European Court of Justice rules Uber as a Transport service

The European Court of Justice has ruled against Uber, concluding it to be a transport service, which will require it to have stricter regulation and licensing as a taxi operator within the EU. The decision follows a challenge presented by taxi drivers in Barcelona who were seeking a declaration from a court in 2014 that activities of Uber Systems Spain, amounted to misleading practices and acts of unfair competition.
December 22, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The European Court of Justice has ruled against 8336 Uber, concluding it to be a transport service, which will require it to have stricter regulation and licensing as a taxi operator within the EU. The decision follows a challenge presented by taxi drivers in Barcelona who were seeking a declaration from a court in 2014 that activities of Uber Systems Spain, amounted to misleading practices and acts of unfair competition.


In its judgement, the court ruled that “an intermediation service such as that at issue in the main proceedings, the purpose of which is to connect, by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration, non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys, must be regarded as being inherently linked to a transport service and, accordingly, must be classified as ‘a service in the field of transport’ within the meaning of EU law.”

“It follows that, as EU law currently stands, it is for Member States to regulate the conditions under which such services are to be provided in conformity with the general rules of the Treaty on the functioning of the EU.”

Additionally, the court stated that Uber's services were more than intermediation as it was indispensable for drivers and passengers who want to make an urban journey. It also pointed out that the company exercises decisive influence over the conditions under which the drivers provide their service.

More information is available %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external here false https://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/uber-ecj-press-release.pdf false false%>.

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tattile unveils Vega1 and the Smartaid
    March 20, 2018
    Leading Italian ITS company and machine vision specialist Tattile has unveiled two major new innovations for the global traffic and enforcement market: the Vega1 and the Smartaid. The Vega1, a dual channel camera built in an extra-compact case to reduce installation impact, is mainly targeted to single lane vehicle tracking, traffic limited areas and priority lanes, as well as surveillance and access control and congestion charge areas.
    Read More
  • SVS-Vistek unveils ultra-high resolution camera
    March 21, 2018
    SVS-Vistek is showcasing a new, ultra-high resolution camera capable of taking photographs of up to 120 megapixels for ANPR purposes. The camera’s resolution is so great that it can be placed some distance from the scene – at the top of a high building, for example – and carry out ANPR surveillance over several streets simultaneously. Speed or red light enforcement are among the potential uses. The typical range of cameras used for ANPR purposes is five to 20 megapixels.
    Read More
  • NACTO updates city micromobility guide
    September 17, 2019
    The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has updated a guide which it says helps US cities regulate and manage micromobility companies. NACTO president Seleta Reynolds says: “NACTO’s guidance provides crucial steps for cities to ensure that new mobility options benefit the public good, from best-practice data management to real-world examples on coordinating across neighbouring municipalities.” Guidelines for Regulating Shared Micromobility covers options for regulation for microm
    Read More
  • StreetLight Data forms M2 Initiative to measure traffic interaction
    June 11, 2018
    Mobility analytics company StreetLight Data has launched its Multimodal Measurement Initiative (M2 Initiative) to measure the way various modes of travel interact. The company says it is developing new analytics that describe the behaviour of each transportation mode individually. The project will assess the interaction between trips made by personal vehicles, public transit, walking, biking, commercial trucks and gig economy trips made by on-demand rideshare and delivery drivers. For the first phase
    Read More

Highlighted Content