Tourism Law in Europe

the platforms is essential in order to determine their legal framework: it will affect the liability of the platforms for the content they host; it will also affect issues such as access requirements and exercise of the activity, among others 10 . In this sense, the judgment of the CJEU of 19.12.2019, case C 390/18, Airbnb Ireland UC c. Hôtelière Turenne SAS, Association pour un hébergement et un tourisme professionnels (AHTOP), Valhotel was decisive in qualifying the legal nature of digital platforms operating in the vacation rental sector. Sometimes, collaborative platforms provide a service normally provided for remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of a recipient of services , so they provide an information society service. However, there may be cases in which collaborative platforms can be considered as offering other services in addition to the information society services that they offer to intermediate between the providers of underlying services and their users. In particular, in certain circumstances, a platform may also be a provider of the underlying service (e.g. short-term rental service). And, a third group, in which although the platform does not recognize the provision of such services, their incidence or control over them allows them to be considered as true providers of the same. The classification of the platforms that operate in the vacation rental sector will depend on the characteristics of each platform, which differ from one to another. As I said, the judgment of the CJEU of 19.12.2019, Airbnb Ireland matter 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 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘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 10 Vid. in extenso , A.P Ribeiro Café, “La naturaleza jurídica de las plataformas en línea de alojamiento. Análisis de la Sentencia del TJUE Airbnb-Ireland” en Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), editorial Reus, Madrid, 2020, pp. 73-90; B.Ferrer Tápia, “Autorregulación de las plataformas versus derechos y garantías del huésped y anfitrión. Especial reerencia a los términos y condiciones de Airbnb” en Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), op . cit ., pp. 91-130.