Court prohibits driving service over X in Germany

The car broker Uber may no longer use his app in Germany to hire a car. The service UberX violates the passenger transport law, it says in a preliminary injunction of the district court of Cologne. A Cologne taxi operator had sued.

For years Uber and representatives of the taxi industry have been arguing again and again before German courts. The taxi drivers point out that they must comply with legal requirements - such as the obligation to transport even on short journeys. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for Uber competitors to gain free rein through liberalization of the market, they argue.

The service Uber Pop, where individuals in their cars could drive passengers for a fee, was banned some years ago. With UberX, the company made a new attempt to gain a foothold in Germany - rental cars, which are conveyed via this app function, are now on the move in major cities such as Berlin, Dusseldorf and Cologne.

Court complains direct awarding to drivers

UberX offers customers similar services as long-established taxi operators. However, Uber rental cars are cheaper than the competitors with the bright yellow sign on the roof. Therefore, the taxi industry sees the service as a strong competitor.

In the current lawsuit, the crucial question was how Uber drivers get their orders. The Passenger Transportation Act stipulates, among other things, that car hire drivers - in contrast to taxis - may only carry out transport orders "that have been received at the company headquarters or in the home of the entrepreneur".

Although Uber writes to its business partners - hire car companies using the Uber app - that the transaction must be carried out in accordance with the law. However, in its ruling, the court complained that a driver could independently accept a transport contract, that is, regardless of instructions from the company headquarters. This violates the passenger transport law.

Uber does not want to comment on the decision

Actually, the Cologne Regional Court had already ruled against Uber in July. The decision could not be delivered to the European headquarters of the US company in Amsterdam for a long time. Because the ban applies only from the time of delivery, there was a delay.

As a spokeswoman of the court said, failed a first delivery attempt at a missing translation of the German-language document. The rejection of the assumption is formally permissible. Whether a second delivery attempt including Dutch version has now worked, it is not known.

Uber did not want to comment on the court decision reports. "Should such a document be delivered, one would of course examine this," said a company spokesman. He did not want to give any further information.

According to information from the news agency dpa, Uber was not involved in the proceedings and could not defend himself in court. The court order stated that the injunction had been issued "because of the urgency without oral proceedings and by the chairman instead of the trial court".

The plaintiff is a member of the Taxi-Ruf organization, for which around 1100 taxis are traveling in Cologne. An organization spokesman accused Uber of delaying delivery. It is a nonsense that the company still uses the judicially prohibited UberX function.

In addition to UberX, the US company's app has other offerings that have not been banned, such as the placement of classic taxis whose drivers work with the US company.