Italy: Court caves to protests and bans Uber

When the Italian Parliament attempted to liberalize its licensing laws to allow greater competition for cabs, the taxi union responded by staging a week-long, often violent strike in late February. Thousands of taxi drivers from around the country descended on Rome, parking in front of the Parliament building and threatening providers of alternative ride services such as Uber.

The Parliament eventually caved to the taxi drivers’ demands promised swift action to roll back liberalization of its transportation laws.

Now, the Italian court has ruled in favor of the taxi drivers who filed a suit against Uber, claiming it represented “unfair competition.” Uber is no longer allowed to use any of its apps — including UberBlack, Uber LUX, X, and Select — and it has been banned from promoting or advertising its services at all within the country.

Uber will also have to pay a fine of 10,000 euro and every driver 100 euros per day of delay in the fulfillment of the order after the tenth day following notification of the decision of the Court.

Finally, the Rome court sentenced Uber to pay the costs of the legal proceedings brought by the taxi drivers.

Full Content: Repubblica

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