INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW The Commission believed that the complex Italian system violated what had been established by Europe regarding the freedom of movement of services and professions, as well as the principles of free competition. At the European level, restrictions on the movement of people and/or professions are only allowed within the scope of protecting an interest of a public nature24. The Court of Justice allowed for the conditioning of the practice of the profession of guide on passing a qualification exam but did not accept that this could in any way constitute a possible limitation on the number of operators. The Court, in fact, recognized the right to assess competence to the extent that individual states could identify sites of particular interest for which professional guides were necessary, but always and only within the scope of protecting an interest of a public nature. Italy, convinced of the need to protect its heritage, entrusted the task of identifying sites requiring the presence of a specialized guide to the Regions with the Presidential Decree of December 13, 199525. Unfortunately, the number of sites then identified by the Italian Regions was deemed excessive by the European Commission, to the extent that in 2003, it sent a letter of formal notice and immediately thereafter, in 2004, initiated a new of the European Communities criticized—because they represented an illegitimate restriction of the freedom to provide services—the regulations of Spain, Greece, and Italy, which required authorization and registration in professional registers or lists for the practice of the profession of tourist guide. The European Court allows authorization only for the preservation of the historical and artistic heritage of the State and concerning the "particular characteristics of certain places." It states that "specialized guides" can be provided for museums or specific monuments. Regarding such judgements see: M. P. Chiti, L. Righi, Tourism in the European and national dimension (Il turismo nella dimensione comunitaria e nazionale), in Quinto Rapporto sul Turismo Italiano (edited by Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo), Milano, 1993, 391, ss. 24 Refer to the Court of Justice of the European Communities judgment of February 26, 1991, Case C-180/89, "The general interest related to the enhancement of historical heritage and the best possible dissemination of knowledge about the artistic and cultural heritage of a country can constitute an overriding requirement justifying a restriction on the free provision of services". 25 The judgment of February 26, 1991, has been incorporated into the Decree of the President of the Republic of December 13, 1995 (Act of guidance and coordination on tourist guides), which establishes, in Article 2: "for the purpose of better enjoying the cultural value of the national historical and artistic heritage," tourist guides must obtain specific authorization. The "sites that can only be explained to visitors by specialized guides" were then defined, based on this decree, by the Regions through Regional Resolutions (1996).
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