Minister Ťok: Uber is a taxi service and needs a license

Minister Ťok: Uber is a taxi service and needs a license
20/12/2017Press releases

The European Court of Justice ruled in today's ruling that Uber is a transport service which, under the current wording of EU law, the member states can regulate. The ruling also says that Uber providers must have the appropriate trade licence and comply with other statutory conditions. This confirmed the long-term opinion of the Ministry of Transport. Taxi services provided through modern applications must follows rules laid down by the Road Transport Act. The Ministry already has a proposal how to allow these new services to function in a legal way.

Minister Ťok: Uber is a taxi service and needs a license
"In its decision the European Court of Justice confirms our opinion that transportation providers using the Uber application and similar applications are subject to the taxi service and need a licence. On the other hand, we cannot ban modern services and go back to the last century. Therefore, we are working on the proposal that there will be alternatives to taximeters as such mobile applications," says the Minister of Transport Dan Ťok about the court's decision.

According to the Minister of Transport, the aim of the proposal is not to cancel taximeters. Taxi drivers who offer their service on the street and will want to take advantage of stamps or priority lanes in cities will will have the TAXI identification and the taximeter will count the price. When using the applications, it is sufficient to label the car for commercial transportation with a sticker, just like in some European countries. 

"It will be possible to set the price before the ride through a mobile application, where the customer chooses the service and agrees with the agreed final price. When registering, the passengers would enter their identification details and an e-mail address to which they will receive the travel document," the minister explains.

Therefore, mobile applications will not count the mileage. They shall enable the approval of the transportation conditions in advance in the electronic way. Requiring the knowledge of topography is not really necessary these days when we have navigation systems.

The minister believes that a transportation provider using Uber-like applications should have the same obligations as any other taxi provider. The transportation provider will have to keep the corresponding authorisation and the registered vehicle. The driver will then have to keep the taxi driver licence. And a vehicle for commercial transportation will for instance be marked with a sticker.

According to the judgement of the European Court of Justice, it will be possible to established obligations by national law for Uber and other taxi service brokers. As part of the amendment to the Road Transportation Act, it will be possible to modify the status of the broker which will have the obligation to broker legal taxi services and store and provide data on the rides brokered. Further details can only be published after the full text of the judgement has been studied.

The resort has been working on the preparation of the basic principles of the new legislation since the beginning of the year with the representatives of other resorts and operators of conventional as well as alternative taxi services. The members of the working groups presented in November their remarks on the ministry's proposal. Now the office is preparing the detailed wording of the amendment to the law which it wants to submit next year.



 
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