Presentation made at the CBD/IUCN TAPAS Group meeting on "Tourism partnerships and concessions in protected areas: Cooperating for success" meeting in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

1. Legal Framework for
Concessions in Protected Areas
Workshop on Tourism Partnerships
Time Block 5
Paul F. J. Eagles
May 31, 2017

2. National Laws and Policies
• All contacts, leases, permits and
concessions are subject to national and
park laws.
• Head office should have at least one staff
person with training in the legal aspects.
• Each park should have at least one staff
person with training in the legal aspects.

3. Concessions and partnerships policies
• Keep tourism in balance with conservation goals
outlined in the protected area management plan;
• Encourage sufficient volumes of tourism to ensure
financial viability;
• Set limits for acceptable change associated with
tourism;
• Establish a framework to ensure that these limits
are applied fairly and effectively; and,
• Create institutional and financial structures to
manage tourism revenues.

4. Characteristics of concession law,
regulations and policies
• Concession contract terms, such as length of contract
operation.
• Process for obtaining concession proposals.
• Award process.
• Evaluation criteria.
• Protections for concessionaires.
• Control of concessionaire rates and charges for
services to visitors.
• Concession fees (to government or the protected area
authority).

5. Characteristics of concession law,
regulations and policies
• How concession fee revenues are spent (i.e.
on conservation, maintenance etc.).
• Economic development.
• Preferences (e.g. for local or community
businesses).
• Assignments and transfers of rights.
• Suspension or termination procedures.
• Prosecution, breach, and penalties.

6. Tendering
• Subject to national and park laws.
• The process for negotiating a bid and selecting a
concessionaire (i.e. the tendering process) is
usually long, complex, and expensive for all
parties.
• The high cost often creates an incentive for the
protected area authority to use other approaches,
such as long-term contracts, easy methods for
contract renewal, or insourcing.

7. Contracts
• Contracts can be verbal, but this leaves important issues to later
interpretation in the case of dispute.
• It is more preferable for all contracts to be written to make
interpretation much easier and enhances the likelihood that disputes
will be successfully resolved through mediation or legal action.
• Contract law underpins all outsourcing activities in protected area
tourism. It is important that the responsibilities of each partner are
listed in sufficient detail in a contract. Having a clear idea of these
responsibilities allows for the regular measurement of contract
performance. Typically, there are financial and other penalties for
non-compliance.

8. Contracts
• The contract includes a section outlining the
rules for cancellation of the contract in the
case of major non-compliance with contract
stipulations.
• Ultimately all the contract stipulations,
including those dealing with contract
cancellation will be subject to interpretation
by the court

9. Outcome of Contract Dispute

10. Transboundary Parks
• A unique situation that involves bilateral
negotiations is that of transboundary
parks.
• This situation requires negotiation and
legal clarification concerns the rights on
contractors to operate across national
boundaries