INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW 1.2. Liability regime Digital Services Act builds on the provisions laid down in the Directive on electronic commerce notably on the internal market principle set out in Article 3. Digital Services Act deletes Articles 12-15 in the Directive on electronic commerce and reproduces them in the Regulation, maintaining the liability exemptions of such providers, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union. As we know, the CJEU Judgment of 19 December 2019 concerning Airbnb Ireland6 has been decisive in qualifying the legal nature of the digital platforms that operate in the vacation rental sector. The Court has classified them as mere providers of information society services, included in the scope of the Directive on electronic commerce, without regard to the underlying provision of services. Under article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2015/1535, the concept of an “information society service” covers “any service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of a recipient of services”. The service in question would be an intermediation service which, by means of an electronic platform, is intended to connect, for remuneration, potential guests with professional or non-professional hosts offering short-term accommodation, while also providing a certain number of services ancillary to that intermediation service7. With this, the CJEU understands that the Airbnb platform only provides an intermediary service and not the provision of the underlying service. The electronic platform must be classified as an “hosting information society service” under the Directive on electronic commerce and under de Digital Service Act. As such, collaborative platforms could be subject only to Directive on electronic commerce and Digital Service Act (among other regulations, obviously), but not to the sectoral regulations of the underlying service provided. Therefore, platforms such as Airbnb are mere service providers, the provisions of the Directive on electronic commerce and Digital Service Act apply to them. 6 C 390/18, Airbnb Ireland UC c. Hôtelière Turenne SAS, Association pour un hébergement et un tourisme professionnels (AHTOP), Valhotel 7 See some consequences of this qualification: “Tourist Vacation Rental and Digital Platforms in Spain” in Tourism Law in Europe. Tourism Law in Europe (eshte.pt). 2022. S. Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, “Perspectiva internacional: requisitos de acceso al mercado de las plataformas en el sector del alquiler vacacional” in Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), editorial Reus, Madrid, 2020, pp. 169- -190; A. P. Ribeiro Café, “La naturaleza jurídica de las plataformas en línea de alojamiento. Análisis de la Sentencia del TJUE Airbnb-Ireland” in Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), editorial Reus, Madrid, 2020, pp. 73-90; N. Tur Faúndez, “Los sujetos en el turismo colaborativo: plataformas digitales y proveedor del servicio” in Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), editorial Reus, Madrid, 2020, pp. 47-72.
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