New duty to provide information on tourism services
Within the measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators have passed a legal amendment introducing the duty for tourism services intermediaries (typically Airbnb and similar platforms) to provide information on these services to the trade licensing authority.
For online intermediaries of tourism services, an amendment to Act No. 159/1999 Coll., on Certain Conditions of Carrying Out Business and Certain Activities in the Field of Tourism, has introduced the duty to provide at the trade licensing authority’s request information on the services they have mediated, including the type and scope of services, and the identification of the persons that provided the mediated services to customers.
The duty applies to all operators of online platforms mediating all tourism services, meaning not just short-term accommodation but also transport services and car rentals. The online platform operators do not have to provide the information automatically, only at the trade licensing authority’s request. The amendment assumes that the trade licensing authority shall then forward the information to other public authorities.
The aim of the amendment is to allow for public-law control over gainful activity carried out through internet platforms, which is currently extremely complicated due to missing information and the service providers’ anonymity. The same level of control over these entities as applied to ‘classic’ entrepreneurs should also help to level the business environment.
The declared reasons for adopting the amendment are of a tax as well as a security nature. In the future, it is to be expected that the state will also more strictly enforce the observance of other duties imposed by public law on the providers of accommodation services, car sharing services, passenger transport and other services mediated online or through mobile applications. Most online platforms are operated by foreign entities, and thus the question remains how successful the enforcement of these duties and the levying of penalties for breaches will be vis-a-vis these entities.