# The sharing economy at the CJEU: does Airbnb pass the ‘Uber test’? (Aug 2018) * **The sharing economy at the CJEU: does Airbnb pass the 'Uber test'? - Some observations on the pending case C-390/18 - Airbnb Ireland** * By Christoph Busch. Published in the 7 Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, on 25 August 2018 * * **Abstract**: * The rise of digital platforms such as Uber and Airbnb has sparked a controversy about how to fit the new business models into existing legal categories and whether there is a need to adapt the regulatory framework to the new platform economy. * In December 2017, in a much publicised judgment, the CJEU \[European Court of Justice, ECJ] held that Uber is not a just a digital intermediary providing ‘information society services’, but a transport service provider. * Consequently, according to the CJEU, Uber does not benefit from the ‘internal market clause in Article 3(2) of Directive 2000/31/EC, which precludes Member States from restricting the freedom to provide cross-border information society services. * While Uber has discontinued its services in several EU Member States, the focus of the regulatory battle is now shifting towards short-term rental platforms. * Thus, on 16 July 2018, the European Commission and a phalanx of national consumer authorities have called on Airbnb to comply with EU consumer law rules. * At the same time, Member States are tightening their regulatory grip on short-term rentals. * Now, the first request for a preliminary ruling concerning Airbnb has reached the CJEU. The brief case note provides some very first reflections on the pending case. * **Keywords**: EU, European Union, European Court of Justice, ECJ, Court of Justice of the EU, CJEU, EC, European Commission, EP, European Parliament, Uber, Airbnb, single digital market, gig-economy, sharing economy --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://housing-base.journalismarena.eu/short-term-rentals/academic-reports-and-papers/the-sharing-economy-at-the-cjeu-does-airbnb-pass-the-uber-test-25-aug-2018.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.