How To Create Peace Between The Sharing Economy and Local Governments
Spanish authorities have been notoriously known for opposing the sharing economy and collaborative economy platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, as well as BlaBlaCar, even though the Spanish population is using the platforms more than most European citizens.
It's not that there isn't cause for concern from the governments side, but there is always something scary with new and unproven models of doing business.
The answer in Barcelona (and Spain) has been to fine several of the platforms for illegalities, a method though leader and sharing economy expert Albert Cañigueral think is the wrong way to fix the problem:
It's not only my opinion, but the European unions opinion that fining the companies is bad a way to deal with the problems. Dialog is always the solution, we have several good examples of that from cities around Europe, such as Amsterdam or London.
Cañigueral who's the editor of the well-known blog consumocolaborativo.com underlines that the platforms also should do more to meet local authorities on their terms.
European references
Expert on the tourism part of the collaborative economy Lucia Hernandez thinks Barcelona should look to these reference city's, that has launched solutions, such as putting a cap on how many days you can rent out your room or your car, before being a professional:
Until now, I believe most of the conflict we've seen has been political, and I think it's time for politicians to understand that these companies such as Airbnb represents a business model people really want and need.
Also Jaume Suñol from Drivy says Spain should look to France and Belgium that has built good solutions for these new business models:
In terms of renting your car, they’ve set a limit on kilometers driven or days rented, before you need to become a professional. I think this is a good solutions worth looking closer at for more countries, such as Spain.
If Uber or Airbnb would launch tomorrow!
There are several things Cañigueral and Hernandez would have seen Uber and Airbnb do differently, if they would launch for the first time in Barcelona tomorrow:
We've talked with several politicians and local governments that told us that they sat across these companies when they started up, but they didn't understand what they were doing. So for the platforms to explain their business in more detail would be key, but also for the governments to hire experts in the field.
He continues:
Understanding the local regulations is very important, and I know Uber has said the way they started up in several cities was the wrong way.
Hernandez explains that Airbnb is now taking steps they should have done from the start:
Airbnb has made a 20 page document with some ideas on how to regulate the rental business, and that's a really good start.
A hotspot in Europe
Cañigueral says that Spain has a special position on the European sharing economy map:
We are a hotspot in Europe both in a good and problematic way. Figures show that six percent of Spanish people have offered a service or a car/room/product on a sharing economy platform, that's more than most countries on the continent.
But there are not only positive aspects.
In addition to be the top users of these platforms, we're also in the elite when it comes to conflicts. A lot of the problems are political, and we also have many powerful lobbies hindering the new industry from growing fast.
His opinion is that Spain is a bit slow when it comes to innovation, in terms of collecting data from these new platforms and using that data to regulate and understand the companies.
Hernandez said she has talked with local legislators that doesn't know how to start on the regulatory work:
I told them, just start somewhere. You have references from Europe to compare with. Just start, and you can revise six months later.
2017 will be the year of solutions
As this year (2016) has been one of conflict between collaborative economy platforms and local authorities, Lucia thinks next year (2017) will be a breakthrough year for the young industry:
I'm very optimistic for the year to come. It’s normal that we’re a little bit lost in the beginning, but now is the time to start figuring out issues.
Cañigueral hopes some of the startup mentality of trial and error can be adopted by the people working on new legislation:
Startups always makes a lot of mistakes, but learn on the way. Regulators tries to make it perfect the first time, just after looking at the new sector for three years, that will not work. Trial and error is the answer.
Give us a heart if you liked our post — this story was written and produced by Sindre Hopland, media manager at itnig.
