On 3 December, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that a service that puts taxi passengers directly in touch with taxi drivers by means of an electronic application constitutes an information society service. As such it does not form an integral part of an overall service, regarding which the principal component is provision of transport.
CJEU additionally stated that the E-Commerce Directive does not preclude the application, to the provider of an information society service, of an authorization scheme previously applicable to providers of economically equivalent services that do not constitute information society services.
The decision resembles the one in the Airbnb Ireland case from January 2020, where the CJEU held that the service provided by Airbnb (enabling hosts to offer accommodation and consumers to book it) is an information society service and should benefit from the country of origin principle envisaged in the E-Commerce Directive. The consistent thread of argumentation by the CJEU will also have an impact on other similar platforms and services.
