Considerations on COM(2022)571 - Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2022)571 - Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2022)571  |
| date | April 11, 2024 |
(2) Public authorities at national, regional and local level are increasingly taking measures to obtain information from hosts and online short-term rental platforms, by imposing registration schemes and other transparency requirements, including on online short-term rental platforms. However, legal obligations regarding data generation and data sharing diverge considerably within and between Member States as regards their scope and frequency, as well as in terms of related procedures. The large majority of online platforms intermediating the provision of short-term accommodation rental services provide their services across borders and indeed across the internal market. As a result of diverging transparency requirements, the full realisation of short-term accommodation rental services potential is hampered, and the proper functioning of the internal market is negatively affected. In order to achieve more harmonised rules and requirements, and ensure a fair, unambiguous and transparent provision of short-term accommodation rental services as part of efforts to promote a balanced tourism ecosystem within the internal market, a uniform and targeted set of rules should be established at Union level.
(3) To that end, harmonised rules on data generation and data sharing for short-term accommodation rental services should be laid down to increase access to and quality of data for public authorities on the provision of short-term accommodation rental services, which in turn should enable them to design and implement policies on such services in an effective and proportionate manner.
(4) Rules should be laid down to harmonise transparency requirements for the provision of short-term accommodation rental services through online short-term rental platforms in cases where Member States decide to impose such transparency requirements. Accordingly, harmonised rules should be provided for registration schemes and data-sharing requirements concerning online short-term rental platforms should Member States decide to put in place such schemes or requirements. To achieve effective harmonisation, and to ensure a uniform application of the rules, Member States will not be able to legislate on access to data from online short-term rental platforms outside the specific regime laid down in the present Regulation. That is in order to ensure that Member States do not regulate the requests in question without putting in place the necessary registration schemes, databases and single digital entry point and to facilitate proportionate, privacy-compliant and secure data sharing by online short-term rental platforms within the internal market. This Regulation does not affect Member States’ competence to adopt and maintain market access requirements relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services by hosts, including health and safety requirements, minimum quality standards or quantitative restrictions, provided that such requirements are necessary and proportionate to protect public interest objectives, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 25 . The availability of reliable data on a uniform basis should support Member States’ efforts in developing policies and regulations that comply with Union law. In fact, as the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union made clear, Member States are required to justify possible market access restrictions for hosts on the basis of data and evidence.
(5) This Regulation is not intended to ensure compliance with customs or taxation rules and does not affect Member States’ competences in the area of criminal offences. Accordingly, it does not affect the competence of Member States or of the Union in those fields or any instruments of national or Union law adopted pursuant to such competence for the access, sharing, and use of data in those areas. Therefore, possible future use of personal data processed pursuant to the Regulation for law enforcement or for taxation and customs purposes should be excluded.
(6) This Regulation should apply to services consisting in the short-term letting of furnished accommodation, against remuneration, whether on a professional or non-professional basis. Short-term accommodation rental services can concern, for example, a room in a host’s primary residence with the host present, a host’s primary or secondary residence rented out for a limited number of days per year, or one or more properties bought by the host as an investment to be rented out on a short-term basis, typically for less than a year throughout the year. The provision of furnished accommodation for more permanent use, typically for one year or more, should not be considered to be provided on short-term basis. Short-term accommodation rental services are not limited to units let for touristic or leisure purposes but should include short-term stays for other purposes, such as business or study.
(7) The rules laid down in this Regulation should not apply to hotels and other similar tourist accommodations, including resort hotels, suite or apartment hotels, hostels or motels, as their services are already covered by existing transparency and reporting obligations, notably by Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 26 . Accommodation provided on camping grounds, or in recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks, such as tents, caravans or recreational vehicles, should also not be covered by those rules, given that such accommodations are normally found in dedicated areas, such as campsites or caravan parks, and do not have an impact on residential housing, comparable to that of short-term accommodation rental services.
(8) The rules laid down in this Regulation should apply to online platforms within the meaning of Article 3 point (i) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and the Council 27 , which allow guests to conclude distance contracts with hosts for the provision of short-term accommodation rental services. Therefore, webpages connecting hosts with guests without any further role in the conclusion of direct transactions should be excluded from the scope of this Regulation. Online platforms intermediating the provision of short-term accommodation rental services without payment (for example, online platforms intermediating the exchange of dwellings) are not covered by these rules, given that only short-term accommodation rental services provided against remuneration are covered.
(9) Registration procedures enable competent authorities to collect information on hosts and units relating to short-term accommodation rental services. The registration number, which is a unique identifier of a unit rented, should ensure that the data collected and shared by platforms can be properly attributed to hosts and units. It should therefore be for competent authorities, where they wish to receive data from providers of online short-term rental platforms, to put in place or maintain registration procedures for hosts and their units, either at national, regional or local level.
(10) In order to ensure that competent authorities obtain the information and data they need, without imposing disproportionate burdens on online platforms and hosts, it is necessary to lay out a common approach to registration procedures within Member States that is limited to basic information allowing the identification of the unit and the host. To that end, Member States should ensure that, upon the submission of all relevant information and documents, hosts and units are given a registration number. Hosts should be able to identify and authenticate themselves using electronic identification means issued under a notified electronic identity scheme pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council 28 to complete those registration procedures.
(11) Hosts should provide information regarding themselves, the units they offer for short-term accommodation rental services and other necessary information so that the competent authorities know the identity of the host and their contact details, as well as the location, the type (e.g. house, apartment, room) and characteristics of the unit. Such information is needed to ensure traceability of hosts and units offered. The description of the unit’s characteristics should include an indication of whether the unit is offered in whole or part and whether the host uses the unit for residential purposes as a primary or secondary residence or for other purposes. Hosts should also provide information on the maximum number of guests that the unit is capable of accommodating.
(12) It should be possible for Member States to require hosts to submit additional information and documentation attesting compliance with requirements established by national law, such as health and safety and consumer protection requirements. Member States may, in particular, in order to ensure equal access and inclusion, require hosts to provide information concerning the accessibility for persons with disabilities of the units offered for short-term accommodation rental services in relation to national or local accessibility requirements. However, any requirements should comply with the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality, meaning that they must be appropriate and necessary to achieve a legitimate regulatory objective, and with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Directive 2006/123/EC. Furthermore, Member States should be able to impose information requirements on hosts that comply with Union law concerning issues not covered by this Regulation, such as non-remunerated stays including where hosting arrangements concern vulnerable individuals, such as refugees or beneficiaries of temporary protection.
(13) Where the information and documentation provided by hosts via the registration procedure is valid for a limited period of time, for example in the case of an identity document or a fire or other safety certificate, hosts should be able to update the information or documentation. Where a host fails to submit the updated information and documentation, the competent authorities should have the power to suspend the validity of the registration number until the updated information or documentation has been submitted. The information and documentation submitted by the host should be retained for the entire period of validity of the registration number and for a maximum period of 1 year following the host’s request for removal of a unit from the registry, in order to allow competent authorities to perform any relevant checks even after the removal of the unit from the registry.
(14) The information and documentation provided by hosts via the registration procedure should be verified by competent authorities only after the issuance of the registration number. It is appropriate to enable hosts, within a reasonable period of time, to rectify the information and documentation submitted which a competent authority considers to be incomplete or inaccurate. Where the host fails to rectify the information and documentation within the period indicated, the competent authority should have the power to suspend the validity of the registration number. The competent authority should have the power to suspend the validity of the registration number also in cases where it finds that there are manifest and serious doubts as regards the authenticity and validity of the information or documentation provided by the host. In those cases, competent authorities should inform hosts about their intention to suspend the validity of the registration number and the reasons for it. Hosts should have the possibility to be heard and, where appropriate, to rectify the information and documentation provided within a reasonable period of time. Where the validity of the registration number has been suspended, competent authorities should have the power to issue an order requesting the online short-term rental platforms to remove or disable access to the listing relating to the unit in question without undue delay. Those orders should include all necessary information to identify the listing, including the individual Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the listings.
(15) Where a registration procedure applies, hosts should be required to provide online short-term rental platforms with their registration numbers, display them in each respective unit listing and provide guests with the unit’s registration number. Members States should ensure that, where a registration procedure applies, national law enables competent authorities to order online short-term rental platforms to remove listings related to units offered without a registration number or offered with an invalid registration number.
(16) Article 31 of the Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 lays down certain due diligence requirements for providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders. Those requirements apply to online short-term rental platforms with respect to short-term accommodation rental services offered by hosts that qualify as traders. However, the short-term accommodation rental sector is characterised by the fact that hosts are often private individuals offering short-term accommodation rental services on an occasional peer-to-peer basis, who do not necessarily meet the conditions to be categorised as ‘traders’ under Union law. Therefore, in line with the concept and objective of ‘compliance by design’ under Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, and in order to enable competent authorities to verify whether applicable registration obligations are complied with, it is appropriate to apply specific conditions for compliance by design in the context of short-term accommodation rental services, including those offered by hosts that do not qualify as traders pursuant to Union law. Online short-term rental platforms should ensure that services are not offered where no registration number has been provided, in cases where a host declares that such a registration number applies. This should not amount to an obligation for online short-term rental platforms to generally monitor the services offered by hosts through their platform, nor to a general fact-finding obligation aimed at assessing the accuracy of the registration number prior to the publication of the offer of short-term accommodation rental services.
(17) Where competent authorities wish to receive from online short-term rental platforms information about hosts’ activities, they should be required to establish or maintain registration procedure.
(18) Competent authorities that wish to receive from online short-term rental platforms information about hosts’ activities and have registration systems in place should be able to obtain activity data from online platforms on a regular basis. The type of data that may be obtained should be fully harmonised and include information on the number of nights for which a registered unit has been rented, the number of guests that stayed in the unit per night, the registration number and the URL of the listing of the unit, which is needed in order to facilitate the identification of the host and the unit offered for short-term accommodation rental services in cases where the registration number is missing or incorrect. Only online platforms that have effectively facilitated the conclusion of direct transactions between hosts and guests are covered by the obligation to provide the activity data, the registration number and the URL of the listing of the unit, as only those platforms are in a position to collect data, such as on the number of nights for which a unit is rented and the number of guests that stayed in the unit per night. Member States should not maintain or introduce measures that require platforms to report on short-term accommodation rental service providers and their activities diverging from those laid down in this Regulation, unless otherwise provided under Union law.
(19) In order to ensure that the processing of personal data is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed, online short-term rental platforms should not be required to report additional information on the identity of the hosts and on units, given that this information is already collected by competent authorities through the registration procedures applicable to hosts.
(20) Online short-term rental platforms that qualify as small or micro enterprises within the meaning of Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC 29 should not be expected to use machine-to-machine communication means of data-sharing, provided that they did not, in the previous quarter, reach a monthly average of minimum 2 500 active hosts in the Union. Allowing such online short-term rental platforms to use manual means to share data with the Single Digital Entry Point reduces their compliance burden and takes account of their financial or technical resources, while still ensuring that competent authorities obtain the relevant data. The assumption is that online short-term rental platforms that are small or micro enterprises within the meaning of Recommendation 2003/361/EC and that reach or exceed this threshold should already have in place systems that allow to comply with machine-to-machine transmission requirements.
(21) Online short-term rental platforms should be required to fulfil the reporting obligations with respect to the short-term accommodation rental services that they intermediate for units located in an area where a registration procedure has been established, and provided that the Single Digital Entry Point has been established by the Member State. Collecting and sharing this information is necessary to enable competent authorities to monitor compliance with the registration procedures applicable to hosts and to enable Member States to develop and enforce appropriate and proportionate policies in the area of short-term accommodation rental services.
(22) To avoid online short-term rental platforms being confronted with diverging technical requirements and a variety of access points for sharing data within a Member State, a national Single Digital Entry Point should be established as a gateway for the electronic transmission of data between online short-term rental platforms and competent authorities, ensuring timely, reliable and efficient data sharing processes.
(23) The Single Digital Entry Points should facilitate the ability of online short-term rental platforms to randomly check the validity of a registration number or the accuracy of self-declarations, in order to reduce errors and inconsistencies as regards data transmission and to ease their compliance burden. The Single Digital Entry Point should, while not requiring the actual storage of the registration number, allow the performance of random checks either automatically by means of Application Programming Interface allowing the verification of a registration number against the given entries in the registry of the individual registration procedures in a Member State connected to the Single Digital Entry Point or manually, for example, by entering a registration number in an online interface and receiving a confirmation on its validity. Online short-term rental platforms should be free to perform additional checks through the Single Digital Entry Point. Member States should continue enforcing registration obligations using the tools already available to them.
(24) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the technical solutions supporting the exchange of data and to promote the interoperability of the national Single Digital Entry Points, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to lay down, where necessary, the applicable standards and interoperability requirements. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 30 .
(25) Alignment should be ensured between the various registries in a Member State as well as their interoperability with the Single Digital Entry Point in order to remove semantic and technical barriers to data sharing and to ensure more effective and efficient administrative procedures. The entities in charge of creating the Single Digital Entry Points at national level and the Commission should facilitate implementation at national level and cooperation between Member States.
(26) A proportionate, limited and predictable framework at Union level is necessary for the transparent sharing of activity data and registration numbers, in compliance with the requirements of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council 31 . To achieve this, Member States should list the competent authorities at national, regional and local level that have established or maintain a registration procedure to request activity data for units located on their territory. Such data should only be processed for purposes of monitoring compliance with registration procedures or implementing rules concerning access to and provision of short-term accommodation rental services. In the latter case, such processing should only be permitted if the rules in question are non-discriminatory, proportionate, and comply with Union law, including the rules on free movement of services, freedom of establishment, and the rules in Directive 2006/123. For purposes of complying with Union law on data protection, any rules concerning access to and provision of short-term accommodation rental services should set out the purpose of processing the data in accordance with the requirements of Regulation 2016/679. Activity data, not including personal data, is also essential for authorities that are developing such rules as part of efforts to promote a balanced tourism ecosystem, including effective and proportionate rules for the access to, and the provision of, short-term accommodation rental services. A retention period of maximum 1 year should allow competent authorities to ensure compliance with rules and regulations applicable to hosts or concerning units rented and for policy development.
(27) Aggregated data sets based on the available activity data, would also be important for the compilation of official statistics. Those data, together with information on the total number of units and on the maximum number of guests that the unit can accommodate in each geographical subdivision, should be transmitted to national statistical offices and Eurostat every month for the purposes of compiling statistics in line with the requirements applicable to other service providers in the accommodation sector as laid in Regulation 692/2011 concerning European statistics on tourism. Member States should designate the national entity responsible for aggregating data and transmitting it. Competent authorities should also be able to share activity data, without any data that could enable the identification of individual units or hosts, such as registration numbers and URLs, with entities and persons when this is needed to carry out scientific research or analytical activities as well as to produce new business models and services. Under the same conditions, activity data could be made available via sectorial data spaces, when established.
(28) Member States should provide the necessary information to allow public authorities, online short-term rental platforms, hosts and citizens to understand the laws, procedures and requirements relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services within their territory. Those include registration procedures as well as any requirements concerning access to, and the provision of, short-term accommodation rental services.
(29) In order to facilitate the implementation of this Regulation, each Member State should designate an authority that should monitor its implementation and report to the Commission every two years.
(30) Member States should ensure an effective enforcement of this Regulation. The authorities entrusted with the enforcement of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 should ensure that the obligations laid down in this Regulation for providers of online short-term rental platforms concerning the design of the interface of online short-term rental platforms with regard to the registration number of any host, as defined in this Regulation, are complied with in accordance with the powers and procedures laid down in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, therefore, the competent DSC or the Commission should be empowered to enforce the compliance by design obligation laid down in Article 7(1) of this Regulation in accordance with the allocation of competences laid down in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. Consequently, the Commission should be empowered to adopt direct enforcement measures only with regard to very large online platforms designated pursuant to the Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.
(31) Member States should ensure an effective enforcement of this Regulation as regards the provisions of this Regulation concerning the results of the random checks, the obligation to include a reference to the information to be made available by Member States on rules governing the provision of short-term accommodation rental services and the data sharing obligations of short-term rental platforms. Due to the specific nature of those obligations, it should be for authorities designated by the Member State of the Single Digital Entry Point, in which the relevant unit is located, to enforce them. Member States should also lay down rules setting out penalties for the infringement of these provisions of this Regulation that apply to online short-term rental platforms and should ensure that such penalties are implemented and notified in accordance with Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 32 . Such penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. These penalties should ensure an effective enforcement of this Regulation, notably as regards data sharing obligations.
(32) In order to allow citizens and businesses to directly enjoy the benefits of the internal market without incurring an unnecessary additional administrative burden, Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and the Council 33 , which established the Single Digital Gateway, provides for general rules for the online provision of information, procedures and assistance services relevant for the functioning of the internal market. The information requirements and procedures covered by this Regulation should comply with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724. In particular, the procedures concerning the registration by hosts and the issue of the registration number referred to in Article 4 of this Regulation, should be included in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 so as to ensure that any host can benefit from fully online procedures. Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(33) In addition, in accordance with the once-only principle, hosts with units in one or more Member States should be allowed to re-use data and evidence they have already submitted for the purpose of a first registration, thereby reducing the compliance burden for hosts. That functionality could be provided by using the infrastructure of the Once Only Technical System as established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1463. 34
(34) The Commission should periodically evaluate this Regulation and monitor its effects on the provision of short-term accommodation rental services offered through online short-term rental platforms in the Union. That evaluation should include any effects on providers of online short-term rental platforms and any effects of the increased availability of data on the content and proportionality of national, regional and local rules relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services. In order to obtain a broad view of developments in the sector, the evaluation should take into account the experiences of Member States and relevant stakeholders.
(35) In order to allow sufficient time for Member States to establish registration procedures, adapt existing registration procedures to the provisions of this Regulation and to establish Single Digital Entry Points, and to enable platforms and hosts to adapt to the new requirements, the application of this Regulation should be deferred.
(36) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely contributing to the proper functioning of the internal market in relation to the provision of services provided by online short-term rental platforms cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt this Regulation, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on the European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
(37) The fundamental right to the protection of personal data is safeguarded in particular by Regulation (EU) 2016/679. That Regulation provides the basis for rules and requirements of personal data processing, including where datasets include a mix of personal and non-personal data and such data are inextricably linked. Any personal data processing under the present Regulation must comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Therefore the data protection supervisory authorities are responsible for the supervision of the processing of personal data carried out in the context of this Regulation.
(38) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council 35 and delivered an opinion on [XX XX 2022] 36 .