Legal Framework, Trade Licensing and the Guide's Professional Obligations
The statutory frame
A Czech guide works inside several overlapping statutes. The base is the Trade Licensing Act (No. 455/1991 Coll., as amended): guiding (průvodcovská činnost) is a regulated trade listed in the annexes of the Act, so a professional guide operates under a trade licence (živnostenské oprávnění) rather than a state-issued 'guide licence'. Qualification conditions for the listed trades have been liberalised several times, so in an answer always describe the requirement as set by the current wording of the annexes rather than by folklore.
Package tours fall under Act No. 170/2018 Coll. on package travel, which replaced the old Act No. 159/1999 Coll. and implements EU Directive 2015/2302. Learn the vocabulary precisely: a cestovní kancelář (tour operator) assembles and sells packages and must hold insurance against insolvency; a cestovní agentura only sells them and must name the operator. A guide contracted to an operator inherits duties towards the client.
The Civil Code (No. 89/2012 Coll.) and consumer-protection rules set the standard of care: truthful pre-purchase information, accurate description, remedy for defective service. Personal data are handled under Act No. 110/2019 Coll. - no photographing or distributing guest lists without a lawful basis. Monuments, caves and heritage interiors are covered by Act No. 20/1987 Coll. on state monument care, whose house rules bind the guide too.
Trap: questions blur 'guide licence' (no state monopoly), operator vs agency, and old vs new tourism acts.
Worked example: 'Are you licensed?' - 'I hold a trade licence for guiding; guiding is a regulated trade, not a state-certified profession.'