Uber take on Belgium Taxi Federation in court over legality of 'UberX' service

Image credit: TaxiPoint

Ride-sharing giants Uber are set to face off against the Belgium Taxi Federation (FeBet) today (Friday 11 September) at the Brussels Court of Appeals.

FeBet are appealing an earlier decision that ruled Uber's 'UberX' service does comply with Brussels' legal framework.

UberX connects passengers with drivers holding a LVC licence (which stands for Location de Voiture avec Chauffeur, or rental of a car with a driver), a service which FeBet have always claimed to be breaking regulatory rules.

Their claims were dismissed on 16 January 2019, when the francophone Commercial Court of Brussels rejected all actions against Uber and confirmed that its UberX service complies with the Brussels legislation on the paid transport of persons.

The judge had established that Uber does not provide a transportation service and therefore the service offered by a driver via the Uber application cannot be considered as a taxi service.

FeBet considered that this argument of the court was not correct and appealed.

The trial will be held on Friday and continue on 18 and 25 September and 2 October.