Uber Technologies Inc., the San Francisco based online transportation network service provider, has won a loosing of France's strict transport rules on Wednesday. The court has suppressed an earlier decree imposing ban on car services from displaying locations of the available vehicles, the most attributed feature of Uber app.
The car hailing company develops and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smart phones to submit a trip request. The request is then routed to Uber drivers who use their own cars. Uber operates under the Transportation Network Company label in the US.
The service has become available in 58 countries and 300 cities globally, as of May 28, 2015. Meanwhile, several other companies have copied its business model, a trend that has been referred as "Uberification".
Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court has declared part of a government decree that prohibited exhibition of available car locations, as null and void. The court has observed the location information providing as a social service. European Union law requires prior notification while restricting such services, reports Nasdaq. The court order on Uber's geo-localization service for potential customers exerts a huge blow to a law allegedly pushed by the taxi drivers. The law accuses the app based ride hailing company of applying unfair- means in competition. The court verdict also unearths violation of European Union ruling through targeting a specific service while upholding France's efforts in regulating car services, according to a report published in The Salt Lake Tribune. The verdict appears as a victory for Uber while challenging through a flurry of appeals both in France and at the EU level. The court has pronounced its order whenever Uber and two of its top executives in France are facing the court music with allegations for violating transit and data protection laws, reports MarketWatch while analyzing the perspectives. The new court decision is expected to stand as precedence for Uber while fighting for invalidating other controversial parts of the French transport law. However, Wednesday's verdict has left some other provisions of the same law unattended. Specifically the existing provisions, under which the Uber executives are facing trial, have remained non-reviewed probably considering sub-judicial aspects. However, the decision won't lead to a big change to Uber's smart phone application. In reality, the car hailing company has never postponed displaying cars on a map in France. The app has started showing already booked Uber cars as well as the available vehicles, sidestepping the earlier court verdict.
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