Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services
PURPOSE: to enhance transparency in the field of short-term accommodation rentals and help public authorities regulate this increasingly important part of the tourism sector.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 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.
CONTENT: the Regulation lays down rules for data collection by competent authorities and providers of online short-term rental platforms and data sharing from online short-term rental platforms to competent authorities relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services offered by hosts through online short-term rental platforms.
The Regulation applies to providers of online short-term rental platforms that offer services to hosts providing short-term accommodation rental services in the Union, irrespective of their place of establishment, and to hosts providing short-term accommodation rental services.
Registration procedures
A Member State that imposes a requirement on online short-term rental platforms to transmit data to competent authorities in accordance with this Regulation will establish or maintain a registration procedure for units located in areas of its territory where such data transmission requirement applies.
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 online short-term rental platforms can be properly attributed to hosts and units. That registration number will be included in a public and easily accessible registry and Member States should ensure that that registration number does not include personal data.
Member States will ensure that, upon submission of all relevant information and documentation, a registration number is assigned to hosts and units. Registration should, as far as possible, be offered free of charge or at a reasonable and proportionate cost.
Information to be provided by hosts
When registering pursuant to a registration procedure, a host will submit a declaration containing the following information for each unit:
- the specific address of the unit including, where applicable, its number, letterbox number, if different, the floor that the unit is on, the land registry reference or any other type of information that enables it to be precisely identified;
- the type of unit;
- whether the unit is offered as a part or whole of the host’s primary or secondary residence, or for other purposes;
- the maximum number of available bed places and of guests that the unit accommodates;
- where applicable, whether the unit is subject to an authorisation scheme.
The host who is a legal person will communicate its name; its national business registration number; its registered address; the contact telephone number of at least one representative of that legal person and an electronic mail address that the competent authority can use for written communication.
Verification
Competent authorities may, at any time after the registration number has been issued, verify the declaration and any supporting documentation submitted by a host. Where a host fails to rectify the requested information or documentation, the competent authority should have the power to suspend the validity of the affected registration number or numbers and to issue an order requesting online short-term rental platforms to remove, or to disable access to, any listing relating to the unit or units in question without undue delay.
Obligation for online short-term rental platforms to transmit activity data and registration numbers
Digital platforms will regularly provide a single digital entry point in the Member States with information about the rental activities of their guests. This will help the competent authorities to compile reliable statistics and take informed regulatory action.
Each Member State will appoint a national coordinator. Those national coordinators will act as contact points for their respective administrations for all matters relating to the single digital entry point.
Information obligation
Member States will be required to draw up and make available through the single digital entry point the following regularly updated lists: (a) the list of areas in which a registration procedure applies on their territory and (b) the list of areas for which the competent authorities have requested data from providers of digital short-term rental platforms.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 18.5.2024.
APPLICATION: from 20.5.2026.