Uber Banned in Italy

Global ride-hailing behemoth application Uber has been given 10 days notice to close operations across Italy, in a landmark ruling which hampers the company’s European expansion plans.

The court decision now forces the company to stop offering cars of all its different services in the country nor could it promote or advertise its services in Italy, Reuters reports.

The Italian court’s decision ruled in favor of a suit filed by Italy’s major traditional taxi associations earlier this year.

If the American company does not abide by the ruling they will have to pay a $10,600 fine for every day they continue to operate after the grace period has ended.

Uber Italy said in a statement they were “shocked” by the decision and they would appeal the ruling in the coming weeks.

This is not the first time the company has faced the Italian courts and lost, earlier in 2014 a court in Milan banned the user of the company’s super-low-cost UberPop application, throttling its profitability.  

The company has faced similar situations in several countries in Europe and Asia which see the company as unfair competition as drivers are not licensed cabbies and thus are not insured to carry passengers.

Meanwhile, following similar complaints in Iran, the Tehran Taxi Association that had lobbied for the partly foreign-owned Snapp and Tap30 to be banned for “illegal” operations, recently created their own ride-hailing app called Carpino.

Following the launch of the app, taxi drivers are now in favor of using the new technology, one driver told the Financial Tribune. The local cabbie said the Carpino application “is much more efficient than the traditional taxi intercom system.”