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Since its inception, Uber has revolutionised how the public utilises transport using new technology. Despite Uber maintaining that it is a digital information service that simply acts as an intermediary between drivers and customers, the EU has now stated in a ruling that it should be treated as a “service in the field of transport.”
“As EU law currently stands, it is for the 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,” continues the ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The case arose when professional taxi drivers in Barcelona complained of unfair competition via misleading practices through the use of non-professional drivers. This has also amounted some concern over how Uber conducts medical and criminal checks on drivers, and whether or not the use of software-based employment circumvented standard.
The new ruling doesn’t change anything for Uber as it clarified in a statement that it “already operates under transportation law.”
“However, millions of Europeans are still prevented from using apps like ours. As our new CEO (Dara Khosrowshahi) has said, it is appropriate to regulate services such as Uber. We want to partner with cities to ensure everyone can get a reliable ride at the tap of a button.”
Instead, the ruling is expected to affect new start-ups more than Uber itself, with Vice President, Competition & EU Regulatory Policy at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Jakob Kucharczyk expressing “regret” that “the judgment effectively threatens the application of harmonized EU rules to online intermediaries.”
“The purpose of those rules is to make sure online innovators can achieve greater scalability and competitiveness in the EU, unfettered from undue national restrictions,” he added. “This is a blow to the EU’s ambition of building an integrated digital single market.”
KitGuru Says: Uber is a controversial company, and while it might embrace new technologies, I see these actions more as protecting the public than being stuck in tradition. Do you use Uber? What about it makes it better than the tried and tested taxi services?
This is a good thing and glad that at least some governments are trying to fix the way Uber does things.
The company itself really does nothing more than provide a app to the people that want to drive and to the ones that want to ride and they take money from it all. My problem is more with the people driving well more so with the ones that are under handed wit their customers.
In Canada & the two big cities near where I live you keep hearing how the Uber drivers will charge 5-6x the amount at certain times of the day and it gets even worse during any of the holiday’s where they will charge you over $150-$250 just to get across the city sometimes even more depending on how scummy the driver is.
So with that said it should be up to Uber to actually try to govern and set rules & define what these drivers can charge and not be allowed to do basically what the heck they want. If their app can track what a driver takes in for each fare then they can also track the ones that are abusing the system like this. Then again why would Uber want to do this since they are raking in millions from all of this and if everything in their system was fixed they would be taking in a lot less money.
It is a very good idea but the way it is implemented is very flawed and there is nothing to stop the greed factor of things. Taxi service may be flawed as well but at least the drivers have to follow rules & guide lines or be ousted out of work & be fired from the taxi company. They have to charge the same fare no matter what time of day it is or time of the year because there are rules to keep everything all legal like Uber either needs to make these changes as well or just frack off and close their doors.