Short rentals, OK for the single database. Experimentation from 3 June in Apulia

Aa guarantee of transparency for users and a more effective weapon to fight the black economy. The National Identification Code for short-term rentals is getting underway. Yesterday came the favourable opinion of the State-Regions Conference on the draft decree on the interoperability of the National Data Bank of accommodation facilities and properties for short-term rental and for tourism purposes (Bdsr). This unlocks a game that has been at a standstill for years (previous governments had already tried several times) and was relaunched in recent months with the Anticipi decree, connected to the Budget Law 2024..

The aim of the novelty is to obtain from the Single Data Bank a National Identification Code (Cin), to be used for the publication of advertisements and for the display outside accommodation facilities and properties for short or tourist rentals. Under the lens there are more than 500,000 rentals: there are, in fact, many homes that, according to Aigab data, are currently advertised online throughout Italy for short rentals and which will now be obliged to have an identification code. In order to reach the Cin, however, it will be necessary to pass through an intermediate and experimental phase, since almost all the regions already have their own database. During this phase, interoperability between the different software will be developed.
Yesterday's news is that the experimental phase will start immediately. It will start, in fact, with Apulia from 9 a.m. next Monday, 3 June. In the following weeks, the activation of the platform for the other Regions and Autonomous Provinces will be communicated on the ministry's website.
"The Accommodation Facilities Data Bank," explained Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè, "is the result of important technical work conducted and coordinated by the ministry and carried out in a synergic and shared manner with the Regions and Autonomous Provinces. With this platform, based on the interoperability model, 'we are finally providing,' the minister goes on to say, 'the accommodation system and the tourism industry with a tool for combating abusive practices and protecting consumers.

The trial is only the start of the process designed by the decree. Already in recent weeks, in fact, the Ministry had explained that it intended to publish the measure by 1 September. This is an important step, because from the publication of the text the 60 days for the full entry into force of the new system will start, with the application of sanctions. Those who offer a structure for rent without an identification code will risk a fine of between 800 and 8 thousand euros. Those who do not use the code in advertisements will risk a fine of between 500 and 5 thousand euro. The obligation to equip oneself with devices for detecting combustible gases and carbon monoxide, as well as portable fire extinguishers, will also be triggered. In this case, the penalty for any failures to comply (up to 6 thousand euro) will only be imposed on those who carry out tourism activities as entrepreneurs.

Positive reactions: "With the launch of the database of accommodation facilities and the issuing of the National Identification Code (Cin), the sector will be equipped with a tool for the transparency of the offer to protect businesses and consumers," says Maria Carmela Colaiacovo, president of the Italian Hoteliers' Association Confindustria. Aigab, the Italian association of short rentals, 'welcomes the start of a gradual test phase on the implementation of the database'. For the president of Federalberghi, Bernabò Bocca, the initiative shows 'that we are proceeding in the right direction'.

In the first phase, the regions will send the national database a set of minimum data needed to identify the structure. This will be the basis for the creation of the national archive. In addition to these, the regions will be able to transmit other data. This will lead to interoperability. Once this phase is over, the owners of the facilities that already had regional codes will be able to access the platform through Spid. They will then be able to view the facilities linked to the tax code, integrating any missing data, and obtain the Cin. Those who do not have the code will be able to make the request from scratch.The owners and managers of facilities that have made the legally required communications but are unable to locate their property in the database or are unable to access the database because they are not qualified subjects are required to report this to the competent Regions and Autonomous Provinces, through a telematic procedure provided by the operating system.