The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

5 services cannot be demanded through the so-called collaborative platforms, social networks or apps 8 . Accordingly, within this framework, a distinction can be made between two different models of platforms which, although they seem to fit the name of digital or online platform from the outset 9 , which is widely recognised by the European Union. In the author’s opinion, these models could be given different legal treatment, at least about certain obligations, hence our brief discussion of their legal nature. It is true that, from the outset, all these platforms are conceived as online intermediaries, connecting providers and users and allowing such transactions to take place between them 10 . However, it is also true that the Commission is not unaware that these channels, through which economic transactions take place, compete with and affect the traditional marketplace. Therefore, many studies have addressed the possibility that online providers may be subject to certain requirements for access to and permanence in the marketplace, such as authorisations to start their activity or certain licences (e.g. for occasional urban or interurban transport 11 ), at least, when they operate as the underlying provider, or that they may be subject to a demand for specific requirements linked to the quality of the service (e.g. room size, need for insurance, deposit system, etc.). These types of requirements could be imposed by the States in order to continue to demand a 8 A reference to these activities can be found in BULCHAND GIDUMAL, J. &MELIÁN GONZÁLEZ, S., Una guía para entender la economía colaborativa: de clientes-consumidores a individuos-proveedores , 2016, pp. 42 et seq . 9 On these lines, COM (2016) 288 final, op. cit ., p. 2, recognising that online platforms now cover “a wide range of activities, including online advertising platforms, online markets, search engines, social networks and creative media, application distribution platforms, communication services, payment systems and platforms dedicated to the collaborative economy”. The concept of an online platform is so ambiguous or perhaps so broad that the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on promoting fairness and transparency for businesses using online intermediation services, COM (2018) 238 final, p. 17, recognises that providers of online intermediation services include, in principle, e-commerce markets, including collaborative markets where businesses are active, online application services and online social networking services. The Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993, Directive 98/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards improving the enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection rules COM (2018) 185 final (PDPC), in its proposed amendments to the above-mentioned Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, incorporates in Article 2 the concept of “online market”, which is so broad that it covers a service provider that enables consumers to conclude contracts online with traders and consumers at the online interface of that market. 10 COM (2016) 356 final, op. cit. , p. 3. 11 See , GONZÁLEZ CABRERA, I., Bajo el paraguas de la economía colaborativa: El transporte a escena , Dykinson, Madrid, 2020.