There is no agreed definition of what the collaborative economy means. The European Economic and Social Committee explains that it is the traditional way of sharing, exchanging, loaning, renting or giving away, but it does so through modern technology and communities. Definitions tend to emphasize that it is a peer to peer model, where citizens adquiereix an important role as "producing agent".
In the situation of the emergence of these new forms of economic relations, the Catalan Government is working to identify areas of convergence between the activities of the collaborative economy and regulated business activities. In April of 2016 they created the Interdepartmental Commission of the collaborative economy, which aims to ensure a trusted environment, preserving rights, in order to promote proper development of the new economy in line with the recommendations made by the European Commission.
To advance in this work, the committee considers necessary the citizen participation. They opened in the platform Participa gencat two virtual spaces of participation, around two axes:
- Axis 1. Characterization of the collaborative economy
- Axis. 2. Development of collaborative economy: the new role of citizens producing agent
This process is intended to take into account the views of civil society in public decision-making. Once the process is finished, the Interdepartmental Commission of Collaborative Economics will prepare a document with the conclusions of the participation process, highlighting what has been the influence of public input. This consultation process is open until 30 April 2017.