UberPop app banned in Italy

(ANSA) - Milan, May 26 - A Milan court on Tuesday placed a nationwide ban on Uber's controversial UberPop app on grounds of unfair competition with regular taxi drivers. Judge Claudio Marangoni ordered the American multinational company to refrain from operating its lower-cost service, which effectively allows users to be ferried around by anyone, regardless of whether they have a professional licence.
    In issuing the ban the court upheld an appeal by associations representing taxi drivers who have long complained about Uber's operations in Italy.
    Uber's operations through the UberPop app "interfere with the taxi service orgainsed by companies and provided by licence holders," Judge Marangoni said in his ruling. The problem was compounded by the increase in potential fares during Milan Expo 2015, he added. "It's a great victory and we didn't do it just for ourselves and our work but also for the safety of customers," said taxi union representative Pietro Gagliardi, adding however that it should have been the public institutions that took action.
    "They should have been the ones to help us, not the judges," said a group of taxi drivers in Milan.
    Meanwhile consumer association Codacons reacted negatively to the ban, saying it represented "major damage" to consumers. "It restricts competition and reduces the choice for citizens," Codacons said. "It is unthinkable 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.