Operators began blocking the site Uber in Portugal – publico

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         

The telecom operators began blocking site Uber in Portugal, thus fulfilling what had been determined by a decision of the District Court of Lisbon. The company confirms the lock but claims that its mobile application, which provides access to a private shuttle service, continues operating in Lisbon and Porto.

                     

                          In a note sent to PUBLIC, the Uber indicates that after the court decision published on April 28, the “telecom operators in Portugal were notified to block access to site www.uber.com “. In court decision April was given the “closure and ban in Portugal, the provision and procurement of passenger transport service on cars, under the Uber denomination, or any other, it is called with identical purposes.” Following the decision, the Portuguese representation of the company confirms that it is “possible that site Uber is not available on some networks.”

On the afternoon of Monday, anyone who tried to enter the site , for example, through the US received the message “ site you want to access is blocked following the fulfillment of a court order. “

The Uber also said that, despite the blockade site in Portugal, its mobile application” will not be affected in Lisbon and Port “. In fact, by 15h30 on Monday, the app still active and could create a new user account. In practice, this may indicate that the services available through the app Uber continue to be provided.

The company says it “expects a court ruling as soon as possible order to serve its partners and users in Portugal in the best way. ” The Uber still awaiting a court ruling that the defense presented to rebut the decision of the District Court of Lisbon, which accepted the appeal presented by the National Association of Road Carriers for Passenger Cars (ANTRAL) to demand that the activities of Uber were prohibited in Portugal by violation of the rules of access and exercise of activity and competition.

The head of the company in Portugal, Rui Bento, explained the day they became public that had presented a challenge that the notification of the Uber would have to suspend its activities in the country did not cover the platform’s operation in Portugal.

On 20 May, the ANTRAL announced it would proceed with a case concerning the Uber this time against the representative of Portugal empresaem. As president of the association, Florencio de Almeida, Rui Bento made false statements about the activities of the Uber nationally so be brought to justice.

Two days after the decision in favor of ANTRAL, the head of Uber to Europe, Mark MacGann, told Lusa, accused the association of having “manipulated” the legal process in Portugal to manage to get a “judge nationally to violate European law.” The official admitted even file a complaint against Portugal at the European Commission, similar to what the company has done against Germany and France, countries also faced the challenge of taxi drivers’ associations.

In Portugal, it is During a public petition want the Uber in Portugal, the title which gives its name to a page created on Facebook. These demonstrations were recently commented to PUBLIC by Rui Bento. In email , the official believes that such support takes the Uber to conclude that their service “not only has contributed to bring a useful service and that meets the mobility needs of the people of Lisbon and Porto, but also that there is consensus on the need for an update of the existing regulation, not only for new technologies and business models that come to modernize the transport sector, as for existing operators “.