Bolkestein revisited in the era of the sharing economy

• Author: Yolanda Martínez Mata
• Position: Associate Professor on EU Law at the University of Barcelona.
• Pages: 1-19

www.reei.org

DOI: 10.17103/reei.33.09

BOLKESTEIN REVISITED IN THE ERA OF THE

SHARING ECONOMY

BOLKESTEIN REVISADA EN LA ERA DE LA ECONOMÍA

COLABORATIVA

Yolanda Martínez Mata*

Summary: I. INTRODUCTION. II. CURRENT STATE OF PLAY: HOW IS EUROPE

FACING THE REGULATORY CHALLENGES OF THE SHARING ECONOMY? III. THE

WAY FORWARD. IV. CONCLUSIONS.

ABSTRACT: Back in 2015 the European Commission set the Digital Single Market as one of its key

priorities. Sharing economy business models were one of the realities that the European Commission

assessed last year, with the clear aim to examine whether new regulatory action at the EU level was

necessary. After a thorough market study, the Commission concluded that existing EU rules are sufficient

and that each type of business as well as each local reality may call for diverging regulatory solutions at

the national level. To our mind, this is a sensible approach even if a whole universe of uncertainties

remains. The ECJ shall play a crucial role in solving them on a case-by-case basis. For its guidance to be

useful, the le gal debate should rapidly drop the misleading “sharing” terminology, which does not allow

an objective analysis of different rea lities that may need different regulatory solutions if we want to

ensure a true level playing field.

RESUMEN: En 2015 la Comisión Europea estableció el Mercado Único Digital como una de sus máximas

priorida des. Los modelos de negocio d e la economía colaborativa fueron una de la s rea lidades que la

Comisión examinó el a ño pasado, con el claro objetivo de a nalizar si era necesaria una nueva

aproximación regulatoria a nivel comunitario. Tra s un estudio de merca do en profundidad, la Comisión

concluyó que la nor mativa de la UE ya existente era suficiente y que cada tipo de negocio y cada

realida d loca l podían requer ir soluciones regula torias distintas a nivel nacional. En nuestra opinión,

esta es una apr oximación sensa ta, aunque todavía queda pendiente todo un universo de incertidumbres.

El TJUE juga rá un pa pel crucial para r esolverla s caso por caso. Par a que sus dir ectrices sean útiles, el

debate jurídico debería olvidarse rápida mente de la equívoca terminología de la “colaboración”, que no

Fecha de recepción del original: 6 de mayo de 2017. Fecha de aceptación de la versión final: 12 de junio

de 2017

* Attorney-at-law, Rating Legis, SLP (ymm@ratinglegis.eu); associate profesor on EU Law, University

of Barcelona. E-mail: yolandamartinez@ub.edu. The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Alexandre De

Streel and all other participants for their most helpful comments on a previous draft presented at the

Scientific Seminar “The Economics, Law and P olicy of Communications and Media Markets”, held on

23-24 March 2017, at the Florence School of Regulation, European University Institute. Materials from

the Seminar can be found at: http://fsr.eui.eu/event/competition-regulation-and-freedom-of-expression-in-

digital-markets/ (last access on 9 June 2017). Any mistakes or omissions remain our own .

[33] REVISTA ELECTRÓNICA DE ESTUDIOS INTERNACIONALES (2017)

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DOI: 10.17103/reei.33.09

permite un análisis objetivo de las distintas realida des que pueden requer ir soluciones regulatoria s

diferenciada s, si se quiere asegura r un terreno de juego r ealmente equitativo.

KEY WORDS: sharing economy, collaborative economy, EU, Services Directive, E-commerce Directive,

Digital Single Market, Internal Market.

PALABRAS CLAVE: economía cola borativa, UE, Directiva de Servicios, Directiva de Comercio Electr ónico,

Mercado Único Digita l, Merca do Interior.

I. INTRODUCTION

In March 2011, Rachel Botsman1 published pioneering work on the development of

some innovative and revolutionary theories about this relatively new phenomenon (back

then) called the collaborative economy. Since then, theories have emerged

exponentially as new business models constantly arise and challenge former deep-

rooted economic concepts and approaches to consumerism in the 21st century.

This new reality in which consumers’ needs are rapidly moving from ownership of

goods to access to goods generates a fair number of legal challenges. 2 The core

questions are basically whether the current legislation remains valid and, should it need

changes, whether amendments must be substantial. From an internal market perspective,

this implies, first of all, verifying whether the rules of the Treaty and the Services

Directive,3 as interpreted by the ECJ case-law, are useful legal instruments to tackle

possible barriers on market access and market performance for these new business

models. This is, however, a complex assessment to make since, once at the heart of the

issue, the number of uncertainties increases greatly. Any list will always be incomplete,

but let us look at the most important among such uncertainties, always from an EU Law

angle, concerning the public and private actors involved.

From the public action perspective, there is, first, the question of territoriality, in the

sense of deciding which is the authority (i) competent to regulate; and (ii) best placed to

regulate. In EU law terms, the internal market being a shared competence of the Union,

any regulation necessarily implies a prior assessment of subsidiarity under Article 5

TFEU. At the national, regional and local level a significant number of competences

(e.g. urban planning, tourism, passenger transport, tax, labour, etc.) may collide or, at

best, interact with EU competences on internal market. Considering the social

1 BOTSMAN, R., What's mine is yours: How colla borative consumption is cha nging the way we live,

HarperCollins Publishers, March 2011.

2 For a thorough overview of the main areas of regulatory concern at the EU level, see H ATZOPOULOS,

V. and ROMA, S, Caring for sharing? The collaborative economy under EU law, Common Market La w

Review, vol. 54, n. 1, February 2017, pp. 81-128.

3 Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of t he Council of 12 December 2006 o n services

in the internal market, OJ L 376 of 27.12.2006, p. 36.