The CNMC challenges the Euskadi decree to regulate VTCs
The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) challenged in plenary session on June 30 the decree of the Basque Government on transport vehicles with driver (VTC).
Basque regulations, from December 2019, regulate the provision of this service against unfair competition used by the Uber and Cabify platforms.
Since the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country suspended the regulations, they have remained inactive, so that the same principles that govern this service throughout Spain are maintained.
The regional executive, made up of a coalition between PNV and PSE-EE, rejected in February a request for modification by the CNMC on four articles.
He assumed that it was “the previous step”, in the words of the Government spokesman, Josu Erkoreka, to an appeal being presented.
The Basque Competition Authority had also requested to modify this legislation in the same sense, which will now have to be analyzed by the Contentious-Administrative Court.
The legislation
The articles of the Basque regulations that questioned Competition are 2, 3, 4 and 5, which refer to the obligation to pre-contract the service at least half an hour in advance and the prohibition of circulating in search of users.
They also required VTCs to remain parked with visible availability and to geolocate their vehicles before being hired.
Erkoreka argued then that this legislation was “legitimate, necessary and proportionate” in order to maintain “a public service of general interest, such as the taxi service, as well as to achieve a balance between the two types of urban transport service” .
The Executive wanted to “avoid fraud and maintain the survival and stability of the taxi service, which is a necessary public service of general interest.”
Uber entered Bilbao at the end of 2019 with about twenty cars.
The Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Transportation, Alfonso Gil, reacted by accusing the company of entering “at night and treachery.”
As a result of its implementation, the procedures of the Basque Government to prepare the new regulations were accelerated, which was agreed with the taxi sector and which resulted in legislation similar to that approved in cities such as Barcelona and Valencia, where Uber stopped operating.
The Basque Government filed an appeal against the decision of the Basque Court to paralyze the regulation. For this resource “additional documentation is still being provided,” according to sources from the Ministry of Economy.
All the news about the regulation of VTC in Bilbao
The CNMC challenges the Euskadi decree to regulate VTCs
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