and organizational measures to enhance the quality tourism services in RA. At the same time, it is noticeable significant enhance of activity of NGO sector and their involvement in the promotion of the interests of the field. In the recent years there have been established several professional unions, i.e. RA Guilds’ Guild, Incoming Tours Operators’ Union, Armenian Hotel Association, Board of Airlines, that have a serious say in the contemporary civil society and in the tourism development in RA. However, the latter are young associations (being establishes basically during 2000-2006) and are still doing steps of self-establishment in the field, therefore in need of strong support in their capacity building, lobbying of their activities and attracting new members. Meantime, the NGO sector is one of the key stakeholders in ongoing processes of tourism development in RA, which should actively collaborate with state bodies in process of current reforms and represent joint interests of the field. At the same time, establishment of other associations, as for instance transport unions, tourist rights protection board, etc, should also be encouraged. In the initial stage of tourism development in RA many processes have been and still remain government-administered (as hotel classification, guide licensing, etc.), however in course of gradual strengthening of the NGO sector many state functions are reasonable to transfer to the private sector. From the point of further improvement of the tourism industry and relating infrastructures, the Research focused on a number of issues, summarized in the following: 1. Hotel classification: Hereby it was underlined the need of further improvement of the procedure of inspection of accommodation establishments to ensure its credibility and objectiveness in the eyes of the sector players. In the meantime it has been considered advisable to review and simplify also the existing classification standards, in order to make them more comprehensible for the industry. Despite the absence of uniform approach in classification criteria, experience of a number of countries has been analyzed and proposals have been introduce for further improvement in this respect. 2. Tourist guides (tour escorts): The quality of tourism service in RA is much dependent on the entities in almost direct and everyday contact with the tourists. Thus, the impression of the tourist forms regarding the hosting country is much influenced with decent representation of values and sights of the country by qualified tourist guides. Professionalism and knowledge of the latter, their manners, ability to communicate and find prompt solution in various situations is very important. From this point, it is much emphasized the need of establishment of certain training courses for the guides (escorts), as well as reconsideration of the tourist guides’ licensing procedure to be able to check not only the formal knowledge but also guiding skills on behalf of the applicant.

161 3. Tour operators and travel agents: Increase of the number of entities involved in tour operator’s (tour agent’s) activities in Armenia and further extension of the scope of their outbound tourism activities emerges a signal for the state to pay necessary attention to the regulation of the field. Quality of organized tour packages particularly in incoming tourism directly influences the rating of RA in tourism industry. Despite the absence of any licensing procedure for travel undertakings, the need for certain “soft” state regulation of activities of travel undertakings has been underlined also by the field representatives. 4. Transport: Development of tourism in RA is in certain terms dependent also on existence of developed transport infrastructure, which will make access to various tourism sights possible for travelers. Examination of the legal regulation of transport infrastructure in RA, shows that in the recent years a great number of laws and regulations have been adopted in order to address the issues of traffic security, enhancement of road capacity, establishment of road signs, provide decently furnished of bus stops, etc. However the most important thing remains changing public mentality towards protection of those rules and regulation. Hereby, a serious stake has the principle of unavoidability of the responsibility for breaches of those regulations and organized state control over those processes. At the same time, serious input in further promotion of transport infrastructure can be undoubtedly made by transport associations, thus promoting collaboration of private and public sectors attaining common goals. 5. Safety standards and practices in tourism facilities and sites: Tourism friendly environment refers also to the issues of food and sanitary safety, where proper and timely measures are extremely important, as they can directly affect human health. The Report analyses the existing regulation in the field making a comparison also with experience and approaches of EU countries and other industrialized states. It should be stated, that in the recent years there has been elaborated a wide range of legislation addressing issues of sanitary norms and food safety, as well as control over their observance, insuring awareness of the consumer, etc. 6. Protection of rights of tourists: Marketing of RA as a tourism location is much dependent also of existence of effective mechanisms of tourist rights protection in the country, as well as ensuring the safety and security of the tourist. This issue derives also from the provisions of the WTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The challenges on tourist rights protection assumes complex of measures including existence of proper tour contracts, delivery of precise information about the offered tour package to the traveler, ensuring real mechanisms of compensation of damages caused by the non-fulfillment or breach of the tour contract, providing the security of tourists, establishment of simplified procedures for the prompt settlement of tourism disputes, etc. At the same time, from the point of creating beneficial tourism legal framework of special interest are issues of export of cultural values and souvenirs, entry visa regime, which have been addressed in the Report. Thus, the field research and examination of the existing legal framework relating to tourism shows that there is a significant amount of legal acts addressing various tourism relating issues in RA. However, development of tourism in RA is dependent not only on existence of tourism-friendly and perfect legal framework, but also on implementation of these legal acts in practice and ensuring

162 compliance to them. There are many examples when despite of pretty well drafted legislation, there is a quite distorted practice. In particular: ensuring the “inevitability of the responsibility” in case of breach of the regulation, enhancing public awareness of existing legal regulations, changing public mentality towards respecting the laws and explaining those firstly benefits the society. Meanwhile it is also important to improve state and private cooperation, signify the role of professional unions, thus promoting the self-regulation within the field.

163 LIST OF ANNEXES

Annex 1 Comparison of Hotel Classification Criteria for 4 star hotels in RA, Germany, Estonia and Lebanon

Annex 2 Field Research Data Analysis (Charts)

Annex 3 Category Requirement for Hotels and Motels In Estonia

Annex 4 German Hotel Classification Criteria of April 2006

Annex 5 French Hotel Classification procedure and Criteria of April 1988

Annex 6 Modernizing Lebanon’s Tourism Classification System, Report prepared by SRI International, USAID/Lebanon, February 2000

Annex 7 Hotel Classification survey in European Union of 18/10/2004

Annex 8 Survey on Tourism Standards by UNTWO of February 2005

Annex 9 FEG Definitions

Annex 10 Legislation of Tourist Guide Profession and Tourist Guide Qualification in Greece

Annex 11 Scottish Tourist Guide Association Standards in Tourist Guide training

Annex 12 Excerpt form E-mail by the President of World Federation of Tourist Guides

Annex 13 Symbols For Use On Tourist Sights

Annex 14 Proposed Structure of Disability Policy Plan

Annex 15 Examples of Existing Eco-labeling practices

Annex 16 Accessibility for Disabled in Europe

Annex 17 American Automobile Association (AAA) and the petrochemical company Mobil hotel rating system

Annex 18 UK Guidance to Exporters of Cultural Values

Annex 19 Grading Criteria for Backpacker & Hostelling established by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa

Annex 20 Minimum Requirements to the Accommodation establishments established by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa

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