Case C-434/15: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 20 December 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Barcelona — Spain) — Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi v Uber Systems Spain SL (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Article 56 TFEU — Article 58(1) TFEU — Services in the field of transport — Directive 2006/123/EC — Services in the internal market — Directive 2000/31/EC — Directive 98/34/EC — Information society services — Intermediation service to connect, by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration, non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys — Requirement for authorisation)
Date: 2017-12-20
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: approximation of laws, carriage of passengers, electronic commerce, freedom to provide services, restriction on competition, right of establishment, single market, taxi, trade intermediary








C_2018072EN.01000201.xml










26.2.2018   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 72/2





Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 20 December 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Barcelona — Spain) — Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi v Uber Systems Spain SL
(Case C-434/15) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Article 56 TFEU - Article 58(1) TFEU - Services in the field of transport - Directive 2006/123/EC - Services in the internal market - Directive 2000/31/EC - Directive 98/34/EC - Information society services - Intermediation service to connect, by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration, non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys - Requirement for authorisation))
(2018/C 072/02)
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 3 de Barcelona

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi

Defendant: Uber Systems Spain SL

Operative part of the judgment

Article 56 TFEU, read together with Article 58(1) TFEU, as well as Article 2(2)(d) of Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market, and Article 1(2) of Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and of Council of 20 July 1998, to which Article 2(a) of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’) refers, must be interpreted as meaning that an intermediation service such as that at issue in the main proceedings, the purpose of which is to connect, by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration, non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys, must be regarded as being inherently linked to a transport service and, accordingly, must be classified as ‘a service in the field of transport’ within the meaning of Article 58(1) TFEU. Consequently, such a service must be excluded from the scope of Article 56 TFEU, Directive 2006/123 and Directive 2000/31.


(1)  OJ C 363, 3.11.2015.