by
N. Peter Kramer
Uber has long tried to fight transportation laws by saying it is not a transportation company but an online-service provider. The EU Court of Justice in Luxemburg hold last week a hearing about this question after a judge in Barcelona referred the case in July 2015. A local taxi drivers’ association (Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi) argued that Uber represented unfair competition, claiming it was a transport service company that did not comply with the same regulations, particular in terms of drivers’ licences.
The stakes in the case are high for Uber on one side and taxi companies and regulators on the other. They have been locked in battles across some of the biggest EU memberstates, France, Germany and the UK. A Eurobarometer opinion poll found that 52% of EU citizens are aware of the services like Uber and 17% have used the service at least once.
The EU Court (Grand Chamber), made of 15 judges, heard the opinion of more than ten parties, proof that the case is high profile. Several EU countries lined up on both sides of the fight. Estonia for instance has enthusiastically embraced Uber. The opinion of the Advocate General is expected during the first quarter of next year. The verdict could come in the second half of the year. This will be the first time EU judges give their view on the disruptive sharing economy. The ruling will contribute to harmonise national laws, given the many restrictions imposed on Uber by local and national authorities across the EU. It could also have an impact on how authorities deal with other sharing economy players in other fields, such as Airbnb.
Airbnb has also faced regulatory scuffles in the EU. It agreed last week for the first time to restrict in two big markets the number of nights a year a host can rent out a home. Airbnb said that, starting in January, it would block hosts in London and Amsterdam from renting out entire homes for longer than those two cities’ legal yearly limits on rentals, unless the host has a licence to do so. London is one of the company’s top three revenue generators, along with New York and Paris. Amsterdam is in the top six in Europe.
