Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

Hotels in the Netherlands may face the need to register as Internet providers

The telecommunication authority in the Netherlands insists on local hotels to register as internet service providers (ISP). This concerns all hotels in Netherlands that offer Internet access. Due to the local law (the telecommunication act) all organizations that are characterized as “public electronic communications providers” must register with OPTA (the Dutch telecom agency). Nominally hotels fall under this definition, but if they register as IPS, they will need to follow strict guidelines of the EU law.

The law concerning ISP in the European Union is quite strict and it requires all providers to keep records of all people who have used Internet within 2 years. This includes information about date, time, duration of any communication, purpose and source of it. In other words, Dutch hotels will need to create own costly system that counts every login and remembers what websites have been visited.

The reaction of hoteliers in the Netherlands has been expressed by Horeca Netherlands, the local hoteliers union. According to its press release the attempt of local government to make the hotels to register as IPS is nothing but an opportunity to grab money for OPTA that passes through hard times due to recession.

Previous article / Back to news index

Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, news, and reports about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.