Uber is a transportation serviceie as such it can be regulated by individual EU Member States. This was established by the EU Court of Justice in its ruling on an appeal filed by a union of Spanish taxi drivers.
"The Court - reads a press release - declares that an intermediation service whose object is to put non-professional drivers who use their own vehicle in contact, via a smartphone application and for remuneration, with people who wish to make a in the urban area, must be considered inextricably linked to a transport service and therefore falls within the classification of 'service in the transport sector', pursuant to Union law".
A service of this type must “be excluded from the scope of the free provision of services in general – continues the note – as well as from the directive relating to services in the internal market and the directive on electronic commerce. Member States may accordingly regulate the conditions for providing this service".
The decision of the European Court comes at a time when in Italy, but also in other European countries such as Spain from which the appeal started, the question of how to regulate the service between taxis, perpetually on the verge of revolt and strengthened by the licenses acquired, and Uber pushing for full liberalization of the sector.
Uber's reply was not long in coming. "This ruling will not lead to changes in most of the EU countries where we are already present and where we operate under transport law," a company spokesman said.
“However – he added – millions of European citizens still cannot use apps like ours. The time has come to regulate services like Uber, as our CEO also states, and this is why we will continue the dialogue with cities across Europe, with the aim of guaranteeing everyone a reliable service just a click away".
The position taken by the president of Conftrasporto and vice president of Confcommercio, Paolo Uggè, has come from Italy: "We have always affirmed that the consideration for the provision of a transport service rendered by a taxi driver or a charterer must be recognized to the executor of the transport itself. The hope is that in the coming year the new government will be able to take on the responsibility of regulating” the sector.
