Since 20 May 2026, Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 requires every EU member state that runs (or chooses to run) a short-term rental registration scheme to make it available online through a Single Digital Entry Point, issue a registration number per rental unit, and require booking platforms to verify and display that number and report monthly activity data. What it deliberately does not do is harmonize guest registration with the police, or touch tourist and accommodation taxes — both of those stay entirely national and municipal, exactly as fragmented as before.
What is Regulation (EU) 2024/1028?
The regulation is the EU’s answer to a specific transparency problem: national and local authorities historically had a hard time knowing how many short-term rental units actually existed and were being booked in their jurisdiction, because that data lived inside booking platforms rather than in any public register. The regulation addresses this by standardizing how a registration scheme works wherever a member state chooses to have one — it does not force every country to create a registration scheme from scratch, and several EU countries (Germany, for instance) still have none.
Where a scheme does exist, the regulation requires it to be:
- Available online, through a Single Digital Entry Point (SDEP) run by the member state.
- Low-cost or free, and reasonably fast to complete.
- Unit-based, issuing one registration number per individual rental property, not per host or per platform listing.
What must operators actually do?
If your property is in a country with a live registration scheme under the regulation, you register the unit once through that country’s Single Digital Entry Point and receive a registration number. That number then needs to be displayed on every listing for that property across every platform you use.
What must platforms do?
Booking platforms carry most of the new compliance weight. Under the regulation, platforms operating in a country with a live scheme must:
- Verify that a listing’s registration number is genuine before allowing the listing to go live.
- Display the number publicly on the listing.
- Report monthly — nights booked, number of guests, and the listing’s identifier or URL — to the national authority through the country’s Single Digital Entry Point.
- Delist properties that fail to provide a valid number, once national authorities exercise the delisting powers the regulation grants them.
Which countries have implemented it already?
Implementation is staggered — this is not a single EU-wide switch that flipped on 20 May 2026, but a rolling process that varies significantly by country:
| Country | Status |
|---|---|
| Spain | First mover — Ventanilla Única Digital (Royal Decree 1312/2024), registration numbers issued through the property registrars |
| Netherlands | Live since January 2026 — toeristischeverhuur.nl, free per-dwelling registration number |
| France | National teleservice under the Loi Le Meur, 13-digit registration numbers required by 20 May 2026, fines up to €10,000 for non-compliant listings |
| Ireland | Fáilte Ireland’s Short-Term Letting Register live from 1 December 2026; registration required by 31 December 2026, with annual renewal |
| Slovakia | Short-term rental register law signed by the president on 11 June 2026; administered by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, existing hosts must register by 28 February 2027 |
| Poland | Central register still in draft; proposed fines up to PLN 50,000 for non-compliant operators |
| Czechia | Expected to arrive via the pending eTurista reform, which is running behind its original schedule — Czechia is formally late on this regulation |
| Germany | Also running late, with no live national scheme yet |
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Iceland fall outside the regulation’s scope entirely, since it’s EU law rather than a wider European agreement.
What the regulation does NOT change
It’s worth being explicit about the boundaries, because they’re easy to assume away:
- Police and immigration guest reporting stays governed by national law under Article 45 of the Schengen Convention — see our comparison of guest registration requirements across Europe for how differently that’s implemented country by country.
- Tourist and accommodation taxes remain set at national or municipal level, with no harmonization at all under this regulation.
- Licensing and zoning rules for short-term rentals (caps, permitted-use restrictions, local council approval) are untouched — the regulation is about transparency and data, not about whether a listing is legally permitted to operate in the first place.
How Best Guest helps
Registering a unit’s number with the national Single Digital Entry Point is currently a task Best Guest tracks per country rather than files on your behalf — see the table above for what’s live where. What Best Guest does automate is the layer this regulation deliberately left fragmented: guest registration and reporting, and local accommodation tax, both of which still differ from one country’s town hall to the next. If you’re weighing whether to expand into a country with a live registration scheme, the countries hub has the current status, and our guide on running properties across multiple countries covers the operational side of a first cross-border expansion.
Frequently asked questions
Does Regulation 2024/1028 replace national police guest registration?
No. The regulation is explicit that it harmonizes only the short-term rental registration and data-sharing layer. Reporting foreign or all guests to a police or immigration authority remains entirely a matter of national law under Article 45 of the Schengen Convention, and continues to vary by country exactly as it did before this regulation existed.
Do I need a registration number in every country I operate in?
Only in countries that have actually launched a registration scheme under the regulation, and only once that scheme is live — implementation is staggered across member states, some live already, some still in draft, some not yet started. Check the current status per country before assuming a number is required.
What exactly do platforms have to report about my listing?
Booking platforms must verify and display your registration number, and report activity data — nights booked, number of guests, and the listing's identifier or URL — to the relevant national authority monthly through each country's Single Digital Entry Point.
Does the regulation apply in Switzerland or the United Kingdom?
No. Regulation 2024/1028 is EU law, so it applies across EU member states; Switzerland, the UK, Norway, and Iceland are outside its scope, though some of them are considering or implementing comparable national rules independently.
Sources
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This page is provided for general information and is not legal or tax advice. Rates, deadlines and exemptions are set by law and municipal ordinances and can change — always verify current requirements with your municipality or a qualified advisor.