the European Union agrees to strengthen transparency on short-term rental platforms

The European Union has reached an agreement to strengthen transparency in the collection of data on short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, the European Council, which represents the 27, announced on Thursday, November 16. This new regulation “creates a simple and easy set of information rules for platforms and makes the registration process easier for hosts”welcomed Rosenna Morillo Rodriguez, Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

This improvement in transparency “will build confidence for users” and make it possible to fight against “illegal activities”, she added. These measures will help the authorities have sufficient information to better control the activity of these short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb. The latter was the subject of a seizure of 779 million euros by the Italian authorities who accuse it of not having collected a tax on rental income received by owners between 2017 and 2021.

“Supporting the sustainable development of short-term rentals”

These digital platforms will therefore have to transmit data on the number of nights rented and customers to public authorities in an automated manner every month. These measures will “ensure local communities have the information they need to support sustainable development of the short-term rental sector”welcomed the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.

According to the European Commission, which initiated this proposal, these measures will harmonize host registration requirements. Once registered, hosts will receive a unique registration number, which will be displayed and verified. The agreement on this text, reached during the night from Wednesday to Thursday by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, must still be formally adopted by the two institutions. Member States will then have two years to transpose the directive.