New Rules: European Parliament approves changes to the AL

The Local Accommodation (AL) will have new rules to avoid fraud and allow the creation of “appropriate policies” by local authorities, having been approved by the European Parliament, last Thursday, February 24th.

Therefore, a proposal to harmonize the rules on the collection and sharing of data relating to short-term rental services, which represents 25% of tourist accommodation in the European Union (EU), was presented at the plenary session of the European assembly.

"With the change to the rules, MEPs intend to promote a transparent and responsible platform economy in the EU, while protecting consumers from fraudulent short-term rental offers", indicates the European Parliament.

Applicable within two years, after the Council adopts the text of the regulation and publication in the Official Journal of the EU, the new rules for Local Accommodation will include mandatory registration and sharing of data for properties located in areas where there is a registration procedure, as on digital platforms.

In addition to this measure, EU countries will have to establish a single digital entry point that receives data from platforms about host activity on a monthly basis, in order to “check whether the host is complying with the registration process and apply policies appropriate in the short-term accommodation rental sector".

In this way, digital platforms that intermediate short-term rental services are responsible for "ensuring that the information provided by hosts is reliable and complete, as well as making efforts to carry out random checks of the information", adds the institution.

Source: Casa Sapo