International Journal of Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Law From 2011 to the present, Article 6 of the Tourism Code has been the sole state legislative reference to professions, as both Law 135 of 2001 and Article 10, fourth paragraph, of Legislative Decree No. 7 of 2007, which outlined certain principles regarding the regulation of guides and tourist escorts in relation to European regulations, were simultaneously repealed with the Tourism Code16. And that is why, as we have observed, in the absence of an effective state regulation that defined and regulated various tourist professional figures, the Regions felt free to legislate in areas where they had no authority. In their renewed regulations, they gave rise to new tourism professions and established professional registers, violating the principles of the freedom to provide services, the principle of free competition, and legislative competence17. As a result, they have been repeatedly subjected to scrutiny by the Constitutional Court18. Therefore, in the more recent past, the Regions have begun to act much more cautiously. The context of uncertainty has weighed particularly on professionals, who have experienced a prolonged period of interruption in the procedures for obtaining authorization, awaiting intervention from the State. 3. The challenging coordination with European legislation If from an internal perspective the regulation of tourist guides has already faced complexity, the framework has been further complicated by its coordination with European legislation, especially concerning the territorial connection of guides19. In Italy, given the uniqueness of our country, extremely rich in cultural and landscape assets, the principle of territorial linkage for the authorization of tourist guides has always been in force20. Therefore, the obtained authorization had a regional (or provincial) scope. The detailed regulations outlined by the Regional laws in force under Law 217/83, in fact, involved the completion of a biennial authorization exam. After passing this exam, the guide could operate only within the territory where they had obtained the authorization21. The Italian system in force at that time repeatedly elicited reactions from the Court of Justice of the European Community and eventually led to the initiation of an infringement procedure (No. 87/0071 of July 5, 1995) by the European Commission22. 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 16 If some limited reference to tourist professions had survived in the State-Regions Agreement incorporated into the DPCM of September 13, 2002 (the implementing decree of Law 135 of 2001, not repealed by the Tourism Code), with the DPR of April 27, 2004, letters g and n of Article 1 of the aforementioned Agreement, which concerned the modalities of exercise and the authorization exams for tourist professions, were annulled. 17 C. Bertolino, New spaces for intervention for the Regions regarding «professions» and «professional training (Nuovi spazi di intervento per le Regioni in materia di «professioni» e «formazione professionale»?), comment on Corte cost. n. 108/2012, in Le Regioni, 2012, 1044 ss 18 See Cost. Court. 178/2014 and 117/2015. 19 Often due to conflicting interests between Northern and Southern countries. See L. Righi, Tourism professions (Le professioni turistiche), in Diritto del turismo (edited by) V. Franceschelli – F. Morandi, Torino, 2021, p. 246. 20 And it is still invoked by some trade associations, even after the new law came into force. See, www.guideroma.federagit.org. 21 The law 217 of 1983 initially also provided for obtaining a public safety license under the Public Safety Consolidation Act of 1931. The acquisition of this license was repealed by Legislative Decree 112/1998. 22 See: Court of Justice CEE, the judgment of 26/2/1991, Case C-180/89, Case C-154/89, Case C-189/89, and the judgment of 22/3/1994, Case C-375/92, in particular, highlighted that the regulation of tourist guides—not only in Italy—imposed an unjustified limitation on the movement of people and professions. The judgments of the former Court of Justice 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.
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