With the ongoing annual holiday season, the Republic Market Inspection Service continues its practice to increase inspections of tourist agencies prior and during this season. The primary aim of these inspections is to have businesses operate in accordance with the law, which directly affects end users of these services and their rights stemming from contracts signed with the agency.
During the last year the Republic Market Inspection Service conducted 26 inspections of tourist agencies and nine of them were with found irregularities. Based on this, inspectors issued seven Decisions on removal of irregularities and issued four minor offence orders in the total amount of BAM 10,000. The omissions found related to business records, individual contracts and travel certificates with users, records of contracts signed with third parties, and records of contracts of individual tourist packages holidays or outings.
When inspecting tourist agency, the priority is to determine whether they own the license of the Republic of Srpska Ministry of Trade and Tourism, approving the operation of the tourist agency. The inspectors then inspect whether they meet requirements in term of offices, staff, insurance, record keeping, etc.
In terms of consumer rights protection, inspectors check whether the prices of offered packages clearly shown, whether the travel programmes available to consumers, whether the agency informed the users with General Travel Conditions, whether the receipts are issued, whether travel arrangement contracts are signed with the users of travel packages, whether the clients are issued Travel Certificates, etc.
The Republic of Srpska Law on Consumer Protection prescribes that a tourist agency performing travel arrangement operations and a tourist agency intermediating in the organisation of a tourist travel is obliged to sign a contract with each consumer on a tourist package deal that must contain all necessary data defined by this law.
The consumer needs to receive at least one copy of the contracts, and if the agency does not do that, the consumers need to insist on their copy.
