An alliance of 22 cities across Europe has called on the EU to force sharing economy platforms to share data as part of the Digital Services Act, currently under consultation.
Airbnb said that it wanted to “work with everyone to find common solutions and set clear, consistent and proportionate rules”.
The Eurocities alliance asked the EU to force platforms to share their rental data with local authorities and for platforms to be held liable when renters failed to abide by local rules, such as caps on the number of overnight stays per year or the required registration of rentals with local authorities.
"It is time for a new European regulatory approach that serves first and foremost the general interest, which is for us accessibility of housing and the liveability in our cities," said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Margrethe Vestager, European Commission vice president, responded: “Better cooperation between platforms and public authorities will be a prerequisite for a proper enforcement of the Digital Services Act. It will provide a modern and harmonised regulatory framework, and take account of the needs of national and local administrations and compliance with local rules, while providing a predictable environment for innovative digital services.”
The 22 cities were: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brussels, Cologne, Florence, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Krakow, London, Milan, Munich, Paris, Porto, Prague, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienna and Warsaw.
Last week, Airbnb submitted its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the forthcoming Digital Services Act, comment that it was “eager to work with policymakers on updating e-commerce rules that were last set 20 years ago” and describing the Act as a change to “update the EU’s rules to make Europe’s platform economy stronger, more trusted and more competitive”.
Patrick Robinson, director of public policy, EMEA, Airbnb, said: “This consultation is an exciting and important next step in the direction for a Digital Services Act to reflect the new digital age. In parallel, we also support similar progress in other areas of policy, including offline regulations, to take into account the different ways platforms do business. We are committed to continuing our direct engagement with hundreds of local, regional and national governments to make sure that our platform works for the benefit of everyone.”
The platform said that its consultation response outlined several key areas for consideration including: supporting an updated framework “that encourages platforms to go the extra mile to help keep their users safe from all kinds of online and offline harms”.
The platform said that it understood the importance of data sharing “and regularly shares data with governments so they can make informed decisions about home sharing, while remaining compliant with strict GDPR regulations. The submission encourages greater clarity for governments about how data can be accessed for legitimate purposes, while respecting the EU’s privacy rules”.
Insight: And it’s so important to protect the EU’s privacy rules. We must, at all times, think of the EU’s privacy rules. And rightly so. But it is possible, one suspects, to enjoy the EU’s privacy rules while also enjoying knowing who is running an Airbnb and when. The local fire service enjoys knowing these things, for one group, and no-one need have their privacy invaded by the knowledge that the property you are staying in has been noted by the local lawfolk with an eye to checking whether there are five or 50 of you staying there in the event of a blaze.
For Airbnb, the issue is, as it ever has been, one of supply. At the moment its goals are aligned with the mayors, as guests stay away from the cities and look to remote locations where irritating the neighbours and taking away much-needed room stock is less of an issue. We all hope that won’t always be the case.
On Airbnb’s side was a ruling last December from the Court of Justice of the EU; that Airbnb did not need an estate agent's licence to operate in France because it was an “information society service” which was “a tool to facilitate the conclusion of contracts”.
The ruling said: “In that regard, because of its importance, the compiling of offers using a harmonised format, coupled with tools for searching for, locating and comparing those offers, constitutes a service which cannot be regarded as merely ancillary to an overall service coming under a different legal classification, namely provision of an accommodation service.”
This has led to the alliance rattling at the doors of its data and for Airbnb - soon to IPO - this just isn’t going away. The platform clearly agrees that by playing nice and releasing generic, detail-free data, it can persuade the EU that it is benign. Many mayors believe this is not true. To assess who’s correct, real data must be delved into and that can only come from one place.