TRANSPORT
Uber bans allowed, says EU lawyer
EU member states can ban ride-hailing pioneer Uber without informing the European Commission because at heart, it is an ordinary transport company under their jurisdiction
Luxembourg — EU member states can ban ride-hailing pioneer Uber without informing the European Commission because at heart, it is an ordinary transport company under their jurisdiction, according to a top EU lawyer. San Francisco-based Uber insists it is a service, not a transport provider, connecting riders with freelance drivers directly and much more cheaply than traditional taxi companies. But critics and competitors say this allows it to dodge costly regulation and several countries, led by France, have banned its low-cost UberPop service as a result. Uber France challenged the ban, saying it amounted to regulation of an information company, which Paris should have first lodged with the EU’s administrative arm. However, Maciej Szpunar, an advocate-general with the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, said on Tuesday that Uber was in fact an ordinary transport company and so member states could go ahead and regulate its activities without notifying the commission in advan...
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