The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) outlined today at the ITB Convention the roles and tasks that governments will have to undertake in order to engage with the growing sharing economy.
The remarks were made by Alain Duperyras, head of tourism for the organisation. He said that a number of governments, including the countries of Israel and Korea, were actively supporting and aiding the development of the sharing economy. However, he said, a number of obstacles must still be overcome.
Dupeyras said the first point that had to be covered was consumer protection and the regulatory framework. He added, “New services may not be covered by the existing rules and we have to address this. Trust plays a big and vital role in the peer-to-peer exchanges. There are a number of review systems but in the end, does it constitute a consumer protection framework? There may also be a number of competitive balances, with the prospect of unfair competition for traditionally-regulated businesses. This is pushing governments and the industry to rethink the regulatory environment. Taxation is an area of concern.”
Dupeyras said that governments were currently in a wait-and-see position as the implications of the sharing economy are not yet fully understood. In order to do this, Dupeyras said that governments around the world may look to work with organisations that employ this business model, adding that any decisions made would have to be creative, open, and transparent.
He added, “We have a number of highly-regulated operators but there are also unregulated actors. We have to make sure the level playing field is there. It may not mean more regulation for the unregulated but deregulation in general. The OECD is looking at these issues and not just in tourism, but for the whole digital economy.”
“We are just at the beginning of this discussion. We will continue to work on this.”
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