Access economy regulations expected in Czech Republic

Prague, 22 November 2017

We note that the Czech Government published its analysis of possible ways to regulate the access economy and digital platforms. Access economy or sharing economy is defined as hybrid market model (in between renting and gift giving) of peer-to-peer exchange that often uses the online platforms for development (such as Airbnb or Uber).

According to the governmental analysis, the sharing economy is competing with the traditional services: in transportation, it currently involves one fifth to one fourth of drivers while in accommodation, it accounts for up to one half of the total number of beds. There are currently certain limitations and constraints on such services that resulted in numerous litigations and complaints in Czech Republic and abroad.

Certain relevant issues are proposed for debate: earnings limit should be set (on a turnover or time basis) making it possible to clearly distinguish between “extra earnings” and a business activity or the tax administrator’s lack of information should be supplemented by using data recorded by intermediaries on payments between the service providers and users.