9^th WORLD THERMALISM DAY
39^th INTERNATIONAL SITH CONGRESS

 FINAL MOTION

The participants of the “9th World Thermalism Day” and the “39th International SITH Congress” from 18 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, at the meeting in Levico Terme – Trento – Italy – during the days 14-15-16 October 2005, in the articulate debate on the congress topic “Current events, perspectives of thermalism and its legislation in Europe and other geographical areas” have given particular importance to “Legislation in Europe – Analysis and proposals for the new European reality”. To this end

Considering

• the increasing mobility of citizens at infra-community level as well as with regard to the socio-health sector, and more particularly the spa sector;

• the legislative and organisational competence on the subject of health and tourism is acknowledged to the individual Member States;

• given the new situation of the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, which now permits acts of support, coordination and integration in the tourism sector, without prejudice to the application of the principle of subsidiarity, the European Union must exploit its vast experience and set up initiatives consistent with two fundamental criteria: effectiveness in the achievement of objectives and flexibility in their execution, as well as the ability to respond to different economic contexts, chiefly including  the seasonal nature of the industry;

• action by the European institutions tends to strengthen the cooperative and trans-border nature, even in health policies, in the community spirit, by means of coordination work between the different national legislations;

• the community nature of health care has been repeatedly reasserted by the European Court of Justice, which has stressed the need to guarantee, on the one hand, free access to health care and, on the other, the financial sustainability of the cover provided by the individual national health services.

More specifically, as regards the spa sector, which can now certainly be considered a transnational phenomenon, we consider that the common working agenda could be defined as follows:

1. to strengthen and organise the network between the facilities and/or organisations involved in therapeutic spa activity in Europe;

2. to promote and support greater integration of the spa sector with the social, tourism and health sectors;

3. to work towards an imminent recognition of the spa system both by the European institutions as well as the individual Member States, by adopting shared documents at EU level;

4. to develop reflections concerning accreditation and introduction of spa services in the “packet” of services guaranteed in universalistic terms by the different national health services;

5. to recognise and encourage the study and development of innovative forms of legal and institutional public-private partnerships for the organisation and management of spa centres;

6. to evacuate the feasibility of launching a research project at EU level that encourages institutional communication and strengthens the spa sector;

Therefore

1. The Congress confirms the need to define the lines on which thermalism must find its expression within the European Union, a community of 450 million people.
   This historic opportunity is an essential element in order to allow the full development of the spa industry in each Country, at the service of the majority of citizens.

2. The Congress confirms that the subjects on which the above said can be realised are specified as follows:

• scientific validity of thermalism

• quality standards for spa centres

• organisational criteria for spa centres

• freedom of choice of spa centre for citizens at EU level

• repayment of the expenses sustained by users and authorised by the health services of the Member States

3. The Congress invites all the organisations in the sector, both at national as well as European level (ESPA), to undertake any action that enables the realisation of technical-operational meetings at community level in order to implement point 2.

4. To this end, it is hoped that a special Green Book will be organised by the European Commission which defines the spa sector for therapeutic purposes within the 25 Member States of the European Union. Furthermore, particular attention must be paid to the Health chapter in the EU budget policy 2007-2013.

5. To actually implement the congress’s indications we appeal, to all institutional levels, so that one or more Member States put the community procedures into operation in order to enable the hoped-for realisation of open thermalism within the European Union.