By Damien Geradin –
This paper addresses some of the misconceptions about the nature of Uber’s services, as well as encouraging a facts-based approach to the regulation of these services. Such a facts-based approach is particularly important at a time where the CJEU has been asked to deliver a preliminary ruling on questions related to the legal nature of Uber’s services. Moreover, the EU seems at a cross-road with innovative, forward-looking regulations being adopted in some Member States, which allow Uber to offer its services, while ensuring that the public interest is preserved. This paper also seeks to show that Uber services do not have to be labelled as “transport services,” to be subject to regulation. Under EU law, intermediation services can already be subject to non-discriminatory and proportionate regulatory frameworks designed to protect the public interest.
