Uber does not compete unfairly with public transport

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

A ruling from Peru’s National Institute for the Defence of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi), states that Uber is a technology company and not a transport company dedicated to the placement of users with private mobility, and therefore the global company does not compete unfairly with public transport such as taxi services.

The ruling, which complements similar ones made before by competition authorities from other Latin American countries, ends a July 2018 lawsuit brought by the Association of Outraged Consumers of Peru alleging that Uber was conducting unfair competition against the country’s taxi services.

“The economic activity carried out through Uber’s digital platform is not considered a taxi service,” Indecopi decision says. “It consists of users (passengers) who can organize and plan private transport and/or logistics services with independent third-party providers of these services, ie with the driving partners (on the other side of the platform),” it adds.