“EC wants to force rental platforms like Airbnb to share data with governments” – IT Pro – News

The European Commission (EC) wants to force home rental services, such as Airbnb, to share data with European governments, writes Reuters on the basis of insiders. These are data that indicate the number of users of the service and the number of overnight stays.

According to Reuters the proposal will be presented by the EC next week. It should ensure a joint approach to rental platforms in the main cities of the European Member States. Data collection should also provide governments with more information on how services work, so that countries can better tailor their tourism policies.

Under the new proposal, the data required by rental platforms will be stored in a central location so that all relevant government agencies can access the information, an interested party told Reuters. The rules of the proposal would be similar to the agreement that Airbnb concluded two years ago with Eurostat, the European statistical office. This allows governments to access data on the number of people using the platform and the number of nights booked, which is published every quarter.

Before the rules can be applied, the proposal must be approved in advance by the European Parliament. When this will happen is not yet known. The European Commission itself has not yet said anything about the proposal.