Google, Amazon and Airbnb have received backing from the European Union’s Court of Justice (CJEU) over a dispute about Italian regulations.
The Italian government adopted a regulation in 2020 that required tech companies operating within Italy to provide information about their business and pay a financial contribution to the government.
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Companies who did not provide information or money risked a fine of an undisclosed amount.
Google, Amazon and AirBnB challenged the regulation under the argument that it contradicted existing EU law that stated companies were only required to follow the regulations of countries where they are physically based.
While all three companies offer services within Italy, they do not have EU offices in the country.
Google and AirBnB’s EU offices are located in Ireland, while Amazon’s EU office is based in Luxembourg.
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By GlobalData“A member state may not impose additional obligations on an online service provider established in another member state,” the CJEU said in a statement.
“Italy cannot impose on providers of those services established in other member states additional obligations which, although required for the provision of those services in that country, are not imposed in their member state of establishment,” it stated.
The CJEU’s ruling in favour of Google, Amazon and AirBnB is final and can not be appealed by Italy’s regulators.
