Abstract
The following Chapter deals with the topic of protecting the rights of passengers arranging their transport by using services provided by Uber. Taking into account the fact that Uber, according to the relevant ECJ decisions, provides services in the field of transport as well as the fact that taxi passengers are consumers too, Chapter briefly elaborates protection of these passengers established by the transport regulations as well as by the consumer legislation. It is pointed out that at the moment there is no applicable EU transport legislation regulating taxi passenger rights. Therefore, this topic is regulated under the sources of national transport legislation adopted in the Member States. Uber has to obey national ius cogens regulating the performing of his services. It has to be on the principles of professionalism, licensing, registration and technical and personal education and authorization. On the other hand, some Uber Terms and Conditions may be treated as unfair and as such, they are not in line with the EU consumer protection legislation. Legislative action should be taken by the national legislators in different states (and hopefully soon by the EU legislator) in order to precisely regulate the rights of the users of services provided by Uber. There are examples of the amendment of the Uber Terms motivated by the amendment of the national taxi transport legislation in a specific state where Uber provide his services. That is the way to make Uber’s Terms and Conditions more consumer-friendly.
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- 1.
As an example of definition of the consumer in the EU law: Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, OJ L 95, 21.4.1993, p. 29–34, Art. 2(b).
- 2.
In some specific services, like in the case of so-called “package-arrangement”, transport service may be combined with some other service (for example with accommodation or entertainment) and offered to a traveller. In such cases, sources of other branches of law, like tourist law, may be applicable too. But even then, the basic rule is that regarding the rights and liabilities arising out of transport service which makes a part of such package-arrangement, specific rules of transportation law shall be primarily applied.
- 3.
For the purposes of this Chapter, persons arranging their taxi transportation by using services supplied by Uber shall be called “passengers” although they can be (and sometimes are) called “users”, “riders”, “consumers” etc. However, the term “passenger” is selected due to the fact that such persons use Uber services in the process of arranging taxi transportation. The main ratio of using Uber services, from such person’s point of view, is to be transported from the point A to the point B. It is the same ratio like in carriage performed by any other mean of transport (aircraft, ship, bus, and railway). Laws regulating these types of transport use the term “passenger” in order to identify such a person. Thus, it seems appropriate to use the same term for the person transported by taxi. Furthermore, this Chapter shall elaborate on the protection of taxi passengers using Uber services. Uber offers various types of services aimed at arranging taxi transportation or hiring a car with the driver (UberX, UberPOP, UberBlack …). However, this analysis is limited to features which may be applied mutatis mutandis to different Uber services related to the transport of passengers.
- 4.
As an example, such Taxi Bill of Rights applies in Canada (British Columbia).
- 5.
According to CRTA, Law on Obligations shall be applicable regarding the question of the existence of the transport agent liability.
- 6.
This is the compulsory liability insurance for all car users. It is regulated in accordance with the relevant EU Directive on motor liability insurance. Croatian insurance companies consider that using a vehicle in order to provide taxi services represents a special additional risk. Therefore, large number of insurance companies calculate higher insurance premium for taxi vehicles liability comparing to the liability insurance in respect of vehicles which are not used for the passenger transport. The Croatian Compulsory Traffic Insurance Act requires from the (inter alia) taxi driver to arrange personal accident insurance on behalf of the passengers.
- 7.
Council Directive 93/113/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts, OJ L 95, 21.4.1993.
- 8.
Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’), OJ L 149, 11.6.2005.
- 9.
Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council Text with EEA relevance, OJ L 304, 22.11.2011.
- 10.
However, it is recommended for the passenger to contact Uber web page for drivers asking for help and to request refund due to poor performance of the taxi services (Uber 2019).
- 11.
Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC, OJ L 165, 18.6.2013.
- 12.
Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I), OJ L 177, 4.7.2008.
- 13.
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation), OJ L 119, 4.5.2016.
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Marin, J. (2020). Passengers’ Rights and Consumer Protection. In: Marin, J., Petrović, S., Mudrić, M., Lisičar, H. (eds) Uber—Brave New Service or Unfair Competition. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 76. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31535-1_7
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