Tourism Law in Europe

II.3.1. France Presently, France is characterised by the unification of tourism law, regardless of the competence framework, which for this reason will be merely executive. Indeed, the dispersion of tourist regulations led the French legislator to approve a Tourism Code, through Ordinance 2004-1391, of 20 December 2004, ratified by Parliament through Law no. 2006-437, of 14 April 2006, with the regulatory part published by two decrees (2006- 1228 and 2006-1229) of 6 October 2006 11 . Consequently, the French legislation on tourism has an important advantage over Spain. In the latter state there are seventeen autonomous parliaments that produce tourism regulations, while in the former the law is consolidated into a single legal code. In short, it is a matter of dispersion versus unity. Another relevant element is who exercises the powers in the field of tourism, because we should not forget that France is a unitary state, although administratively divided into 36.000 municipalities (in French communes); around 1500 groupings of municipalities (groupements de communes), public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation; 96 departments (départements) and 22 regions (regions) that group several departments. Moreover, there are overseas entities: departments and regions of the Caribbean (Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique) and Réunion; “Overseas communities” (Mayotte, New Caledonia, Polynesia, Saint Pierret Miquelon, southern lands). From a legal point of view, tourism in France stands as a cross-sectional matter, which concerns both public and private law, while at the same time comprising tax, commercial, urban, social and administrative law, therefore showing the importance of the Code. The Tourism Code is divided into four books, each of which is subdivided into titles and chapters 12 . 11 JULIENE-LAFERRIÈRE, F. “El Código Francés de Turismo”, Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídica de la Universidad Autónoma de Méjico, available i n www.juridicas.unam.mx. 12 Its index is as follows: Book I: general organisation of tourism. Title 1: General principles. Title 2: the state. Title 3: local entities and their groups. Title 4: public interest groups. Title 5: provisions relating to Corsica. Title 6: specific provisions relating to certain overseas entities. Book II: tourism activities and professions. Title 1: organisation of the sale of trips and stays. Title 2: provisions relating to visits to museums and historical monuments. Title 3: exploitation of tourism vehicles. Title 4: particular provisions relating to certain overseas entities. Book III: equipment and fittings. Title 1: Hotels, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments. Title 2: Lodgings other than hotels or camping grounds. Title 3: camping grounds, caravans and other conditioned grounds. Title 4: conditioning and regulation of sites with a tourist vocation. Title 5: provisions relating to Corsica. Book IV: Financing of access to vacations and tourism tax regime. Title 1: