Taxis vs. VTC: UBER forced to modify the invoicing conditions of its partner drivers in France
Association Française des Taxis, which was accusing UBER BV and its French subsidiary UBER France SAS of applying a metered fare to the rides of its partner drivers – whereas, pursuant to the applicable legal provisions, VTC (private hire vehicles) must apply a flat-rate pricing, the amount of which must be previously communicated to the passengers, the metered-fare being exclusively reserved for the regulated activity of taxis– referred the case to the Commercial Court of Paris ruling in summary proceedings.
Although the order delivered by the Commercial Court on August 1st admitted that UBER’s commercial practice consisting in metered-fare offers may not be qualified as obviously unlawful, the judge ruling in summary proceedings however considered that the fact for UBER, acting as agent of its drivers, of establishing invoicing detailing the trip fare according to time and distance was infringing the applicable regulation thereby constituting an obviously unlawful disturbance.
The judge ruling in summary proceedings has consequently prohibited UBER from establishing and sending invoices to the clients of its partner drivers detailing the price of their fares according to their duration and the distance travelled subject to a penalty of €15,000 per infringement recorded.
UBER has already stated that it was lodging an appeal against this order.