Mzalendo_Mkweli
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- Jan 30, 2012
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Uber’s global juggernaut has finally met its match.
Europe’s highest court on Wednesday dealt the ride-booking service a blow after judges ruled that it must comply with the region’s tough transportation rules.
The decision represents a significant setback for the company, which has faced a string of other legal woes across the Continent and farther afield.
It also follows a years-long battle between Uber and EU taxi associations, many of which claim that the American tech company flouts Europe’s transport rules and represents unfair competition for existing players. Uber denies the allegations.
“It’s a victory for Europe’s taxi companies,” said Damien Geradin, a partner at Euclid Law in Brussels. “Europe’s single market will now become very fragmented with different countries implementing different rules.”
In its decision Wednesday, the European Court of Justice placed itself on the side of traditional taxis, decreeing that because Uber held great sway over how drivers used its technology, the company must be considered a transport service.
That definition will require the company to use only licensed taxi drivers, as well as meet other strict regulations linked to health and safety and background checks on drivers on its digital platform.
“The service provided by Uber is more than an intermediation service,” the judges said in their ruling. “The ride-booking company must be classified as ‘a service in the field of transport.’”
Source : https://www.politico.eu/article/uber-ecj-ruling/
Europe’s highest court on Wednesday dealt the ride-booking service a blow after judges ruled that it must comply with the region’s tough transportation rules.
The decision represents a significant setback for the company, which has faced a string of other legal woes across the Continent and farther afield.
It also follows a years-long battle between Uber and EU taxi associations, many of which claim that the American tech company flouts Europe’s transport rules and represents unfair competition for existing players. Uber denies the allegations.
“It’s a victory for Europe’s taxi companies,” said Damien Geradin, a partner at Euclid Law in Brussels. “Europe’s single market will now become very fragmented with different countries implementing different rules.”
In its decision Wednesday, the European Court of Justice placed itself on the side of traditional taxis, decreeing that because Uber held great sway over how drivers used its technology, the company must be considered a transport service.
That definition will require the company to use only licensed taxi drivers, as well as meet other strict regulations linked to health and safety and background checks on drivers on its digital platform.
“The service provided by Uber is more than an intermediation service,” the judges said in their ruling. “The ride-booking company must be classified as ‘a service in the field of transport.’”
Source : https://www.politico.eu/article/uber-ecj-ruling/
