Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3),

Whereas:

(1) Short-term accommodation rental services offered by hosts have existed for many years as a complement to other accommodation services such as hotels, hostels or bed and breakfasts. The volume of short-term accommodation rental services is increasing significantly across the Union as a result of the growth of the platform economy. While short-term accommodation rental services create many opportunities for guests, hosts and the entire tourism ecosystem, their rapid growth has triggered concerns and challenges, in particular for local communities and public authorities, such as their contribution to the decrease in the availability of long-term rental housing and the increase in rents and housing prices. This Regulation focuses on one of the main challenges, namely the lack of reliable information about short-term accommodation rental services, such as the identity of the host, the location where those services are being offered, and their duration. The lack of such information makes it difficult for authorities to assess the actual impact of short-term accommodation rental services and develop and enforce appropriate and proportionate policy responses.

(2) Public authorities at national, regional and local level are increasingly taking measures to obtain information from hosts and online short-term rental platforms, by imposing registration schemes and other transparency requirements, including on online short-term rental platforms. However, legal obligations regarding data generation and data sharing diverge considerably within and between Member States as regards their scope and frequency, as well as in terms of related procedures. The large majority of online platforms intermediating the provision of short-term accommodation rental services provide their services across borders and indeed across the internal market. As a result of diverging transparency and data-sharing requirements, the full realisation of the potential of short-term accommodation rental services is hampered, and the proper functioning of the internal market is negatively affected. In order to ensure the fair, unambiguous and transparent provision of short-term accommodation rental services within the internal market, as part of a balanced tourism ecosystem that provides opportunities for platforms while respecting public policies objectives, a uniform and targeted set of rules should be established at Union level.

(3) To that end, harmonised rules on data generation and data sharing for short-term accommodation rental services should be laid down in order to improve access to, and the quality of, data for public authorities on the provision of short-term accommodation rental services, which in turn should enable public authorities to design and implement policies on such services in an effective and proportionate manner.

(4) Rules should be laid down to harmonise transparency requirements for the provision of short-term accommodation rental services through online short-term rental platforms in cases where Member States decide to impose such transparency requirements. Accordingly, harmonised rules should be provided for registration schemes and for data-sharing requirements concerning online short-term rental platforms, where Member States decide to put in place such schemes or requirements. To achieve effective harmonisation and to ensure the uniform application of those rules, Member States should not be able to legislate on access to data from online short-term rental platforms outside the specific regime laid down in the present Regulation. That is in order to ensure that Member States do not regulate data-sharing requests without putting in place the necessary registration schemes, databases and single digital entry points and that they facilitate proportionate, privacy-compliant and secure data sharing by online short-term rental platforms within the internal market. This Regulation does not affect Member States’ competence to adopt and maintain market access requirements relating to the provision of short-term accommodation rental services by hosts, including health and safety requirements, minimum quality standards or quantitative restrictions, provided that such requirements are necessary and proportionate to protect public interest objectives in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). In the context of short-term accommodation rental services, combatting rental housing shortage has been recognised by the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) as an overriding reason relating to the public interest, justifying the adoption of measures that are non-discriminatory and proportionate to the objective pursued. The availability of reliable data on a uniform basis should support Member States’ efforts in developing policies and regulations that comply with Union law. In fact, as the case-law of the Court of Justice made clear, Member States are required to justify possible market access restrictions for hosts on the basis of data and evidence.

(5) This Regulation is not intended to ensure compliance with customs or taxation rules and does not affect Member States’ competences in the area of criminal offences. Accordingly, it does not affect the competence of Member States or of the Union in those fields or any instruments of Union or national law adopted pursuant to such competence concerning access to, or the sharing or use of, data in those areas. Therefore, possible future use of personal data processed pursuant to this Regulation, for law enforcement or for taxation and customs purposes, should be in compliance with Union and national law.

(6) This Regulation should apply to services consisting in the short-term letting of furnished accommodation, provided for remuneration, whether on a professional or non-professional basis and as further defined under national law. Given the different approaches existing in Member States, short-term accommodation rental services can concern, for example, a room in a host’s primary or secondary residence, or an entire dwelling either on land or on water, rented out for a limited number of days per year, or one or more properties bought by the host as an investment to be rented out on a short-term basis, typically for less than a year throughout the year. The provision of furnished accommodation for more permanent use, typically for one year or more, should not be considered to be provided on short-term basis. Short-term accommodation rental services should not be limited to units let for touristic or leisure purposes, but should include short-term stays for other purposes, such as business or study.

(7) The rules laid down in this Regulation should not apply to hotels and other similar tourist accommodations, including resort hotels, suite or apartment hotels, hostels or motels, as data for those types of accommodation are usually available and well-documented. Accommodation provided on camping grounds, or in recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks, such as tents, caravans or recreational vehicles, should likewise not be covered by those rules, given that such accommodations are normally found in dedicated areas, such as campsites or caravan parks, and do not have an impact on residential housing comparable to that of short-term accommodation rental services.

(8) The rules laid down in this Regulation should apply to online platforms within the meaning of Article 3, point (i), of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and the Council (5), which allow guests to conclude distance contracts with hosts for the provision of short-term accommodation rental services. Therefore, webpages or other electronic means which connect hosts with guests without any further role in the conclusion of direct transactions should be excluded from the scope of this Regulation. Online platforms intermediating the provision of short-term accommodation rental services without remuneration, for example, online platforms intermediating the exchange of dwellings, should not be covered by these rules unless, due to the specific way they are designed, they involve remuneration, including any form of economic compensation.

(9) 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 should be included in a public and easily accessible registry and Member States should ensure that that registration number does not include personal data. The competent authorities in the Member States which have imposed a requirement on online short-term rental platforms to transmit data should therefore put in place or maintain registration procedures for hosts and their units. In order to avoid situations in which a unit is attributed more than one registration number for a listing, each unit should be subject to only one registration procedure in a Member State, at national, regional or local level. The registration obligations established under this Regulation should be without prejudice to other possible information obligations derived from Union or national law, arising from taxation, population censuses and the collection of statistics.

(10) In order to ensure that the competent authorities obtain the information and data they need, without imposing disproportionate burdens on online short-term rental platforms and hosts, it is necessary to lay out a common approach to registration procedures within Member States that is limited to basic information allowing the precise identification of the unit and the host. To that end, Member States should ensure that, upon the submission of all relevant information and documentation, hosts and units are given a registration number. Hosts should be able to identify and authenticate themselves using electronic identification means issued under a notified electronic identity scheme pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) to complete those registration procedures. Registration should be where possible free of charge or at a reasonable and proportionate cost which should not exceed the cost of the administrative procedure in question. It should also be ensured that hosts are able to submit all required documentation digitally. However, an offline service should still be available to cater for the needs of less-digitally skilled or equipped users, especially the elderly.

(11) Hosts should provide information regarding themselves, the units they offer for short-term accommodation rental services and other necessary information so that the competent authorities know the identity of the host and their contact details, as well as the specific address of the unit, the type (e.g. house, apartment, room, shared room, or another relevant category provided under national law) and the characteristics of the unit. To enable the unit to be identified precisely, specific information should be required from the host, such as the apartment and letterbox number, the floor that the unit is on, or the land registry reference. Where relevant, hosts can also be required to indicate whether they have obtained an authorisation to provide the service as referred to in Directive 2006/123/EC from the relevant authorities, provided that such an authorisation requirement is in line with Union law. Information on the applicability of an authorisation scheme, the rights of the hosts as far as the authorisation scheme is concerned and, in particular, the means of redress available in the event of dispute should be easily available to hosts as provided for in Directive 2006/123/EC. This Regulation is without prejudice to market access requirements that could apply separately and affect the provision of short-term rental services. The automatic issuance of a registration number is without prejudice to the assessment of compliance by the hosts with market access requirements by competent authorities in line with Union law. The description of the unit’s characteristics should include an indication of whether the unit is offered in whole or part and whether the host uses the unit for residential purposes as a primary or secondary residence or for other purposes. Hosts should also provide information on the maximum number of bed places and guests that the unit is capable of accommodating.

(12) It should be possible for Member States to require hosts to submit additional information and documentation attesting compliance with requirements established by national law, such as health and safety and consumer protection requirements. Member States could, in particular, in order to ensure equal access and inclusion, which are essential to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, require hosts to provide information concerning the accessibility for persons with disabilities of the units offered for short-term accommodation rental services in relation to national, regional or local accessibility requirements. Member States should be able to enable hosts to declare whether additional services are provided for remuneration. However, any requirements should comply with the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality, meaning that they must be appropriate and necessary to achieve a legitimate regulatory objective, and with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Directive 2006/123/EC. The requirement to submit additional information and documentation should not be used to circumvent the rules applicable to authorisation schemes under Directive 2006/123/EC. Furthermore, Member States should be able to impose information requirements on hosts that comply with Union law concerning issues not covered by this Regulation, such as non-remunerated stays, including where hosting arrangements concern vulnerable individuals, such as refugees or beneficiaries of temporary protection.

(13) Where the information and documentation provided by hosts via the registration procedure is valid for a limited period of time, for example in the case of an identity document or a fire or other safety certificate, hosts should be able to update the information or documentation. Where a host fails to submit the updated information and documentation, the competent authorities should have the power to suspend the validity of the registration number until the updated information or documentation has been submitted. The information and documentation submitted by the host should be retained for the entire period of validity of the registration number and for a maximum period of 18 months following the host’s request for removal of a unit from the registry, in order to allow the competent authorities to effectively perform any relevant checks even after the removal of the unit from the registry, unless that information or documentation is necessary for other purposes, as required by law, such as pending legal proceedings, and subject to data protection safeguards in line with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7).

(14) The information and documentation provided by hosts via the registration procedure should be verified by the competent authorities only after the issuance of the registration number. It is appropriate to enable hosts, within a reasonable period of time to be specified by competent authorities, to rectify the information and documentation submitted which a competent authority considers to be incomplete or inaccurate. The competent authority should have the power to suspend the validity of the registration number in cases where it finds that there are manifest and serious doubts with regard to the authenticity and validity of the information or documentation provided by the host. In those cases, competent authorities should inform the hosts about their intention to suspend the validity of the registration number and the reasons for such suspension. Where the host, with wilful misconduct or gross negligence, has failed to rectify the information requested or has provided unauthentic or invalid information, it should also be possible for the competent authorities to withdraw the registration number or to take further action, such as to prevent the commercialisation of a unit, as laid down in national law.. Hosts should have the possibility to be heard and, where appropriate, to rectify the information and documentation provided within a reasonable period of time. Where the validity of the registration number has been suspended, or where it has been withdrawn, the competent authorities should have the power to issue an order requesting the online short-term rental platforms to remove, or to disable access to, the listing relating to the unit in question without undue delay. Those orders should include all necessary information to identify the listing, including the individual uniform resource locator (URL) of the listing.

(15) Where a registration procedure applies, hosts should be required to provide online short-term rental platforms with their registration numbers, display each registration number in each corresponding listing and provide guests with the unit’s registration number. Member States should ensure that, where a registration procedure applies, national law enables the competent authorities to order online short-term rental platforms to provide further information regarding a specific unit and to remove listings concerning units offered without a registration number or with an invalid registration number, or in cases involving misuse of a registration number. Misuse of a registration number can be understood as the improper use of a registration number, for example the use of a single number in relation to more than one unit.