European Union law precludes national measures that introduce additional obligations for service providers established in another EU Member State, ruled the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in a judgment handed down on Thursday 30 May (joined cases C-662/22 to C-667/22).
In Italy, providers of intermediation services and online search engines (Airbnb, Vacation Rentals) are contesting the fact that they are subject to additional national obligations even though they are established in Ireland or Luxembourg, invoking the principle of the free movement of services.
The Italian measures, which are designed to implement Regulation 2019/1150 on online intermediation services, require these companies to join a register, provide it with economic information and pay a financial contribution.
In its judgment, the Court finds that the Italian rules are contrary to EU law. It points out that, under the directive governing electronic commerce, the company’s home Member State regulates the provision of services. Bound by the principle of mutual recognition, destination countries are obliged, barring exceptions, not to restrict the freedom to provide these services. This means that Italy cannot impose additional obligations on suppliers established elsewhere in the EU that are not imposed in their Member State of establishment.
According to the Court, the Italian obligations are general and abstract in scope and are neither necessary to protect one of the objectives of general interest referred to in the Directive nor to ensure the proper and effective application of the above-mentioned Regulation.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/cfq (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)