Sustainable Tourism Law

488 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW Principle of freedom of tourism service provision. Like any other company, those that participate in the tourism sector have the right to develop under competitive, quality and legal security conditions. The free provision of tourism services is carried out without any restriction or exclusion. To perfect this principle, the service provider has an immediate communication obligation, which consists of registering with the central records entity of the country where the service is provided, in order to ensure that tourism consumers are guaranteed a permanent, safe, easy, direct and free access to information through electronic media on the services they intend to consume. This is considered a principle linked to contractual freedom, through which everything that makes up social communication in tourism must guarantee the freedom to hire touristic services from the provider of their choosing. Autonomy of will assists and strengthens their development. Principle on the custody of luggage or the Protest Principle. This principle is derived fromArticle 26 of the Agreement for the unification of certain regulations regarding international air transportation, as signed in Warsaw in 1929. It governs the responsibilities of the forwarding agent regarding the custody of a passenger’s luggage. Nevertheless, merely receiving luggage and merchandise without protest from the consignee shall constitute a presumption, except when proven otherwise that the merchandise or luggage has been delivered in good conditions and according to the transportation contract. This involves passengers exercising their right to protest before the airline, when necessary; and, in case of damage to their luggage, their rights to restitutions. Principle on the right to changing one’s mind. This right is activated to guarantee to the consumer of tourism services that their expectations shall not be disappointed, as it gives them the right to change their mind about the service which motivated that expectation. Nevertheless, this right is forfeited when the party entitled to make use of said change-of-mind resource does exactly the opposite and begins to fulfil a contract, being understood as such any actions that unequivocally prove the will to fulfil the contracted obligations (Civil Room I in Argentina). In Spain, this principle is based on the Law of Information Society Services, entailing the right to change their mind 7 days after signing a contract. In Mexico, according to the Federal Law for the Protection of Consumers, 5 days are given after the signing of a tourism service contract.