In our legal system, the restaurateur or owner of food administration business is not obliged by law to offer free tap water to his customers but only to have drinking water available in his own premises on the basis of specific hygienic requirements.
Therefore, the offer of water from the tap represents a direct choice to satisfy a specific request from the customer and not an imposition, so any refusal by the business owner is not punishable
This is unlike what happens, for example, in Spain where the obligation was recently introduced for all those who administer food and drink to serve their guests tap water in carafes or bottles.
In the case of supplying tap water, the provisions of art. 13 of Legislative Decree 181/2003: Non-prepackaged water suitable for human consumption, administered in communities and other public establishments, must bear, where treated, the specific sales denomination "treated drinking water or treated and carbonated" if carbon dioxide has been added", as in the case of microfiltration.
For obvious reasons of quality and hygienic-sanitary guarantee, tap water is subjected to continuous checks both by the supplier and by the competent local Health Authority, checks aimed at ensuring that, from the moment of administration by part of the restaurateur, the requirements foreseen by the legislative decree 2 February 2001, n. 31, adopted in implementation of directive 98/83/EC relating to the quality of water intended for human consumption, which entered into force on 18 March 2001.
Written by; Alexander Klun
(@acenacondiritto)
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