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The collaborative economy has experienced rapid growth and development in Europe in the past years. It offers new opportunities leading to more choice and lower prices for consumers and allows citizens and entrepreneurs to offer services either on an occasional basis or professionally, contributing to growth and jobs in Europe. The rapid development of the collaborative economy in Europe has also raised questions, inter alia as regards consumer and employee rights and the application of existing legislation. In its Communication on "A European Agenda for Collaborative Economy", issued in June 2016, the European Commission announced that it would continuously review developments in the European collaborative economy. This second Eurobarometer survey on the collaborative economy is part of this review. It seeks to shed light on citizens' perceptions, attitudes and practices in relation to collaborative platforms and the services offered via those platforms, and follows a first Eurobarometer survey on collaborative platforms that was conducted in March 2016. The first chapter of this report provides an overview of the European Union citizens' awareness and frequency of use of collaborative platforms, their assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of using such platforms, and the impact of these platforms on their behaviour with respect to the purchasing of services. The second chapter focuses on the use of collaborative platforms to provide services in EU countries, focusing on the frequency with which providers offer services via these channels, their reasons for doing so, and the reasons why some service providers do not use these channels. Finally, the third chapter examines the profiles of respondents as users, providers, or both users and providers of services via collaborative platforms. This survey was carried out by TNS Political & Social network in the 28 Member States of the European Union between the 23rd and the 30th April 2018. Some 26,544 respondents from different social and demographic groups were interviewed via telephone (landline and mobile phone) in their mother tongue on behalf of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. The methodology used is that of Eurobarometer surveys as carried out by the Directorate-General for Communication ("Media monitoring, media analysis and Eurobarometer" Unit).
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