In brief. A tour leader driving an electric golf cart on behalf of a duly licensed tour operator is not performing chauffeur-hire (NCC) service, nor a “tourist shuttle” under Ministerial Decree 193/2015. It is an activity which the Italian Supreme Court — with order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024 — has recognised as legitimate and ancillary to the all-inclusive tour package, pursuant to article 33 of the Italian Tourism Code (Legislative Decree 79/2011). Below you will find the updated legal framework, the ruling explained step by step, the four conditions that the defence must rest on, the four legal issues still open where the Supreme Court does not protect you, and — above all — the operational protocol to use when stopped by the police, without losing time in front of your clients.
1. One evening, in front of Sant’Ignazio di Loyola
The tour rolls quietly. Four tourists seated on the golf cart, the tour leader at the wheel, the golden light hitting the marble of the Sant’Ignazio di Loyola façade and reflecting in the windows of parked cars. The tour operator has sold the client a precise experience: two hours in electric mode through the central piazzas, with short stops at the most photographed spots, and the tour leader taking care of logistics, safety and the pace of the visit.
The patrol car arrives. The officer asks for documents, takes a glance at the cart, and announces — firmly — that the vehicle cannot stop at tourist sites, that this is the competence of chauffeur-hire (NCC) services, that one can only “drive around” without stopping, and that if this happens again a serious fine for the driver will follow — figures in the four-digit range.
The clients stop smiling. The selfie phones go down. The tour leader has two options: open a technical argument with an officer who — legitimately — is interpreting his role; or say the right thing, in the right terms, and continue the tour without letting the experience lose its balance.
This article exists to provide the second route. It is not legal advice — for the concrete case you always need an administrative lawyer — but it is the reconstruction, drawn from official sources and the most recent case law, of what Italian law actually protects in the “tour operator + tour leader + golf cart” model, and where, instead, knots remain unresolved.
2. Three concepts the press confuses, but which the law keeps clearly separate
The first step to avoiding confusion is distinguishing three figures which — in newspaper pages, union statements, and even in some police reports — often get blended together. They are three legally distinct things, with three different sets of rules, and understanding where one ends and the next begins is half the work.
The “tourist shuttle” is a technical category of vehicle, not a type of service. It is defined by the Decree of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of 9 October 2015, no. 193. It has precise technical characteristics — maximum construction speed, dimensions, number of seats, type approval — and circulates only on predefined itineraries authorised by the road owner. It is not automatically “every golf cart carrying tourists”: it is a specific atypical vehicle that must be registered and type-approved as such.
The chauffeur-hire (NCC) service is by contrast a non-line public transport service, governed by Italian Law no. 21 of 15 January 1992. It is a service rendered “upon request of the transported”, with negotiated fares and a specific municipal operating licence. It is the model for airport transfers, the booked car to reach an event, the run from A to B with garage-based return.
The tour package is a third thing, regulated by the Italian Tourism Code (Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23 May 2011) and by European package travel legislation. It is the combination of at least two tourism services — among which transport may be included — sold at a flat price to cover the entire travel experience. It is organised and sold by a travel agency or tour operator, not by a driver.
The three categories may look adjacent but respond to different legal logics: the vehicle (DM 193), the transport service (Law 21/1992), the overall tourism product (Tourism Code). Mixing up the level of the vehicle with that of the service, or that of transport with that of the package, is exactly the mistake that opens up disputes. The good news is that the Italian Supreme Court has stepped in on this — and has done so in a way that, today, we can comfortably rely upon.
3. What you are NOT (1): the “tourist shuttle” under DM 193/2015
Let us start from the technical level. The “tourist shuttle” under Ministerial Decree of 9 October 2015, no. 193 — published in the Italian Official Gazette no. 283 of 4 December 2015 — is an atypical vehicle under article 59 of the Italian Highway Code. The regulation sets out precise technical characteristics: insulated electric motor, maximum of eight passengers seated excluding the driver, maximum construction speed of 25 km/h, length up to 6 metres, width up to 2 metres, mandatory windshield, type approval, registration.
The point that often escapes notice — and which makes the legal difference — is the circulation condition. A tourist shuttle under DM 193/2015 can move only on predefined itineraries, of tourist nature, authorised by the entity or entities owning the road. It is not just any car driven freely: it is a specific vehicle, tied to a route authorised by the Municipality (or by whoever holds title over the road). When newspapers write about “rules on tourist shuttles”, they mean this: who can register a vehicle as a tourist shuttle, along which routes it can go, with which requirements.
Street-legal electric golf carts from brands such as ALBA — those with 4 or 5 seats, made in Italy, which many tour operators in Rome have been using for years — are not tourist shuttles under DM 193/2015. They are light quadricycles (or, in the larger versions, M1-approved passenger cars) registered for ordinary road circulation. An ALBA 4SC, for example, is a street-legal light quadricycle: it moves on the road network like any other vehicle of its category, without being tied to a predefined itinerary imposed by an authorising act of the road owner.
Practical consequence: the DM 193/2015 framework does not apply to you, because your vehicle is not a tourist shuttle. A press article reporting on the debate around tourist shuttles does not move anything in the regulatory framework that applies to your vehicle: it is talking about a different category.
4. What you are NOT (2): chauffeur-hire (NCC) under Law 21/1992
We come to the second misunderstanding, the one the officer is generally more tempted to raise. Chauffeur-hire is governed by Italian Law no. 21 of 15 January 1992, which is the “framework law” of non-line public road services — the one that regulates taxis and NCC together.
The definition of NCC is precise: a service rendered “upon request of the transported”, in a non-continuous or non-periodic manner, with the service provided “by time or by trip”. The price is negotiated on each occasion, there are no preset fares, and each trip begins and ends at the garage, save for derogations. The vehicle must be registered “for third-party use” and must display the municipal authorisation; the driver must be enrolled in the register of non-line public service drivers, hold the Professional Driving Certificate (CAP) type KB, and pass specific medical examinations.
The commercial model of NCC is therefore a model of transport on demand: the client buys a ride, not a tourism experience. The value sold is movement from one point to another, not the cultural content of the visit. It is exactly for this reason that NCC law is strict: it protects the consumer paying to be transported safely, by qualified personnel, with insurance coverage dedicated to passenger transport for third parties.
The tour operator’s model selling a tour package is something else: the client doesn’t call the number because they need to go from A to B, but because they want to buy the product “historic centre tour in electric mode with tour leader”. Transport, in the package, is an ancillary component — necessary, but accessory to the main service, which is the tourist experience.
The distinction is simple in principle, and becomes decisive when one has to explain to the officer exactly what your activity consists of. You are not doing NCC. You are materially executing a tour package already purchased by the client from the tour operator. The law that applies to you is not Law 21/1992: it is the Tourism Code.
5. Article 85 of the Highway Code and the fine the officer can threaten
A technical step is needed here, because the figure often quoted by officers does not come out of nowhere. Article 85 of the Italian Highway Code — paragraph 4 — provides that “anyone who uses for chauffeur-hire purposes a vehicle not intended for such use, or in the absence of the authorisation referred to in article 8 of Law no. 21 of 1992, is subject to the administrative penalty of payment of a sum from €1,812 to €7,249”. The administrative accessory sanction is the suspension of the vehicle’s registration card for a period of four to eight months.
Four-digit figures, therefore, are the correct reference range: a charge of unauthorised NCC, if ascertained, can come close to the figures you may have heard mentioned, particularly if the patrol opts for the upper end of the range. It is a serious fine, and when you are in front of clients — perhaps foreign clients, who should be enjoying the visit — the psychological impact of the mere threat is significant.
The point, however, is that art. 85, paragraph 4 applies to those who use a vehicle for chauffeur-hire that is not intended for such use, and to those who carry out NCC activity without the relevant authorisation. If you are not doing NCC — that is, if your material activity is the execution of a tour package on behalf of a regularly licensed tour operator — the legal prerequisite for the rule is missing. That is exactly the opening the Italian Supreme Court created in 2024.
To this is added the issue of article 116, paragraphs 16 and 18 of the Highway Code, which concerns instead the driver’s position — the possible lack of professional licensing required for NCC service. Here too, if the activity is not NCC, the penalty presupposes a qualification of the service that does not exist. We will see how the Supreme Court untied both knots in the same decision.
6. What you actually are: a tour operator executing a tour package
To explain correctly what you are doing, you have to reconstruct the legal model from the side of the product sold, not from the side of the vehicle.
The tour operator is governed by the Italian Tourism Code (Legislative Decree no. 79 of 23 May 2011) and by European package travel legislation (EU Directive 2015/2302 and subsequent amendments). Article 33, paragraph 1, letter a) of the Tourism Code expressly includes passenger transport among the tourism services that can compose a package. Together with transport, the package may include accommodation, guided visits, excursions, cultural experiences, tastings, and any other tourism service that can be configured as such.
When a tour operator sells a golf cart tour in central Rome, the product sold is the tour package: the guided and accompanied experience, in electric mode, with the itinerary prepared by the tour operator, with the duration and stops planned by the organiser. The client pays the price of the package, not a per-kilometre fare. The tour operator is responsible for the entire execution (articles 41 and following of the Tourism Code), and the person who materially carries out the tour — the tour leader — is entrusted with logistics and group assistance.
The tour leader, in the Italian model (today framed as an autonomous tourism profession), has a precise function: they accompany, assist, coordinate, and provide logistical and general information about the places crossed. They are not — and this is the crucial limit — a tourist guide in the technical sense of Italian Law no. 190 of 13 December 2023: they do not illustrate the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage in detail, and do not replace the licensed tourist guide.
The tour leader working for a tour operator therefore provides two things: their own professional skills (accompaniment, logistics, group management, safety) and — in many operational models — their own driving licence for driving the tour operator’s vehicle. The legal relationship is clear: the tour operator is the principal and organiser; the tour leader is the professional executing the service in the field; the client is the traveller who has bought a package.
This is the framework. Everything else — the ruling, the defence with the officer, the Mente Fredda protocol — flows from this model. If the model is correct, you are protected. If any one of its pieces is missing, the protection weakens, and we address those issues separately in section 10.
7. The ruling that redefines the boundaries: Italian Supreme Court 27218/2024
We come to the heart of the matter. The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, 2nd Civil Section, with order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024 (decision taken in chambers on 31 January 2024, deposited on 21 October 2024, rapporteur Counsellor Milena Falaschi) addressed — on a real case — exactly the matter at hand.
The case concerns a Florence-based travel agency that, in 2018, had been fined by the Municipal Police of Siena for transporting tourists in a nine-seat minivan, regularly registered for private use, as part of an all-inclusive tour package. The charges, in first instance and on appeal, had been that the activity constituted chauffeur-hire (NCC) carried out without authorisation, and that the vehicle, registered for private use, had been used for an unauthorised purpose. Penalties applied: art. 85, paragraph 4, and art. 116, paragraphs 16 and 18 of the Highway Code. The Justice of the Peace of Siena, in 2019, confirmed the report. The Tribunal of Siena, sitting as appeal judge, in 2021 confirmed the first-instance decision, holding that — verbatim — it was not possible to use a car registered for private use by a travel agency for passenger transport during a tourist excursion, even within an all-inclusive tour package.
The Italian Supreme Court reversed. The principle stated — and there are several passages worth keeping in mind — is twofold.
First: passenger transport is a service expressly contemplated by the Tourism Code as a component of the tour package. The travel agency (and, by extension, the tour operator) is under no obligation to turn to third parties to materially perform that transport, when this is ancillary to its own activity. The Supreme Court, on this point, recalls the precedent of the Italian Council of State (ruling no. 4898 of 4 August 2009): among the proper activities of travel agencies is the use of their own means of transport for the organisation of trips or excursions, without an obligation to outsource the service to NCC operators.
Second: a vehicle owned by the travel agency, regularly registered even with the wording “private use” or “own use”, may be used to transport clients to whom an all-inclusive tour package has been sold. This is not NCC, because the prerequisite of non-line public road service is missing — the service is not provided “upon request of the transported” as an autonomous transport service, but as an ancillary component of an already-purchased tour package. It is not the wording on the registration card that qualifies the nature of the service: it is the substantial nature of the activity.
The Supreme Court quashed the judgment of the Tribunal of Siena and annulled the original reports. The appellant company was reinstated, with an order for the Municipality to pay costs.
From that moment, throughout Italy, there is a clear orientation of the court of last resort. It is not yet “living law” built on a plurality of rulings, but it is a decision of a simple section of the Supreme Court that — on the matter — intervenes directly. For those operating in the sector, it is the basic reference.
It pays to keep it in your pocket, literally: printed, with the details clearly visible, ready to show should the officer ask. The number is 27218, the date is 21 October 2024, the section is the 2nd Civil Section of the Italian Supreme Court. It is public, it is cited by dozens of sector publications (Confartigianato, Fiavet, L’Agenzia di Viaggi Magazine, T24, as well as numerous specialised reviews of municipal police), and it is the fastest way to bring the conversation back to the correct terrain.
8. The Lazio framework in motion: regional bill 247 and its withdrawal on 27 May 2026
In recent months the regional regulatory framework has gone through a tense moment, and understanding why helps avoid being misled by newspaper headlines.
In March 2026, the Lazio Region had proposed, within a regional bill numbered 247, an amendment to the regulation of local public transport that would have introduced the category of “tourist shuttles” as a specific local public transport service. The definition proposed was that of atypical electric vehicles, up to eight passengers excluding the driver, for tourist-recreational purposes, to be carried out “on predefined itineraries authorised by the road owner”. A regional version, therefore, of the definition of DM 193/2015 — but calibrated to fit the small electric vehicles within the Lazio local public transport framework.
The proposal met hard resistance from taxi and NCC unions, who read it as a regularisation of competition they considered unfair, and saw critical positions from tourist guide associations, concerned about unlicensed practice in the profession. For weeks, regional bill 247 was the subject of heated regional debate.
On 27 May 2026, in the Lazio Regional Council, the package of rules that sought to transform golf carts into regional tourist shuttles was withdrawn. As of today, therefore, no regional rule exists in Lazio classifying golf carts as “tourist shuttles” under the regional discipline of local public transport. The matter remains governed, on the national level, by DM 193/2015 (for those who choose the “tourist shuttle” type approval) and by the Supreme Court’s 2024 case law (for those operating as tour operators with vehicles owned and registered for private use).
The discussion in the press will continue. Other proposals will be presented, there will be other withdrawals, other versions. But the practical rule is simple: until there is a regulation in force classifying a certain vehicle or a certain service in a certain way, the legal framework remains the national one. And the national one, after 21 October 2024, has a clear reference: Supreme Court order 27218.
9. The four conditions that hold up the defence (and cannot be missing)
The Supreme Court 27218/2024 ruling is not a generic pass for anyone driving a car full of tourists. It is a well-circumscribed recognition, anchored to a precise commercial model. If that model exists, the protection exists. If even one piece is missing, the door of protection narrows — or closes.
The first condition is the legal qualification of the organiser: it must be a tour operator (or travel agency) regularly licensed to carry out the activity, with the correct authorisation and registration with the Chamber of Commerce, and in compliance with the Tourism Code’s obligations (information to the traveller, mandatory insurance, guarantee fund or equivalent, etc.). The “fake-TO” model — those selling rides while labelling them tours but lacking the entrepreneurial structure of a tour operator — is not covered by the ruling.
The second condition is the substantial nature of the product sold: it must be an all-inclusive tour package. The contract, voucher, and invoice must clearly show that the client purchased a tourism experience composed of at least two combined services (typically: transport + visit/accompaniment; even better if also with ancillary elements like tastings, entries, informational material). If the product is in reality a ride labelled “tour”, the tour operator is not covered.
The third condition is the vehicle’s regularity: it must be type-approved for road circulation and registered for passenger transport according to its own type approval category. A golf cart not type-approved for road use — those designed only for golf clubs or private areas — cannot circulate on public roads, and therefore does not fall under any protective scenario. A modified vehicle or one without adequate insurance is outside the perimeter regardless of how the service is qualified.
The fourth condition is the driver’s regularity at the licence level. For vehicles up to nine total seats (driver included), category M1 — including therefore a 4+1 golf cart — a Class B licence is sufficient. For vehicles with ten or more total seats (M2/M3), the required driving licence is Class D (or DE if a trailer is involved), regardless of whether the service is qualified as a tour package. On this point, Supreme Court 27218/2024 has no impact: a road safety rule of such a basic order is not under discussion.
If these four conditions are all true — licensed tour operator, real tour package, road-approved vehicle, adequate licence — the legal defence is solid. If one is missing, you need to stop and figure out what to fix before continuing to operate that way.
10. The four legal issues still open: where the Supreme Court does NOT protect you
The Supreme Court’s recognition is important, but it does not cover the whole scenario. There are at least four situations in which — even after 21 October 2024 — the protection falls away. It is worth going through them, both to avoid illusions and to understand where the difference lies between a correct operator and an exposed one.
10.1 If you are not a tour operator
Ruling 27218/2024 expressly speaks of travel agency, and the reasoning rests on art. 33 of the Tourism Code, which governs travel agencies and tour operators. Those operating without the legal qualification of TO/travel agency — the private individual who invents the tour, the freelance driver who takes tourists around on their own account, the company from another sector that organises tours as undeclared accessory activity — do not fall within the principle stated.
To be precise: the protection presupposes an economic entity authorised to sell tour packages. Without that entity, the activity is easily re-qualifiable as non-line transport service, and the sanction of art. 85, paragraph 4 returns fully applicable. It is the first boundary to respect, and the most underestimated.
10.2 If the vehicle is not type-approved for passenger transport
There are golf carts in circulation that are not type-approved for circulation on public roads (the “off-road” or “golf only” versions of the same brands that produce street-legal lines), and there are others formally type-approved but for categories other than passenger transport (electric cargo vans registered as trucks, for example). If you circulate on the road with a non-approved vehicle, the problem is no longer the qualification of the service: it is that the vehicle cannot be there, regardless of what it is doing.
In this scenario, possible charges are several and cumulative: circulation of a non-registered or non-type-approved vehicle, lack of insurance coverage, lack of inspection, possible seizure of the vehicle. Supreme Court 27218/2024 has nothing to do with it: the protective opening only applies if the vehicle is formally regular. Verify with the tour operator, before getting behind the wheel, the type approval class of the cart, the category on the registration card, the status of inspection and insurance.
10.3 If the vehicle exceeds nine total seats
The technical limit of category M1 (passenger cars and vehicles for the transport of persons up to nine seats including the driver, under the Italian Highway Code) is the dividing line: up to nine, a Class B licence is enough; from ten upwards, a Class D licence is required. For vehicles designed for the transport of larger groups — a hypothetical shuttle of eight passengers plus the driver, making nine total seats, is still within M1; but a vehicle for ten or more passengers exits M1 and enters M2/M3 (bus), with all the consequent regulatory regime.
There is also the separate layer of the Professional Driving Certificate (CAP), which is not a driving licence but an additional licence: the KB type CAP is required for those who professionally drive vehicles used for NCC service or other non-line public road services. In the model protected by Supreme Court 27218/2024 — a tour operator carrying out a tour package with its own vehicle up to nine seats — the service is not NCC, and the ruling also quashed the charges under art. 116 on professional licensing. For larger category vehicles (buses), however, the conversation shifts to Class D licence and driver qualification (CQC, Driver Qualification Card, for passenger transport): here the ruling does not help.
In practice: if the tour operator asks you to drive a vehicle for eight, nine, ten or more passengers, do the count. Always include the driver. If the total is ten or more, you need a Class D licence. Period.
10.4 If the tour leader trespasses into the tourist-guide profession
The final issue is the professional one, and it concerns the tour leader at the wheel directly. Italian Law no. 190 of 13 December 2023 reformed the tourist guide profession: only those holding the tourist-guide licence can professionally illustrate the historical, artistic, archaeological, naturalistic and cultural heritage, and provide “technical” information on the monuments and assets of the national programme.
The tour leader is a different profession, with a different licence (regional, until today, and currently in legislative evolution). Their role is to accompany, assist, and provide general and logistical information on the places crossed, but not to illustrate in detail works of art, architecture, archaeology. When a tour leader, during a golf cart tour, stops “accompanying” and starts “guiding” in the technical sense — recounting in detail history, authors, datings, symbologies of the monuments crossed — they are materially exercising a profession for which they are not licensed. This is unlicensed practice of the tourist-guide profession, separately sanctioned.
The operational solution, when a tour operator sells a culturally rich tour, is to include in the package a licensed tourist guide, or to set up a professionally recorded audio guide, or to clearly separate the “accompaniment” phase (handled by the tour leader, on general content) from the “asset illustration” phase (handled by the licensed guide, at designated places). The model holds legally if the roles are distinct and properly performed. If the tour leader also does the guiding, the package is formally solid on the transport front but vulnerable on the professional front.
11. Tour leader vs tourist guide: the professional boundary
An entire section is worth dedicating to this point, because — even when the transport model is impeccable — the risk of charges shifts to the professional front, and is equally serious.
The tour leader, as a profession, was born and developed historically as a coordination figure for travelling groups: those who manage arrival, departure, accommodation, schedules, contingencies, and provide general information on the places of transit. It is a precious figure, but it is not a tourist guide in the technical sense: it does not illustrate the cultural asset as an object of study, it does not replace those who have obtained the tourist-guide licence.
The licensed tourist guide, today under the framework of Italian Law 190/2023 and Ministerial Decree 88/2024, has passed a national exam covering Italy’s entire historical, artistic, archaeological, geographic and naturalistic heritage, in addition to sector legislation and a foreign language. They are enrolled in the National Register of Tourist Guides (ENGT) at the Italian Ministry of Tourism. They are the professional figure authorised to “tell” the heritage.
On the golf cart crossing central Rome, these two figures can coexist in different ways. The safest model is the tour that includes — among the package services — a licensed tourist guide, perhaps for the walking section in front of the main monument; or a professional, well-crafted audio guide accompanying the visit. The tour leader at the wheel handles logistics, pace, safety and everything organisational, without entering the specific terrain of asset illustration.
It pays, in this sense, to define from the tour’s promotional material which roles are covered and by whom: “golf cart tour with tour leader” is a correct description that does not promise the client professional illustration of the heritage; “golf cart tour with licensed tourist guide” is a different product, requiring the actual presence of the licensed guide on the tour. Mixing the two things in the object sold, and then having only the wrong figure perform them, is what opens the door to unlicensed practice of the profession — and no ruling can cover an activity unauthorised on the professional front.
12. When the police stop you: Mente Fredda protocol step by step
We come to the operational part. If you know the legal foundation, and if the tour operator’s model that put you behind the wheel is in order, what remains to learn is the procedure — because losing time in front of clients, raising your voice or entering into argument with a police officer in uniform is the most effective way to turn a manageable situation into a small reputational disaster.
The Mente Fredda (“Cool Mind”) protocol, which we have already explored in a dedicated article on police checks of tour leaders, has three basic rules worth recalling before getting into the specifics of the golf cart case.
Rule one: breathe. When the uniform approaches, lower the window, turn off the engine, place your hands visibly on the wheel, and take two deep breaths. Most communication mistakes that trigger escalation happen in the first twenty seconds of contact. You have the time to choose how to start the conversation. Use it.
Rule two: smile and cooperate visibly. Greet, introduce yourself, show that you understand who you are dealing with and that you recognise their role. “Good evening, tour leader, on a tour for TO X. Let me show you the documents immediately.” Nothing more, nothing less. Visible cooperation is the first thing that disarms any aggressiveness from a patrol expecting resistance.
Rule three: speak for the client sitting behind, not for the officer in front. The real audience of your reaction, in that moment, is not the officer: it’s the four tourists watching the scene. The calm with which you handle the stop is already part of the experience they paid for. A patrol stopping a golf cart downtown is part of Roman folklore, if handled well; if you turn it into a verbal fight, it becomes a bad memory.
On the basis of these three rules, the specific procedure for “golf cart stopped under suspicion of unauthorised NCC” articulates in five steps.
First step — documents. Driving licence, vehicle registration card, third-party liability insurance, tour leader licence, ID. Keep everything in a dedicated folder, to be shown in a single gesture. The faster you are, the less you feed the tension.
Second step — qualifying the service. Without raising your tone, state the nature of the activity firmly: “We are executing a tour package already purchased by the clients from tour operator [name], regularly licensed. This is not a chauffeur-hire service, it is the material execution of a tour package under art. 33 of the Tourism Code.” Dry sentence, just one, regulatory reference included.
Third step — the ruling. If the patrol insists, cite it: “The matter has been clarified by the Italian Supreme Court, 2nd Civil Section, with order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024.” If you keep it printed, show it; if not, refer to it clearly. Every serious operator in the sector carries a copy of it in the vehicle’s document kit.
Fourth step — request the rule cited. If the officer still insists and talks of a sanction, ask politely — with two witnesses in the cart listening — what the exact rule is that they intend to charge you with, and have their identifying details put into the report. It is a right, and it is also what — in many cases — changes the dynamic of the conversation. The officer knows that the report will have to hold up before the Justice of the Peace.
Fifth step — reservation of opposition. If the patrol decides to proceed with the report anyway, do not argue it on the spot. Accept it, sign with reservation of any opposition within the legal terms, mention that you reserve the right to lodge an appeal. Continue the tour. The technical discussion you will have later, in opposition proceedings, with your lawyer.
13. The right answers, word for word
To leave nothing to improvisation, here is the “polished” version of the answers to give the officer. Three levels of escalation: the first is the opening, the second is for when the officer insists, the third if it reaches the threat of a report.
Level 1 — opening (always this).
“Good evening. I am [name], licensed tour leader. I am conducting a historic centre tour on behalf of tour operator [name], which makes the vehicle available to me. Let me show you the vehicle documents and mine. May I be of help?”
Polite tone, open body posture, documents ready. The stop often ends here: the officer looks, verifies and lets you go. There’s no need to get into technicalities if the conversation doesn’t take you there.
Level 2 — if the officer hypothesises NCC or tourist shuttle.
“Let me offer a technical clarification, which I believe may be useful. This activity is not a chauffeur-hire service: the clients have not bought a ride, they have bought a tour package from the tour operator, of which I am materially executing the performance. The regulatory reference is article 33, paragraph 1, letter a) of the Tourism Code, Legislative Decree 79/2011. On the legitimacy of this model — travel agency or tour operator using its own vehicle to transport clients within a package — the Italian Supreme Court, 2nd Civil Section, has ruled with order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024.”
Deliver slowly, with precise references. If you have a printed copy of the ruling, this is the moment to show it. Few officers insist after this step: the legal qualification is too articulated to be dismissed on the roadside.
Level 3 — if the patrol proceeds with the report anyway.
“I accept the report, I sign it with reservation of any opposition within the legal terms. For correct charging, I ask you to indicate the exact rule you consider violated and, should you wish, to complete the report with the details of the activity I am carrying out: my professional details, the tour operator’s details, the package details purchased by the clients. I would also like, please, to note your badge number and command of belonging.”
Deliver with surgical calm, no polemic and no irony. You have the right to know who is reporting you, the right to lodge opposition before the Justice of the Peace within thirty days, the right to contest the report in all its aspects (qualification of the fact, application of the rule, motivation). It is not a challenge — it is the normal functioning of administrative procedure.
A phrase never to say, whatever happens and whatever tone the patrol adopts, is “you could have already fined us if you could”. It is counter-productive tactically (it provokes, fuels escalation, raises tones), it is questionable substantively (an officer can still proceed and let the judge evaluate), and in front of tourists it sounds — rightly or wrongly — like a challenge. Calm always wins. Provocation, even when deserved, never wins.
14. Documentary checklist: what you must always have on board
On board the cart, in a dedicated folder or well-organised pouch, the following documents should always be present.
For the driver: valid driving licence (category appropriate to the vehicle); tour leader licence card (original or certified copy); valid ID document.
For the vehicle: registration card; third-party liability insurance certificate; valid inspection certificate; any further type approval documentation, especially for atypical vehicles or light quadricycles.
For the tour operator: copy of the tour operator/travel agency licence; copy of the Chamber of Commerce registration number; certification of the guarantee fund or equivalent; details of the mandatory insurance policy.
For the current tour: voucher of the package purchased by the clients (or copy, even digital, of the booking); brief description of the package sold (itinerary, duration, services included); telephone contact of a reachable tour operator referee.
For preventive defence: printed copy of Supreme Court order 27218/2024 (or written references with number, date and section); printed copy of art. 33 of the Tourism Code; any legal opinion from the tour operator’s lawyer on the legal configuration of the activity.
The idea is simple: every document that could be requested should be showable in thirty seconds. A clean, orderly folder, always in the same place in the cart, is already half the professionalism you demonstrate.
15. If they fine you anyway: what to do afterwards
If the patrol decides to proceed and leaves you the report, the golden rule is simple: do not resolve on the spot. Sign with reservation (it is a formula that is part of the form, not a formal contestation; the “space for declarations” section of the report itself says so), continue the tour, and dedicate yourself to reconstructing the picture later, at home or in the office.
In the hours immediately after, do three things. Note down — better if in writing, with time and details — the entire dynamic of the stop: where, when, who was with you, what was said by both parties, which documents you showed and when, how it ended. The more details you have, the more solid the subsequent opposition will be.
Inform the tour operator immediately: the tour operator is the principal, it is their interest to be aligned on the event. Often the tour operator has a trusted lawyer in tourism law, and it is the moment to set them in motion. Forward the copy of the report and your record of the facts.
Verify the opposition deadlines: the Highway Code report can be opposed, as a rule, before the Prefect within sixty days of notification, or before the Justice of the Peace within thirty days. The two routes have different consequences — the Prefect can reject, accept or reduce the penalty, but if confirmed, the amount doubles compared to the report; the Justice of the Peace decides at trial. The choice is not made on instinct, it is made with the lawyer.
For cases concerning specifically the Supreme Court 27218/2024 issue — qualification of the service as tour package and not as NCC — the defence is usually built on the substantive argument: the product sold, the contract with the traveller, the tour operator’s qualification. Documents are needed, and they are needed in order. A good lawyer, in front of a good case file, has the cards to obtain annulment.
16. In summary
The model “regularly licensed tour operator + tour leader at the wheel + street-legal electric golf cart within nine seats + all-inclusive tour package” is, today, a model that the case law of the court of last resort recognises as legitimate. It is not an NCC service, it is not a DM 193/2015 tourist shuttle: it is the material execution of a tour package under the Tourism Code. The Italian Supreme Court, with order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024, has untied the tightest knots, recognising that the tour operator may use its own vehicles registered even for private use to transport its own clients, and that the driver — in that model — is not required to hold the KB CAP typical of NCC.
Four open issues remain, to be presided over with care: the tour operator’s qualification (you don’t improvise it), the vehicle’s type approval (not all golf carts are road-legal), the vehicle’s capacity in relation to the driver’s licence (above nine total seats you need a Class D licence), and the professional boundary between tour leader and tourist guide (heritage illustrations are only handled by the licensed guide).
On the ground, the protocol is simple: documents ready, qualification of the service stated calmly, solid regulatory references (Tourism Code art. 33; Italian Supreme Court 2nd Civil Sec., order 27218/2024), request for the officer’s details, reservation of opposition, continuation of the tour. No polemics in front of the clients, no provocations on the roadside, no unnecessary words. The Justice of the Peace, if anything, will decide later.
The only really important rule, in the end, is this: legal security is built before the encounter with the patrol, not during. A serious tourism company — tour operator and tour leaders included — has already done its homework long before the stop arrives: it has type-approved vehicles, adequate driving licences, clean contracts, the ruling in its pocket, the lawyer on the phone. The day you are stopped, you are not improvising: you are running a script you already know.
And the clients, behind you, notice. That is exactly what distinguishes a serious tourism experience from an improvised adventure.
📘 TOURLEADERPRO RESOURCES
Available now — for the discipline of the tour leader profession, police checks and operational models in the field, the TourLeaderPro PDF gathers the updated legal framework, recent case law and practical operational protocols: ➜ CONSULT THE MANUAL ON TOURLEADERPRO.COM
Coming soon — operational fact sheets dedicated to the “TO + tour leader + golf cart” model and the control-management protocol, to be published on tourleaderpro.com in the coming days.
Related deep-dives:
- Tour leader and police checks: legal defence with the Mente Fredda Method
- Child safety, car seats and the responsibility of tour operators and tour leaders
- Italian tour leader licensing 2026: the national reform and ruling 196
- Italian tourist guide exam 2026: written test on June 5 — the complete guide to passing it
- EU Package Travel Directive 2026
Official regulatory resources:
- Italian Tourism Code (Legislative Decree 79/2011) — coordinated text on Normattiva: www.normattiva.it
- Ministerial Decree of 9 October 2015, no. 193 (Tourist shuttles) — Italian Official Gazette no. 283/2015, on Normattiva
- Italian Law no. 21 of 15 January 1992 (Framework law on non-line public road services) — on Normattiva
- Italian Law no. 190 of 13 December 2023 (Discipline of the tourist guide profession) — on Normattiva
- Italian Supreme Court 2nd Civil Sec., order no. 27218 of 21 October 2024 — search on www.italgiure.giustizia.it
- Italian Highway Code (Legislative Decree 285/1992), arts. 59, 82, 83, 85, 116 — on Normattiva
Disclaimer: this article is general information, not legal advice. For the assessment of the individual concrete case, consultation with an administrative or civil lawyer specialised in tourism law is recommended. Legislation is evolving: please verify the current status of the texts cited at the date of reading.