The ban on Uber has been lifted in Germany

Sep 16, 2014 14:56 GMT  ·  By

A court in Frankfurt has decided to lift the ban on taxi service Uber, although this is only a partial win for the company.

The service will continue its activity in Germany after the temporary injunction against the American company was lifted. Even though the company is now once more free to operate, the court said that the original injunction was lawful, letting room for future such moves to take place.

Uber allows passengers to summon cars by using an app on their smartphones for prices that are lower than those practiced by taxi companies. This has caused quite a bit of uproar in the countries and towns where it entered the market, with unions protesting against them as business slowed down considerably.

That being said, the taxi union in Germany will now have to go to trial against Uber if it wants to put a stop to the service in their area. They are accusing Uber of unfair competition, which means the matter will be closely looked into by the authorities.

Uber was banned for two weeks

The original ban came two weeks ago and focused on UberPop, the service that was launched earlier this year and involves drivers that aren’t directly employed by the company, but who are over the age of 21.

Drivers that are signed up for the classic Uber service are required to have valid driving licenses, local permits and to go through background checks before being allowed to pick up passengers.

The companies that sued Uber claimed that the Passenger Transport Act regulates the protection of both drivers and consumers, which can’t be easily overturned by the American company, regardless of what service it brings to the market.

“In Germany there’s insurance that applies to private drivers. But if your insurer learns that you are driving for an app and you want to make money on that, they say this is a multiple risk and refuse to pay insurance on that. Uber doesn’t care because security costs money,” said Taxi Deutschland’s spokesperson, Anja Floetenmeyer.

Uber was certain that the decision would be overturned even back then. The company’s spokesperson said at the time that they would appeal the decision and continue to operate in the country. “You cannot put brakes on progress,” he said at the time, insisting that Uber will just carry on offering the UberPop ridesharing services via its app.