CHAPTER 105
HOTELS ACT

[SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION]

INDEX TO SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

    ORDERS

        The Hotel Levy (Exemption) Order

    NOTICES

        Omitted Notices

    REGULATIONS

        The Hotel Regulations

        The Hotel Levy Regulations

ORDERS

THE HOTEL LEVY (EXEMPTION) ORDER

G.N. No. 193 of 1972

    1. This Order may be cited as the Hotel Levy (Exemption) Order.

    2. (1) The provisions of section 26 of the Hotels Act (which relate to payment of levy by every owner of an hotel) shall not apply to any hotel where the normal charges do not exceed five shillings.

    (2) For the purposes of this Order "normal charges" means–

    (a)    in relation to any hotel which serves food to guests or to any of the guests who may require to be served with food, the sum of money which the owner would normally require to be paid for–

        (i)    the occupation of hotel accommodation for a day or part of a day by any guest; and

        (ii)    breakfast served to the guest;

    (b)    in relation to any hotel which serves no food to any of its guests, the sum of money which the owner would normally require to be paid for the occupation of hotel accommodation for a day or part of a day by any guest.

NOTICES

OMITTED NOTICES

    The following Notices have been omitted–

REGULATIONS

THE HOTEL REGULATIONS

(Section 22)

G.N. No. 55 of 1982

PART I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS (regs 1-3)

1.    Citation and application

    (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Hotels Regulations.

    (2) These Regulations shall apply to licensed hotel-keepers and licensed hotel-managers in as far as their functions relate to the carrying on or management of the business of hotels throughout Tanzania.

2.    Interpretation

    (1) In these Regulations unless the context requires otherwise–

    "guest" means any tourist, visitor, or traveller who stays in a hotel in consideration for money.

    "hotel licence" means a licence to keep or use any premises as a hotel;

    "hotel manager's licence" means a licence issued to a person authorising such person to carry on the business of an hotel;

    "licensee" means the holder of a hotel licence or a Hotel Manager's licence, as the case may be;

    "tariff rates" means chargeable rates made for accommodation, food or drink or any combination thereof and any service charge imposed in respect of the supply of the accommodation, food or drink, in a hotel.

    (2) Whenever in these Regulations the expression "to the satisfaction of the Board" appears, and it is provided that a failure to comply with or contravention of the regulation in question shall be an offence, no prosecution shall be instituted in respect of the matter to which the aforesaid expression applies until a notice in writing has been served upon the licensed hotel-keeper or licensed hotel manager (if any) requiring him to remedy the subject matter of the contravention or to comply with any matter which may be specified in the notice.

3.    Compliance of duties and obligations by hotel-keepers

    Every licensed hotel-keeper and licensed hotel Manager shall comply with any duty or obligation which is stipulated under these regulations and shall generally have a duty of care towards guests and any lawful visitor to the hotel.

PART II
THE HOTELS MINIMUM STANDARDS (reg 4)

4.    Kitchen, food store and dining rooms

    Every licensee shall maintain the following in respect of his hotel–

    (a)    stores, kitchen, dining rooms and all other rooms concerned with the storage, preparation, cooking of food and serving, including equipment, crockery, cutlery and washing facilities shall be of satisfactory standards;

Lighting and ventilation

    (b)    all rooms, lounges, corridors, staircases, or any other rooms in the hotel shall be provided with adequate lighting and ventilation which may be either natural or artificial;

Provision of wholesome water

    (c)    water supply shall where possible be from a public supply. Where a private supply is used, it shall be treated. Bedrooms shall be provided with a glass of drinking water which is suitably boiled and filtered where necessary. If the water supply is not fit for drinking from the taps, notices shall be posted in all rooms;

    (d)    every bedroom shall be provided with:

        (i)    a mirror and a shelf each of adequate size and to the satisfaction of the Board;

        (ii)    a wash hand basin, in each bedroom to which a private bedroom is not attached;

        (iii)    mattresses which shall be of inner spring, foam rubber, or the equivalent;

        (iv)    one dressing table with at least one chair to each bed;

        (v)    one effective mosquito net where a mosquito net is demanded;

        (vi)    bed linen and towels which shall be changed with each change of resident and in any case at least once a week;

        (vii)    a key of the bedroom or suite;

        (viii)    clothes-hooks, clothes hangers and wardrobe or hanging space for clothes;

Bathroom

    (e)    every bathroom shall be equipped with–

        (i)    a secure door fastening;

        (ii)    a towel rail, clothes-hooks and a chair or stool;

        (iii)    a bathmat, which shall be changed at least twice weekly and in the case of private bathroom on each change of resident;

        (iv)    blinds or curtains;

    (f)    sufficient number of receptacles (dust bins) with efficient lids shall be provided for refuse, and garbage with arrangements for proper and regular disposal;

Rooms to be numbered

    (g)    all rooms should be numbered for easy reference;

Refuse and filth to be kept in covered receptacles

    (h)    every person who handles, wraps or delivers or causes to be handled, wrapped or delivered any food shall keep any refuse and filth which necessarily accumulates during handling, wrapping or delivery of food in proper covered receptacles;

    (i)    (i)    a kitchen or kitchens shall be provided for the preparation of food and shall be maintained in a clean and wholesome manner;

        (ii)    the floor of every kitchen shall be of impermeable material, suitably graded and drained, the walls shall be tiled or finished with impermeable material of light colour, and the racks, table, shelves, cupboards and similar fittings shall be constructed of good sound material capable of easy cleaning and shall be at all times maintained in good and clean condition;

Provision for smoke, fumes extractors

    (j)    all cooking equipment shall be provided with suitable flues where necessary for the effective extraction of smoke and fumes, and positioned so as to be accessible for easy cleaning;

Sculleries

    (k)    adequate sinks and equipment should be provided for the efficient cleaning of utensils and for their sterilisation, and for this purpose shall be supplied with hot and cold water;

Racks for drying utensils

    (l)    there shall be adequate shelves, hooks or racks to receive utensils for air drying;

    (m)    there shall be an adequate supply and reserve of crockery, glass and cutlery to ensure–

        (i)    that chipped, cracked or damaged equipment is quickly replaced; and

Provision of enough utensils

        (ii)    that during peak demand periods there is no need to use inadequately cleansed and sterilised equipment;

Clean clothes, garments, headgear for employees

    (n)    all persons whilst employed in the kitchens shall be clean in person and clothing and shall be clothed in a sleeved garment, at least to below, or suit reaching from the neck to at least the knee and a suitable form of headgear; clean clothing shall be provided to each such person daily;

Storage facilities

    (o)    dry food store, cold food store shall be provided for all perishable articles. This shall be in addition to the soft drinks refrigerator which by virtue of its frequent use is rarely at a suitable temperature for proper food storage. All refrigerators shall be regularly checked with suitable thermometers to see they are working efficiently;

Prohibition of sleep where food is prepared

    (p)    no person shall sleep in any room used for the preparation, cooking, storage or consumption of food;

Food storage

    (q)    the food storage, or refrigerator shall not be used for any purpose other than the storage of food or drinks;

Food storage

    (r)    all food other than that in the process of preparation, cooking or consumption shall be stored in the food storage or refrigerator set apart for that purpose;

Food preparation

    (s)    measures shall be taken to prevent contamination of food and drink by dust or by any other means and the premises shall be made fly- and rodent-proof to the satisfaction of the board;

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Food preparation

    (t)    no article whatsoever which is not directly connected with the processes involved in the preparation of food shall be kept in the kitchen;

Fire and first aid

    (u)    adequate fire-fighting appliances and fire escapes shall be provided and maintained in good order;

    (v)    a first-aid outfit containing disinfectants, bandages, adhesive tape and dressing, eye bath tannic acid, ointment, scissors and tweezers shall be provided and maintained in good order and kept in a place accessible at all times;

    (w)    medical examination shall be carried out to–

Medical examination

        (i)    all persons engaged in the food handling at least every six months;

        (ii)    all newly employed food handlers before they take their appointments;

        (iii)    any food handler suspected of having contracted infectious diseases;

Prohibition of diseased persons

    (x)    no person who knowingly suffers from or is a carrier of any disease shall handle or wrap for delivery any food so as to give rise to any risk of the spread of diseases;

Overcrowding not allowed

    (y)    no keeper or hotelier of a common lodging house or hotel shall at any one time receive into a common lodging house or hotel or into any room or suite a greater number of persons than shall have been prescribed by the hotel board and endorsed upon the registration paper or by any notice varying or amending the same;

Prohibition of beggars and loiterers

    (z)    no beggars, loiterers or diseased persons shall be allowed to enter an hotel or its surroundings;

Bathrooms and water closets

    (aa)    the ratio of bathrooms and separate water closets to residents shall be in accordance with the local authority regulations applicable or one to six respectively, exclusive of suites or bedrooms with private bathrooms;

Bar

    (bb)    separate toilet facilities, accessible from the bar shall be provided for each sex;

Kitchen toilet

    (cc)    adequate toilet facilities for kitchen staff shall be provided adjacent to the kitchen;

Cleanliness

    (dd)    at all times every part of the premises shall be maintained in a state of cleanliness and good repair.

PART III
CLASSIFICATION OF HOTEL (reg 5)

5.    Classification of hotels

    (1) Hotels shall be divided into categories, namely tourist hotels and non-tourist hotels.

Categories of classification

    (2) Tourist hotels shall fall into five categories which shall be designated by STAR 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and Non-Tourist hotels shall fall into three categories which shall be designated by grades A, B, C, for purpose of distinguishing their standards.

Board to publish criteria of standards

    (3) The Board by the approval of the Minister shall publish criteria of standards for each class categories, and may from time to time carry out review of the criteria standards.

Board has right to reconsider classification

    (4) The Board, on recommendation of the Chairman, has the right to reconsider from time to time the classification of any hotel and its fixed prices. The Board may in all cases raise or lower the class rating of the hotel concerned.

Notification of classification to hotel-keeper

    (5) The chairman shall send a written notification by mail to the owner of the hotel embodying the Board decision on the classification of the hotel.

Prohibition of misrepresenting the hotel

    (6) No person may give any information in any bulletin, paper or record or advertise by any means anything misrepresenting the hotel in so far as its class, price, tariff rate or menu of services are concerned.

PART IV
LICENSING (reg 6)

6.    Board to grant licence

    (1) Where the hotel has a valid licence issued by the Board, and there is a liquor licence, they shall both be prominently displayed.

    (2) The Board shall grant a hotel manager's licence unless it is satisfied that the applicant is not a fit and proper person to manage a hotel.

    (3) Where hotels have been classified by regulations under section 22 of this Act, a hotel manager's licence shall state the class of hotel which the licensee is licensed to manage.

    (4) A licence shall not be capable of being transferred from the licensee to any other person, and any person who attempts or purports to transfer a licence shall commit an offence.

Application

    (5) (i)    The application for a licence shall be presented to the Chairman and shall include the commercial name of the hotel and other relevant details. The Chairman shall pass the application to the Board with his comments, and the Board may accept or reject it without giving reasons.

    (ii)    Application to renew a licence shall be presented within two months before the beginning of the fiscal year, which shall commence on 1st January and end on 31st December of every year.

PART V
CONSTRUCTION OF HOTELS (regs 7-8)

7.    Construction of hotels

    (1) When a person proposes to construct or alter premises for use as an hotel he shall first submit his application to the Hotel Board accompanied by a copy of the plan of the proposed hotel to be approved by the Board.

    (2) The Board shall have the right to accept or reject the plan or make any alterations to the plan as it deems fit according to the site or location of the premises, where the proposed hotel is to be built.

Restriction on describing premises as hotel

    (3) It shall not be lawful for the proprietor of any premises to describe those premises as an hotel unless the premises are registered in the register of hotels and licensed by the Board.

8.    Hotels to fulfil conditions before licencing

    The Board may order the hotel to change its name if it discovers that its registered name could be misleading.

    The hotel may not change its name, even partially, without first obtaining the written approval of the Board.

PART VI
TARIFF RATES (reg 9)

9.    Prohibition to extra charges on tariff

    (1)(a) The Board shall fix the tariff to be charged by the hotel, which must strictly be observed.

    (b) The owner of the hotel shall conspicuously display in Kiswahili and English, the price list for his hotel, both in the reception hall and in every room.

Prohibition to extra charges on tariff

    (2)(a) The owner of any hotel shall not charge any extra fees for the services listed in the tariff. But if other services or items were offered at the request of the guest, the amount collected in return shall be reasonable and conforming to the classification of the hotel and to the prices included in the tariff.

    (b) The owner of the hotel may not refuse the guest any service or meal which he advertises or which he usually offers in the hotel.

PART VII
INSPECTION (reg 10)

10.    Power to inspect

    (1) Any member of the Board or any other person authorised in writing by the Board may enter any hotel whether it is operating or still under construction on any other place which he believes receives guests in order to check and examine its records, listen to the complaints of the guests, for the purpose of ensuring compliance with these Regulations.

    (2) The owner or the person in charge must cooperate with any member of the Board or any person authorised in that behalf who enters the premises of any hotel for purposes of making inspection.

    (3) Any person who obstructs any person who enters premises of any hotel for the purpose of inspection commits an offence and upon conviction is liable to a fine of five thousand shillings or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both the fine and imprisonment.

PART VIII
GENERAL RULES (regs 11-16)

11.    Documents, records, accounts and statistics

    A hotel must–

    (a)    keep documents, records and orderly accounts for its work;

    (b)    provide the Board with all information and statistics required.

12.    Bills to be stamped

    The hotel manager shall give each guest a stamped bill which includes the date, the signature of the person in charge and list of items served and their prices.

13.    Provision of safe

    The hotel must have a safe in which valuables of the guests may be kept and a notice notifying the availability of that safe shall be posted in both Kiswahili and English, in the reception hall.

14.    Hotel to display signboards bearing name and other information

    The hotel must–

    (a)    display a sign bearing its name in Kiswahili and English. That same name shall appear on its invoices, correspondence, records, and bulletins;

    (b)    specify the times during which food and drinks may be served and shall advertise that in Kiswahili and English in a conspicuous place and in the room where food and drinks are served.

15.    Board to fix standard for drinks and meals

    On the recommendation of the Board, the Chairman may fix standard measures for the drinks and its prices in the hotel, which shall be complied with. He may also ascertain that meals offered are adequate in quantity.

16.    Power of Chairman to give instruction to hotel-keeper

    The Chairman may, on recommendation of the Board, issue any instructions he deems appropriate for best maintenance of the minimum standards in any hotel, and for purposes of coordinating its relationship with other tourist industries.

PART IX
PENALTY (reg 17)

17.    Penalty

    Any person violating any provision of these Regulations or the instructions issued under it, commits an offence and upon conviction is liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both the fine and imprisonment.

THE HOTEL LEVY REGULATIONS

(Section 39)

[1st August, 1972]

G.N. No. 186 of 1872

    1. These Regulations may be cited as the Hotel Levy Regulations.

    2. In these Regulations, unless the context requires otherwise–

    "Act" means the Hotels Act *;

    "owner" means the owner of an hotel and includes any person in charge of the management of the hotel and any employee or other person responsible for the collection from the guests of the charges due from them in respect of their stay in the hotel;

    "prescribed", in relation to forms, means a form prescribed in the Schedule to these Regulations.

    3. (1) Every owner of an hotel shall pay to the Internal Revenue Officer in respect of each month the whole amount of the levy payable by him during that month.

    (2) Where the owner makes payment of the levy to the Internal Revenue Officer–

    (a)    if the payment is made in cash, the amount remitted shall reach the Internal Revenue Officer within seven days of the last day of the month to which the payment relates;

    (b)    if the payment is made by cheque, the cheque shall be made out to the Internal Revenue Officer, shall be crossed and endorsed with the words "A/C PAYEE ONLY" and shall be forwarded to the Internal Revenue Officer so as to reach him within five days of the last day of the month to which the payment relates.

    (3) For the purposes of these Regulations, payment of levy shall be deemed to have been made by the person liable to make the payment only when the cash remitted, or as the case may be, the cash obtained upon presentation to the bank the cheque forwarded to the Internal Revenue Officer has been received by the Internal Revenue Officer.

    4. Every payment of levy shall be accompanied by–

    (a)    a daily occupancy return in the prescribed Form H.L. 1 in respect of each day of the month to which the payment relates; and

    (b)    a monthly occupancy return in the prescribed Form H.L. 2, duly signed by the owner of the hotel.

    5. Every owner of an hotel shall–

    (a)    [Omitted: spent]; or

    (b)    within twenty-one days of commencing the business of the hotel,

whichever is the later date, submit to the Commissioner a notification in duplicate in the prescribed Form H.L. 3 of particulars relating to the hotel.

    6. For the purposes of these Regulations, every owner of an hotel shall–

    (a)    maintain a register in which he shall enter the name of every guest accommodated at the hotel, the number of days each guest was so accommodated and the hotel charges paid or payable by each guest;

    (b)    issue to every guest accommodated at the hotel a receipt, voucher, invoice or other document showing the number of days each guest was so accommodated and the hotel charges paid or payable by each guest;

    (c)    retain the register and copies of all documents issued under this regulation for a period of not less than three years from the date of the last entry, or as appropriate, the date of issue.

    7. (1) The Commissioner, an Internal Revenue Officer or any other person authorised in writing by the Commissioner in that behalf may by notice in writing require the owner of any hotel to appear before him and produce any documents relating to the hotel which may be specified in the notice.

    (2) The Commissioner, an Internal Revenue Officer or any other authorised person may direct the owner of any hotel to provide him, whether by answering questions or otherwise, with any information which may be necessary to ensure that the particulars and information required to be furnished under these Regulations are fully and accurately furnished by the owner of the hotel.

    8. Any person who–

    (a)    being the owner of an hotel, fails to pay the levy payable by him, to the Internal Revenue Officer within the time prescribed and in the manner required by these Regulations;

    (b)    fails or refuses to submit a return as required by regulation 4;

    (c)    fails or refuses to submit a notification as required by regulation 5;

    (d)    fails to maintain a register as required by regulation 6 or fails to retain any register for the period prescribed by that regulation;

    (e)    fails to issue a receipt, voucher, invoice or other document as required by regulation 6 or fails to retain copies of any receipt, voucher, invoice or other document for the period prescribed by that regulation;

    (f)    obstructs the Commissioner, an Internal Revenue Officer or any other person authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf, in the execution of any duties or functions imposed or conferred by the Act or these Regulations;

    (g)    fails to comply with any notice served upon him or any direction given to him under regulation 7;

    (h)    makes or causes to be made any false statement in any document used for the purposes of compliance with these Regulations, or fails or refuses to answer truthfully any question put to him by any public officer exercising his powers under these Regulations,

commits an offence and upon conviction is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both the fine and imprisonment.

SCHEDULE
FORMS

FORM H.L. 1
DAILY OCCUPANCY RETURN

THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

THE HOTEL ACT

(THE HOTEL LEVY REGULATIONS)

FORM H.L. 2
MONTHLY OCCUPANCY RETURN

THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

THE HOTEL ACT

(THE HOTEL LEVY REGULATIONS)

FORM H.L. 3
NOTIFICATION OF PARTICULARS OF AN HOTEL

THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

THE HOTEL ACT

(THE HOTEL LEVY REGULATIONS)

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