Taxi drivers won a landmark ruling
on Tuesday banning international transportation network company
Uber from operating its controversial UberPop app in Italy on
grounds of unfair competition.
A Milan court gave the American multinational a fortnight
to suspend use of its low-cost service, which effectively allows
users to be ferried around by anyone, regardless of whether they
have a professional licence.
Services provided by Uber through its UberPop app
"interfere with the taxi service orgainsed by companies and
provided by licence holders," said Judge Claudio Marangoni,
upholding a petition by associations representing taxi drivers
who have long been protesting against the company they fear is
co-opting their livelihood while sidestepping regulations.
The request "for transportation sent by the user through
the UberPop app, besides being a technical procedure already in
use by taxi cooperatives, can apparently be totally assimilated
to the radio taxi service", Marangoni wrote in his ruling.
Marangoni also cited the "adverse effects" of UberPop for
taxi drivers linked to the expected increase in fares during the
course of Expo Milan 2015.
"It's a great victory and we didn't do it just for
ourselves and our jobs, but also for the safety of customers,"
said taxi union representative Pietro Gagliardi.
"We are truly satisfied with the result," said Marco
Giustiniani, a lawyer acting on behalf of the taxi adriver
associations that filed the petition.
"The Milan court has fully understood the situation,
despite its complexity," he added.
"In regards to UberPop the Milan court has borne me out: it
is unfair competition with taxi drivers. I said it was illegal.
The law and common sense prevail," said former transport
minister Maurizio Lupi.
Drivers expressed criticism of the public institutions,
however.
"They should have been the ones to help us, not the
judges," said a group of taxi drivers in Milan.
"We had to go to court for someone to take a decision, no
one wanted to take this responsibility," Gagliardi added.
"Before going to court we petitioned the municipal and
regional authorities and the government, to no avail," he said.
Meanwhile consumer association Codacons reacted negatively
to the ban, saying it represented "major damage" to consumers.
"It limits competition and reduces the choice for
citizens," Codacons said.
"It is inconceivable that a modern country should be
deprived of innovative systems such as Uber, which respond to
market demand and exploit the new possibilities offered by
technology," Codacons President Carlo Rienzi said.
UberPop has already been banned in Spain and the
Netherlands, while the company is appealing against similar
interdictions in Germany and France.
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