Spain’s Supreme Court rules against Canarian restrictions on Uber-style services

A Spanish Supreme Court judgement could open the way for “ride-sharing” businesses such as Uber and Cabify to operate on the Canary Islands.

The court declared that a Canarian law from 2014 which limits VTCs (transport vehicles with drivers) to one for every 30 official taxis was in contradiction with EU directives on freedom of establishment.

The decision will allow the company which brought the case to operate 200 VTCs in Gran Canaria.

Gran Canaria’s Cabildo argued that it was “defending the economic viability of taxis” by refusing the VTC licences, and that its decision was also based on “environmental protection, the capacity of island roads, and limiting the number of vehicles.”

However, the court ruled that this could be achieved by restricting the zones and times in which VTCs could operate, or establishing emissions limits.