MDM Legal, acting on behalf of taxi request and aggregator mobile app Star Taxi, has persuaded the Bucharest Court of Appeal to suspend a decision of the Bucharest General Council and, in a later rulling, notify and prompt the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine whether that decision conflicts with EU law.
The Court of Appeal's decision involves a December 2017 decision by the Bucharest General Council stating that only authorized carriers with dispatch services authorized by the Municipality of Bucharest would be able to carry out taxi transport activities in the Romanian capital.
Commenting on the case, MDM Legal Partner Cristian Bacanu commented: "In 2017, the Bucharest Municipality decided to prohibit the use of smart phone apps designed to order taxis. Such a decision is in my opinion illegal since the EU law protects all information society service providers. Firstly, we have the Directive 2000/31/CE which states that such providers are exempt from any authorizations. Secondly, we have the Directive 2015/1535/EU which states that any such national decision should be notified in advance to the European Commission (and this was not done by the Municipality). Thirdly, we have the Directive 2006/123/CE regarding the freedom of services in the European Union.”
The MDM Legal team that was led by Bacanu included Senior Associate Alexandra Gheorghiu and Associate Larisa Varzariu.
