A service that puts taxi passengers directly in touch, via an electronic application, with taxi drivers constitutes an Information Society service, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar stated in his Opinion delivered on Thursday 10 September (Case C-62/19).
The Romanian company Star Taxi App SRL operates a smartphone application that places users of taxi services directly in touch with taxi drivers. The customer is free to choose a particular driver from a list transmitted via the application. The company does not forward bookings to taxi drivers nor does it set the fare, which is paid directly to the driver.
Star Taxi App is challenging, before the Romanian courts, the fine imposed on it by the municipality of Bucharest on the ground that it should have applied for a licence. According to the Commission, its “dispatching” activity is covered by the principle of non-authorisation provided for in the Directive (2000/31) on electronic commerce.
In his conclusions, Mr Szpunar observes that the Star Taxi App service meets the definition of an information society service in that Directive. Furthermore, relying on European case law (Case C-434/15) (see EUROPE 11930/4), he notes that, unlike other services such as Uber, the Romanian company does not recruit taxi drivers or exercise decisive influence on the conditions of the transport services provided by these drivers. The service provided by Star Taxi App is therefore an ancillary service which is not essential to the already existing and organised taxi service.
As to the question of authorisation, the Advocate General asks the Romanian national court to ascertain whether the scheme is justified by overriding reasons relating to the public interest in accordance with the Directive (2006/123) governing the provision of services in the EU.
See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/32dQctE (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)