The controversial taxi app, Uber, is to be the subject of an EU study starting in September.
The initiative is an attempt to resolve the legal disputes swirling around Uber in various European countries.
Conventional taxi services are up in arms, citing unfair competition and claiming that Uber bypasses local regulations on licensing and safety.
Uber has submitted complaints to the European Commission against German and Spanish court bans and against a new French law concerning taxis, called the Thevenoud law. The Commission will assess these.
In the study, Brussels will consider what legal instruments it could use to decide if Uber is deemed a transport service or a digital service, according to an EU official.
Uber says it is a digital one which connects drivers with passengers.
Being a transport service might mean Uber must comply with stricter rules on licences, insurance and safety.
Brussels will also review the regulations for taxi services in each EU country and consider if uniform regulations across the EU should be in place instead of the varying national ones currently in place.
Countries, as well as the European Commission, have not known how to react to the ‘sharing economy’, trying to balance the desire for innovation while protecting existing industries.
The Commission had previously indicated that it welcomed innovative services but its Transport Commissioner has warned that they must not circumvent national laws.
Comments
It is so indicative of the level of development of a country over how it addresses this new 'sharing economy'. And how less developed EU member states see it as so much of a threat because they have been protecting their industries such as tourism or taxi sectors.
Both Barcelona and the Algarve battling with airbnb - problems their own 'illegal' protection caused by intentional endless administrative difficulties.
Yet weirdly it also shows well how hollow is the claim these less developed countries make that "We have strong local communities". Actually, in reality, each clan looks after its own and to hell with all the other clans, families, sects and ethnic groups !
Bo**ocks to sharing anything !!