In this photo illustration the new smart phone taxi app ‘Uber’ shows how to select a pick up location on July 1, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. Taxi drivers in various cities have been on strike over unlicensed car-hailing services.
David Ramos/Getty Images
The Court of Justice of the European Union, the bloc’s top court, has ruled that Uber is properly classified as a transportation service, and as such can be regulated under member states’ local laws.
Uber had previously claimed, as it has in the United States, that as merely a “platform” or “intermediation service” that simply connects those who want rides with those who seek them, it is not bound by historic taxi and other transportation rules. Stateside, the company initially ran roughshod through local regulations, and in many cases, got state and local governments to create an entirely new class of regulations for “transportation network companies” or TNCs.
The CJEU didn’t buy it.
“That intermediation service must thus be regarded as forming an integral part of an overall service whose main component is a transport service and, accordingly, must be classified not as ‘an information society service,’” the court found in Wednesday’s ruling, “but as ‘a service in the field of transport’ within the meaning of Article 2(2)(d) of Directive 2006/123.”
The CJEU largely followed the May 2017 recommendation of the court’s advocate general.
The case originated from Spain, where a Barcelona taxi association sued Uber over allegations of unfair competition, and cannot be appealed further.
“This ruling will not change things in most EU countries where we already operate under transportation law,” an Uber spokeswoman told reporters in a statement. “As our new CEO has said, it is appropriate to regulate services such as Uber and so we will continue the dialogue with cities across Europe.”
IRU, a Geneva-based worldwide organization that represents trucking and taxi firms, applauded the ruling. “Today’s ECJ decision creates a clear framework and direction for legislators, enforcers and the wider taxi and for-hire industry on the way ahead,” Oleg Kamberski, the agency’s head, said in a statement.
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