An illustration picture shows the Paris apartment offer by American actress Judith Freiha on the Airbnb web page displayed on a smatphone in front of a general view of the Ile Saint-Louis on the Seine river in Paris, France, August 9, 2015. Nowhere in the world has more accommodation available on Airbnb than Paris. Now the home-sharing website that has transformed budget travel to the French capital is giving its super-deluxe hotels a fright too. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
BRUSSELS: The European Union executive threw its weight behind the "sharing economy" on June 2, saying governments should only ban services such as ride-hailing app Uber and Airbnb as a last resort.
In new guidelines intended to foster development of the new Internet-based services in Europe, the European Commission said any restrictions on them by EU member states should be proportionate to the public interest at stake, such as public safety or social policy.
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