Your travel counsellor certificate allows you to engage in travel-related activities. However, you must respect certain obligations.

Certificate

You must renew your certificate every year. Otherwise, it will be cancelled and a new request will have to be made.

You must inform the Office de la protection du consommateur if your contact information changes or if you are working for a new travel agency. Read the Changing the information linked to your certificate page for more information.

Affiliation with a travel agency

You must act exclusively on behalf of the travel agency which employs you or with which you have signed a contract. This means that you must be affiliated with only one travel agency. The agency must hold a licence from the Office.

If you act for a travel agent without a valid certificate, lawsuits may be filed and the court may impose fines.

Payments from customers

When a customer pays you, you must:

• give a receipt to the customer;
• deposit the collected amounts in the trust account of the travel agency.

Workplace

You cannot meet with your customers at your home unless a duplicate copy of the travel agency’s licence is issued for an establishment located at your residence.

Advertising

You can only advertise on behalf of the travel agency with which you are affiliated. You cannot indicate your personal contact information on advertisements, other than your cell phone number.

Certificate suspension or cancellation

The president of the Office de la protection du consommateur can suspend, cancel or refuse to issue or renew your certificate if you:

• have been found guilty of an offence under the Travel Agents Act or the Regulation respecting travel agents within the 5 preceding years;
• have been found guilty of fraud, forgery or fraudulent operations in any contractual or commercial matter within the 5 preceding years;
• have provided false information to obtain or renew your certificate;
• fail to exercise your duties honestly and competently.

You are required to give customers a receipt as well as all the travel documents they need.

Receipt

When customers pay you, you must give them a numbered receipt that bears the name of the travel agency. It must include:

• the date;
• the name and address of the customer;
• the amount paid and the balance owing;
• the following mention near these latter amounts: “Tourist services paid but not received, may be reimbursed by the Fonds d’indemnisation des clients des agents de voyages. It is administered by the Office de la protection du consommateur. It is a financial protection for travelers. For more information: www.ficav.gouv.qc.ca.”
• the description of services;
• a reference to the fact that the money is deposited in a trust account;
• the amount and the percentage of the contribution made to the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents;
• the mention “Credit applicable,” followed by the amount of the contribution to the Fund, to be subtracted in cases where this contribution is not to be collected;
• the name of the travel counsellor who made the sale.

The refund conditions for the amount received must appear on the receipt. Otherwise, you must give the customer a brochure or another document describing these conditions.

Other documents

At least 7 days prior to their departure, you must provide customers with all the documents they will need for their trip. For example, these could be:

• train or airplane tickets;
• an itinerary;
• vouchers for accommodations or scheduled activities.

If the trip is purchased fewer than 7 days prior to departure, the documents must be given as soon as possible before the trip.