2020 Iowa Code
Title I - STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND MANAGEMENT
Chapter 9D - TRAVEL AGENCIES AND AGENTS
Section 9D.2 - Registration required.

9D.2 Registration required.

1. a. A travel agency doing business in this state shall register with the secretary of state as a travel agency if it or its travel agent conducts the solicitation of an Iowa resident.

b. A travel agency required to register under paragraph “a” shall not permit a travel agent employed by the travel agency to do business in this state unless the agency is registered with the secretary of state.

2. A travel agent shall not knowingly do business in this state unless and until the travel agency employing the travel agent is registered with the secretary of state as a travel agency if the travel agency or any of the agency’s travel agents conduct the solicitation of an Iowa resident.

3. This section does not require registration for, or prohibit, solicitation by mail or telecommunications of a person with whom the travel agency has a previous travel services provider-customer relationship, having previously arranged travel-related services for that customer on at least one prior occasion.

4. An applicant shall complete an application for registration form provided by the secretary. The application form must be accompanied by the required bond or evidence of financial responsibility and the registration fee. The application form shall include all of the following information:

a. The name and signature of an officer or partner of a business entity or the names and signatures of the principal owner and operator if the agency is a sole proprietorship.

b. The name, address, and telephone number of the applicant and the name of all travel agents employed by the applicant travel agency.

c. The name, address, and telephone number of any person who owns or controls, directly or indirectly, ten percent or more of the applicant.

d. If the applicant is a foreign corporation or business, the name and address of the corporation’s agent in this state for service of process.

e. Any additional information required by rule adopted by the secretary pursuant to chapter 17A.

5. The application form shall be accompanied by a written irrevocable consent to service of process. The consent must provide that actions in connection with doing business in this state may be commenced against the registrant in the proper jurisdiction in this state in which the cause of action may arise, or in which the plaintiff may reside, by service of process on the secretary as the registrant’s agent and stipulating and agreeing that such service of process shall be taken and held in all courts to be as valid and binding as if service of process had been made upon the person according to the laws of this or any other state. The consent to service of process shall be in such form and supported by such additional information as the secretary may by rule require.

6. An annual registration fee as established by the secretary by rule is required at the time the application for registration form is filed with the secretary, and on or before the anniversary date of the effective date of registration for each subsequent year. The registration fee shall be established at a rate deemed reasonably necessary by the secretary to support the administration of this chapter, but not to exceed fifteen dollars per year per agency. If an applicant or a registrant fails to pay the annual registration fee, the application for registration or registration lapses and becomes ineffective.

7. A registrant shall submit to the secretary corrections to the information supplied in the registration form within a reasonable time after a change in circumstances, which circumstances would be required to be reported in an application for registration form, except travel agents’ names as required in subsection 4, paragraph “b”. The names of travel agents shall be updated at the time of annual registration.

8. The secretary may revoke or suspend a registration for cause subject to the contested case provisions of chapter 17A.

89 Acts, ch 274, §2

CS89, §120.2

C93, §9D.2

2008 Acts, ch 1031, §10; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §3

Referred to in §9D.4