Services aimed at the operation of natural bathing resorts are services tied to a licence provided in respect of natural waters authorised for bathing purposes and the attached shore line areas, as part of which the service provider offers bathing services in the designated area operated by the service provider as a bathing resort. In the Standard Classification of Economic Activities (TEÁOR'08), services aimed at the operation of natural bathing resorts fall into Sports, Entertainment and Leisure-Time Activities Sector 93; more specifically, into sub-sector 93.2 Other entertainment and leisure-time activities and sub-category 93.29 Other entertainment and leisure-time activities not classified elsewhere.
The operator of a bathing resort must maintain the following conditions on an ongoing basis:
A minimum relaxation area of 10 square metres per person must be provided in relation to the largest number of guests expected to visit the bathing resort at any given time. There must be a lawn and a landscaped area and additionally a shaded relaxation area must be created with trees and bushes.
A separate bathing area or facility must be created for children under the age of 6 years.
A parking area of an appropriate size and layout must be created for vehicles.
A sports area must be created in a location that ensures that the use thereof does not disturb the rest of the guests and does not pose a hazard.
An area must be designated in a separated section or in the vicinity of the resort for the storage of water sports equipment.
The relaxation, sports and other areas must at all times be kept clean and orderly. An appropriate number of waste bins, adjusted in size and location to the size of the area and the number of guests, must be installed. The waste bins must be emptied daily or as frequently as necessary and the waste must be transported in a sealed vehicle to a waste disposal site.
The section of the water used for bathing and the shore line area must be cleaned daily. Any building structures must, as necessary, be refurbished prior to the beginning of the bathing season and must be maintained on an ongoing basis.
The premises of the building structures must be cleaned with daily regularity or more frequently as necessary and must be disinfected in the manner stated in the rules of operation. The premises and the area must be kept free from insects and rodents (extermination).
An appropriate number of cabins or other suitable means must be created for dressing and undressing.
Based on the largest expected number of guests, separate toilets must be installed for each sex equipped with hand-wash basins within a distance of 100 metres of the shore line available for free-of-charge use. If the sewage cannot be drained into the public sewerage system, only an integrated sewerage system may be installed in conjunction with the toilets. The operator must provide for the removal or the hazard-free disposal of the sewage collected in the integrated sewerage system.
It is forbidden for animals to enter the bathing resort, not including security services with guard dogs specifically authorised by the micro-regional institute for public health and guide dogs for the blind.
No fishing is permitted on the premises of bathing resorts during the bathing season.
Shower facilities must be provided for the bathing public. In the case of more than 1,000 guests, there must be 1 shower for every 200 persons but minimum 4 showers.
Free-of-charge access must be provided to drinking water of good quality on the premises of the bathing resort or, in the absence thereof, some other facility or option must be provided for the availability of liquids.
Bathers must be informed in writing (if possible, also by way of tannoy announcements) of the following:
- quality of water and rules regarding the preservation thereof,
- temperature of air and water as at any time and depth of water,
- obligations related to use of bathing resort according to its designated purpose,
- other information of public interest.
The operator of the bathing resort must keep first aid equipment and bandages in a location on the premises that is accessible at all times and must provide for the replacement of the implements, medicines and bandages.
The operator of a bathing resort with an average daily number of guests reaching or in excess of 500 persons during the bathing season
- must make a lifeguard service with relevant water rescue experience available during the opening hours; further, in the case of an average number of guests in excess of 1,000/day, a first aid service and the presence of a person with paramedic qualifications or a physician who attended the oxyology course organised by the National Ambulance Service, passed the end-of-course examination and completed the required practice;
- bathers must be informed of the location of the medical duty service with well-visible signs;
- an operation log must be kept of the data of the daily number of guests, any incidents, any changes in the water quality and other extraordinary events.
The above obligations of the operator of the bathing resort relating to the lifeguard service, the first aid service and the keeping of the operation log are confined to the days of rest and bank holidays during the bathing season if the average number of bathers on these days reaches or exceeds 1,000 persons.
In the interest of preventing accidents, the operator must inspect the part of the bed under water by pulling along a rope or chain before the first commissioning, every year before the beginning of the bathing season and in the event of any suspected source of hazard that may lead to accidents. The result of the inspection must be reported in the operation log.
A person may only be employed as a lifeguard (rescue guard) if he/she has a valid certificate verifying his/her water rescue skills and if a physician verifies that he/she is in a fit state of health.
The lifeguard must be supplied with communication devices necessary for seeking help and a rescue boat conforming to the provisions of the Boat Navigation Ruleswhich must be equipped with a 40x40 flag that is white as its base colour, 30x30 cm in height, featuring a red cross that is 10 cm in width. Only persons acting as rescue guards may be on board the boat and the boat may only be used for rescue purposes. The rescue guard must be on board or within 50 metres of the boat during his/her service hours in a location from which the water area designated for bathing may be monitored.
In bathing resorts where there are children in groups or masses (e.g. camps for children and young people, holiday home on shore), in the interest of preventing accidents, the operator must provide for the availability of a separate rescue guard to supervise the group during the stay of the group of children on the premises.
Requirements relating to services aimed at the operation of designated bathing resorts
Sampling and laboratory tests: The operator of the bathing resort provides for the implementation of the samplings and laboratory tests determined in the schedule of sampling at its own expense. In the case of short-term contaminations or emergency situations, the micro-regional institute for public health provides for the examination of the samples and specifications taken outside the pre-determined schedule of sampling to the debit of the fiscal allocation of the county administrative public health agency.
Monitoring of quality of bathing water, sampling: The accredited sampling conducted for the purpose of monitoring the quality of the bathing water is combined with an on-site inspection which must extend to the occurrence of any tar residue, glass, plastic, rubber or any other waste and the determination of the proliferation of plytoplankton (inferior plant organisms floating in the water) and macrophytes (superior water plants).
Sewage treatment in protective area: Any sewage generated in the protective area may only be deposited in a sewage collection unit that is connected to the public sewerage system or is an integrated system. In the event of any contamination that may occur in the protective area or the threat thereof, the operator must forthwith file a report with the environmental protection, nature conservation and water authority with territorial competence which will, without delay, notify the micro-regional institute for public health.
Informing the public of the quality of bathing water
Procedures related to commencement of and engagement in services
For the purposes of services aimed at the operation of natural water resorts, the micro-regional or metropolitan institutes, operating with independent responsibilities and powers as organisational units vested with public health responsibilities of the county public health administrative agencies established under the auspices of the county and metropolitan government offices (hereinafter referred to as micro-regional institutes for public health), proceed as authority.
Natural bathing resorts may be operated on the basis of a designation procedure conducted by the micro-regional institute for public health. Based on the request of the owner of the shore line area, the micro-regional institute for public health conducts the designation procedure aimed at the operation of the natural water resort, as part of which it decides on the designation of the bathing resort intended to be operated.
A request for the licensing of services aimed at the operation of a natural water resort may be submitted in writing or verbally to the micro-regional institute for public health. Additionally, the request for the institution of the procedure may also be filed with the integrated customer services operated by the metropolitan and county government offices, that is, at the government windows. Requests for the institution of the proceedings cannot at present be submitted electronically for technical reasons.
The request must be submitted minimum 30 days before the planned launch of the operation of the bathing resort.
All documents must be enclosed with the request which serve to determine that the applicant satisfies the statutory requirements relating to the operation of natural bathing resorts. As part of this, the operator of the bathing resort must submit a set of rules of operation that is in compliance with the operating conditions described earlier. The rules of operation must contain detailed technical, technological, safety-technical, environmental and health regulations in connection with the professional and safe operation of the bathing resort.
Upon the submission of the request, the applicant is further required to verify payment of the administrative service fee payable for the procedure and the administrative service fees and duties payable for the proceedings of the participating authorities.
A variety of technical authorities take part in the proceedings instituted for the designation of a natural bathing resort. The service provider intending to operate the accommodation facility (sic!) need not contact these authorities; the micro-regional institute for public health conducting the licensing procedure contacts them. However, simultaneously with the payment of the duty payable for the licensing procedure - in practical terms, by the submission of the request, at the latest -, the client must also pay the duties for the proceedings of these authorities, and payment of these duties must be verified in the course of the submission of the request.
Prior to the designation of the bathing resort, the micro-regional institute for public health conducts an on-site inspection with the participation of the relevant technical authorities, the clerk and the applicant requesting the designation of the bathing resort. The technical authorities grant their positions as part or within fifteen days of the on-site inspection.
The micro-regional institute for public health must assess the request within the general processing time limit of 30 days; this time limit may be extended by the head of the authority on a single occasion by 30 days. The technical authorities have 15 days to grant their positions, and this time limit is not included in the above processing time.
If the quality of the bathing water is minimum „tolerable”, provided that the bathing resort satisfies the public health criteria relating to its operation and the request fully conforms to the statutory requirements, the micro-regional institute for public health authorises engagement in the services by way of the designation of the natural bathing resort. The designation is valid until the end of the bathing season in the case of rivers and until revoked in the case of lakes.
An administrative service fee of HUF 48,000 must be paid for the procedure aimed at the designation of a natural water resort. The applicant must pay this fee at the time of the institution of the procedure to the micro-regional institute for public health by transfer, by cash transfer order, by domestic postal payment order or in cash to the teller of the institute. The fee constitutes the revenue of the institute providing the administrative service.
As part of a procedure instituted for the designation of a natural bathing resort, a fee of HUF 8,000 must be paid for the participation of the environmental protection, nature conservation and water inspectorate as a participating authority.
With the exception of the participation of the environmental protection, nature conservation and water inspectorate, a general procedural fee of HUF 2,200 must be paid to each authority participating in the proceedings. The duty must be paid upon the submission of the request in the form of duty stamps which must be adhered to the document containing the request for a licence.
The micro-regional institute for public health keeps records of the persons holding a licence on the basis of designation for the operation of natural bathing resorts. The National Public Health and Medical Officer’s Service posts the list of registered bathing waters and designated bathing resorts as well as the list of bathing waters in which bathing is not permitted on a long-term basis on its website before the beginning of every bathing season, as soon as these are available but by 15 June, at the latest.
Services provided within the framework of cross-border activities
The nature of services aimed at the operation of natural bathing resorts practically excludes the provision of these services within the framework of cross-border services. It should be noted, however, that there is no sector-specific rule in connection with these services, on the basis of which those who lawfully provide these services in the (EU, EEA) Member State in which they are settled would be required to obtain a separate licence or to file a report in the case of the provision of these services as cross-border services in Hungary, that is, without settling, on a case-to-case or temporary basis.
Cross-border service provision
If you wish to launch this service in the form of cross-border service provision, please click here to read the general conditions of cross-border service provision in Hungary.
Legislation relating to services and the relevant procedures
Sector-specific legislation primarily relating to services aimed at the operation of natural bathing resorts and the relevant procedures:
- Government Decree No. 78/2008. (IV. 3.) on the quality requirements relating to natural bathing waters and the designation and operation of natural bathing resorts,
- Act LVII of 1995 on Water Management,
- Act XI of 1991 on the Activities of the Health Care Authorities and Administration,
- Government Decree No. 323/2010. (XII. 27.) on the National Public Health and Medical Officer’s Service, the fulfilment of administrative responsibilities related to public health and the appointment of the state administration agency for pharmacology,
- Government Decree No. 288/2010. (XII. 21.) on the metropolitan and county government offices,
- Government Decree No. 79/2010. (III. 25.) on the detailed rules of the payment of health care fines imposed in the proceedings of health care state administration agencies,
- Decree No. 1/2009. (I. 30.) on the fees payable for certain public administration proceedings and services of an administrative nature of the National Public Health and Medical Officer’s Service,
- Decree No. 33/2005. (XII. 27.) on the administrative service fees of the proceedings of the environmental protection, nature conservation and water authorities,
- Act CXL of 2004 on the General Rules of Public Administration Proceedings and Services,
- Act LXXVI of 2009 on the General Rules of the Commencement of and Engagement in Service Activities.