BREAKING: AG Szpunar says that Uber is a transport activity, not an information society service
Uber or taxi? Is Uber a transport activity or an information society service? Why does the answer to this matter? Why all this matter? To the first question, this morning Advocate General (AG) Szpunar has provided a response in his Opinion in Asociación Profesional Élite Taxi v Uber Systems Spain , C-434/15 , a reference for a preliminary ruling from Spain (Juzgado Mercantil No 3 de Barcelona). The answer to the second question is that - depending on how Uber is classified - it can or cannot enjoy one of the founding freedoms of the EU internal market: the freedom to provide services. Article 2(2) of the Service Directive , in fact, excludes transport activities from the scope of the directive. However if Uber was classified as an intermediary between the owner of a vehicle and a person who needs to make a journey within a city, then it could be regarded as an information society service. As such, it could enjoy the freedom to provide its service...