According to reports, the Madrid municipal government filed a survey request with the Spanish antitrust authorities last week, hoping to investigate the new low-cost airport shuttle service by Uber. They suspect that this service involves unfair competition. Uber has just returned to the Madrid market, after a ban on it in Spain.
Uber Spain
Uber’s airport service is mainly a transfer service between Madrid’s Barajas International Airport and the city center. The one-way price for this service is € 15 to € 29. In contrast, Madrid’s taxi fare is generally 30 euros, so it is clear that many customers out of the airport will choose Uber, which to the Madrid government seems to have unfair competition factors. The Madrid government believes that Uber’s services in the airport and the city center are below operating costs, and the purpose of doing so is clearly to have an unfair competition to obtain users. Now Uber’s approach is likely to violate many of the terms of unfair competition and consumer rights law.
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Earlier this month, the EU Supreme Court spokesman said in an interview, the French side will once again probe allegations against Uber. They think Uber in France has an illegal operation of taxi services. Last year, a court in Lille, France, filed a lawsuit against Uber’s illegal operations, mainly related to Uber Pop.
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It is reported that Uber Pop is a service that allows passengers to keep in touch with drivers who are not professional or even without a driver’s license. But in Uber’s view, the legal basis for accusing them involves “information society services” or broader internet companies, but for the EU Supreme Court, this is not the basis for judging whether Uber has been illegally operating. Maciej Szpunar, general counsel of the Supreme Court of the European Union, said in a statement last week that EU member states may ban and punish illegal acts of traffic such as Uber Pop without having to inform the committee in advance.However, this opinion does not have any legal effect.
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Uber keeps running into problems every now and then. Let’s see if they will ever be able to get their act together.
