"THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

- notes that the European Commission uses the term "collaborative economy" rather than "sharing economy" and has made a first effort in its recent Communication on "Upgrading the Single Market" to define the concept. In the view of the CoR however, the proposed definition focuses on the commercial and consumer aspects of the sharing (or collaborative) economy while leaving aside the non-commercial and commons-based approaches. Calls therefore on the European Commission to further analyse and later define the different forms of the sharing economy;

- believes that EU sectoral regulation is necessary for the commercial aspects of the sharing economy to ensure legal certainty and fair competition for operators, especially with respect to taxation;

- considers that any hard regulatory initiative should keep a sectoral approach and take into account the scale of the SE initiative as a criterion to draw regulatory lines. EU institutions and legislation should provide a sound framework, institutional and legal guidance and ongoing access to expertise and other assistance appropriate for implementation;

- calls, however, on all EU institutions dealing with the issue of the SE to adopt a holistic approach in addressing the SE as an economic, political and social phenomenon and to coordinate their efforts, in view of the widespread changes the SE could cause to current economic systems, through a comprehensive public policy drawing up an SE public policy agenda built collaboratively;

considers that many of the sectors touched by SE have a sometimes disruptive impact at the local and regional level and that it should therefore be possible for them to be governed or regulated as necessary by local and regional authorities (LRAs) in compliance with the principle of local autonomy in order to allow LRAs to adapt SE initiatives and ventures to local conditions."

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