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The Italian competition authority issued an opinion stressing the need to put in place a specific regulatory regime for services like Uber.
Few days ago the news came out that the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has issued an opinion on the long debated legality of public transportation services carried out by non-professional drivers through digital platforms accessible by smartphones and tablets.
According to the Authority, the use of services such as Uber, the worldwide well-known ridesharing service that through the homonymous app efficiently connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire,
“ensures a greater ease of use of the mobility service, a better response to a public that is often unsatisfied, as well as the consequent reduction of the costs applied to users, and, to the extent that it discourages the use of private means of transportation, a decongestion of urban traffic“.
These are the words used by the Authority to reason its favorable position towards these services, even when conducted by non-professional drivers such is the case of UberPop.
The development of Uber and similar apps has raised serious issue of interference with traditional services at a global level. Lately also the Court of Milan has expressed its opinion on this kind of services, ordering the blocking of UberPop throughout the national territory for the reason that this service was breaching the administrative rules regulating the taxi industry and representing an act of unfair competition.
In particular, the Court of Milan in its decision recognized that
“the activity in question cannot be carried out to the detriment of the primary public interest to protect the people’ safety, both with regard to the efficiency of the cars used and the suitability of drivers, and the adoption of adequate insurance coverage for people’s transport“.
Taking inspiration from this same statement, while recognizing – in the absence of an ad hoc legal framework – the legitimacy of these platforms, as non-scheduled private transportation services, the Authority calls for the adoption of a brand new “minimum” regulation for this “third genre” of service providers addressed to balance, on a side, effective competition and, on the other, road safety and security of passengers.
We will see if the Italian Parliament will accept the Authority’s challenge!
@GiulioCoraggio and @LallaBorelli
