Consultation to short-term rental initiative

In addition, it should be thoroughly examined to what extent existing regulations (the DAC7 Directive, the VAT Directive) already include data-sharing obligations for platforms that cover the desired information. The multiple submission of reports with identical or highly similar content based on different laws should be avoided and minimized as much as possible. We also believe that data reports and requests should be designed in a uniform and standardized format across the European Union in order to reduce the administrative burden and facilitate compliance with the regulation.

We further believe that the specific capabilities of companies of different sizes should be taken into account, so that exemption rules for small companies are included. Otherwise, smaller companies—for which handling a large number of inquiries would quickly become an unbearable burden on their resources—might be forced out of the market or prevented from entering it.

In addition, the introduction of any data-sharing obligation should provide sufficient legal certainty for the transfer of data. Especially in light of the GDPR, a clear legal basis for the collection and use of data is indispensable for companies, not least for liability reasons. It should also be ensured that data-sharing requests from official authorities comply with existing EU law, as we have become aware of instances in which authorities made blanket requests to companies, which are not permissible under the GDPR.

Finally, we believe it is essential that new data-sharing obligations allow the platforms sufficient time to fully implement the requirements.

Common Registration Scheme

The European Commission explicitly mentions the possibility of a “common registration scheme” for landlords who wish to rent out living space on a short-term basis, as well as the introduction of a requirement to publish such listings with a mandatory registration number. Such a requirement could either apply to all landlords renting out living space on a short-term basis or could be limited to landlords operating in areas where short-term rentals are already subject to specific regulations.

From our perspective, the option of introducing a region-wide registration requirement—separate from authorization processes and regardless of the location of the rental space—appears preferable for two reasons. First, such a unified regulation helps small and medium-sized companies with fewer resources to participate in the market as well—even across different regions and countries. If, however, such a registration requirement were introduced in a regionally differentiated—i.e., fragmented—form, the high degree of legislative fragmentation across the numerous regions of the Member States would pose a considerable administrative burden that would be virtually unmanageable for SMEs. A nationwide registration requirement, on the other hand, would significantly reduce the regulatory and administrative burden.

Second, establishing a mandatory registration requirement across the entire region offers the advantage of significantly expanding knowledge of the short-term rental market through the data collected, thereby providing policymakers with a well-founded overview of the number of overnight stays and bookings occurring in a city or region. The resulting transparency can improve and facilitate evidence-based regulatory decisions.

We further emphasize that such a registration scheme should be separate from authorization processes. For reasons of proportionality and to minimize the administrative burden on authorities as well as on peers or professional operators, authorization requirements should be applied only locally and only for as long and to the extent that evidence-based problems have been identified in those regions.

The introduction of a “common registration scheme” should also adhere to the established principle that platforms are not required to verify whether the registration numbers provided by users are legitimate. Changing this principle would not only accelerate the problematic outsourcing of sovereign verification tasks to private companies, but the additional costs resulting from the expanded responsibilities would also place a considerable burden on companies that are already struggling.

There is a high degree of fragmentation among and within the Member States of the European Union with regard to registration requirements, as well as the registration process itself. In order to minimize administrative barriers and thereby increase compliance, the introduction of a registration requirement should be designed in such a way that a uniform, centralized, easily accessible, and non-discriminatory online application system for registration is established across the European Union. This registration system should preferably be established in a central office at the national level, but ideally at the EU level, and should adhere to a common standard, as significant differences between application systems would run counter to the purpose and objective of the Commission’s regulation. Examples of best practices for successful and user-friendly systems include the system currently in use in Portugal and the opt-in system in the Netherlands.

With kind regards,

Michael Buller

Chairman – Association of Online Travel Agencies (VIR)