EU: France’s continued resistance against Uber

France has faced continued resistance to Uber which is now being looked at by the EU. The New York Times recently reported on the scrutiny Uber drivers face from local authorities. Late last year, Parliament passed a law essentially making the service illegal.

The European Commission said on Thursday it had asked Paris for more information on a new French law on taxis and chauffeured cars following a complaint from mobile phone taxi-booking service Uber.

A number of European courts have banned Uber’s unlicensed taxi service, UberPOP. The latest ban came earlier this week in Milan.

France’s so-called Thevenoud law requires chauffeured cars to return to a base between fares, restricts their use of software to find clients in the street and banned unlicensed service, among other measures.

The Commission has written to the French government asking it for more information on the law, a Commission spokesman said.

“This latest letter is basically another nail in the coffin of an anti-consumer, anti-technology and archaically protectionist law,” Uber’s head of public policy Mark MacGann said on Thursday.

Ultimately Brussels could take France to court if it finds that the law breaks the EU treaties.

Full content: The New York Times

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