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Description

In June 2024, the Spanish Constitutional Court has decided that Madrid's controversial private hire platform (VTC) Law 5/2022, of June 9, amending Law 20/1998, of 27 November, on the Planning and Coordination of Urban Transport of the Community of Madrid, is legal.

The background of this court decision is that all Spanish communities have been required to pass their own VTC laws in 2022. Madrid did so in June of 2022, and its law stood out as it is considered to be the most favourable towards platforms. The law places almost no restrictions on the operations of VTCs in Madrid. The only requirement laid out in the law is that rides need to be booked in advance, and that the respective driver must have a license. However, there is a loophole for drivers to operate without a license, as there are no sanctions in place if this requirement is violated. The law also specified that certain activities were reserved for taxis only, including picking up passengers along the way and making stops during the ride.

As a result, Madrid's VTC law was contested by the Professional Taxi Association of Madrid, the taxi advocacy organisation Taxi project, as well as 50 members of the regional parliament belonging to the Confederal Parliamentary Groups of Unidas Podemos-En Comú Podem-Galicia en Común, Republicano, EH Bildu, Plural and Mixto. They made the claim that the law breached the principle of municipal autonomy, the principle of equality as well as the constitution.

The court has unanimously found this to not be the case, rejecting all three claims of breach. The judges found that the arguments did not suffice to challenge the law.

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Additional metadata

Keywords

sector aspects, competition, lobbying

Actors

Government, Court

Sector

Transportation and storage

Sources

• The Constitutional Court endorses the reform of the law of the Community of Madrid that allows the activities of VTC vehicles (6 June 2024)

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