Tourism Law in Europe

Under certain preconditions, foreign natural persons or foreign legal entities that are authorised to carry on an activity in the territory of a member state of the WTO Agreement may carry on commercial activities in Austria upon order under the same conditions that must be met by Austrian nationals 10 . However, if a service is provided in Austria without the provider of the service coming to Austria, even the requirements for cross-border supply of services as above do not apply 11 . In such cases, no kind of registration and/or licence is required. This means that, for example, a tour organiser in Germany or Switzerland can offer package tours in Austria without being subject to the Austrian Trade Regulations Act, as long as they don’t have a branch office here and do not travel to Austria or send employees to provide the services. Each trade licence is initially granted for a specific place of business, but additional places of business 12 may also be established under the same licence and certain commercial activities may also be carried out outside places of business 13 . In addition to the trade licence, which concerns the exercise of the trade as such, a so-called business facility permit 14 is required if the business facility in question is likely to  endanger the life or health of the trader, his partner working in the business, neighbours or customers, or the property or other rights in rem of neighbours;  cause a nuisance to neighbours through odour, noise, dust, vibration or otherwise;  interfere with religious worship, schooling, the operation of hospitals and convalescent homes or the operation of other facilities serving public interests;  significantly impair the safety, ease and fluidity of traffic on public roads; or  adversely affect water bodies. Because of their potential impact on neighbours and/or traffic, hotels and other accommodation facilities are regularly subject to the requirement of such business facility permit. 10 Sec. 51 Trade Regulations Act. 11 Gerscha/Steuer GewO § 51 Rn 3. 12 weitere Betriebsstätten, sec. 46 Trade Regulations Act. 13 Sec. 50 Trade Regulations Act. 14 Sec. 74 Trade Regulations Act.