Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the report by Kim VAN SPARRENTAK (Greens/EFA, NL) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council  on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724.

The proposal aims to establish harmonised rules for the collection and sharing of data with the competent authorities regarding the provision of short-term rental services offered by hosts through online short-term rental platforms.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament's position, adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the proposal as follows:

Registration procedures

Registration procedures should be provided online, free of charge, and allow for the automatic and immediate issue of a registration number for a specific unit. Registration numbers should appear in a public and easily accessible register.

Members also recommended that, with regard to the information to be provided by hosts as part of the registration procedures, the list of information enabling the precise identification of a unit should be extended. Thus, for each unit, the host will have to communicate: (i) the specific address of the unit including, where relevant the apartment and mailbox number and the floor that the unit is on, or any other type of information that allows its precise identification; (ii) where applicable, whether the host has obtained an authorisation, under an authorisation scheme, to offer short-term rental accommodation services from the relevant competent authority.

Verification by competent authorities

Members considered that to counterbalance the automatic issuance of a registration number, greater powers should be given to competent authorities in case of incorrect information or serious doubts about validity of a registration number, such as granting them possibility to withdraw the validity of such number, as well as possibility to request online short-term rental platforms to provide further information and remove access to the illegal listings.

Where a competent authority establishes that the host has not, through wilful misconduct or gross negligence, corrected the required information or has provided information that is not authentic or valid, it may take the additional measures required to prevent the commercialisation of a unit.

Compliance by design

Article 13 of the proposal requires Member States to draw up and make publicly available, free of charge, the following lists: (a) the list of areas where a registration procedure applies in their territory; (b) list of areas for which competent authorities have requested data from providers of online short-term rental platforms.

Online short-term rental platforms should:

- before allowing the relevant host to use their services, by means of the lists made available pursuant to Article 13, make every effort to assess whether the information is reliable and complete, it being understood that hosts are responsible for the accuracy and reliability of that information for the purposes of the Regulation;

- make reasonable efforts to randomly check on a regular basis, the listings on the platform concerning the existence or not of a registration procedure;

- adequately inform hosts of the applicability in a given area of registration procedures or data sharing obligations.

Online short-term rental platforms should be responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the datasets they transmit to competent authorities.

Establishment and functionalities of Single Digital Entry Points

The Commission should adopt implementing acts laying down common technical specifications and procedures to ensure interoperability of solutions for the functioning of the Single Digital Entry Points and the seamless exchange of data, including common specifications: (i)  to establish a standardised structure of registration numbers, (ii) to develop an Application Programming Interface for platforms to connect with in order to share data with national Single Digital Entry Points and (iii) to ensure full interoperability.

Information obligations

Competent authorities should promote awareness of the rights and obligations under this Regulation in their respective territories and provide information necessary to enable public authorities, online short-term rental platforms and hosts, to understand the rules, procedures and requirements of this Regulation relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services within their territories. Competent authorities should regularly update the information available on the Single Digital Gateway.

Evaluation

The report introduces certain changes with regard to the evaluation, reducing the period at the end of which it will be evaluated from five to four years. The evaluation will cover:

- the extent to which online short-term rental platforms comply with the obligations laid down under this Regulation;

- the effectiveness of enforcement and cooperation at cross-border level where short-term accommodation rental services are provided cross-border;

- the need to establish a centralised Single Digital Entry Point at Union level in order to provide for a unique interface for short-term rental platforms and ease the sharing of activity data.

Lastly, the application date has been brought forward from 24 to 18 months.