France is entitled to bring criminal proceedings against local managers of ride-hailing app Uber for running an illegal taxi service, the EU top court ruled on Tuesday, dealing the Silicon Valley start-up another legal setback, Reuters reports.
“Member states may prohibit and punish, as a matter of criminal law, the illegal exercise of transport activities in the context of the UberPOP service, without notifying the Commission in advance of the draft legislation,” the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) said in a statement.
The case concerned Uber’s use of unlicensed drivers as part of its UberPOP service in France, which has since been suspended.