The Council of State has vindicated the companies operating in the field of mini bus rental mainly on the islands and using uber bv technology, as the relevant decision of 15.5.2023 of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport was annulled.

Specifically, companies operating in the field of mini bus rental had appealed to the Council of State and requested that the decision of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure No. 154785/2023, by which the rules of the total rental of cars with driver through pre-booking are defined and the obligation of those who conclude uber by contracts to post in the digital register at least 2 hours before the start of the contract, be annulled as unconstitutional and illegal.

The contested decision was adopted pursuant to Law No 4093/2012, which allows travel agencies and car rental agencies to hire out mini buses with a driver by means of pre-booking up to 9 seats (including the driver) for a fee.

The owners of these cars are prohibited from soliciting customers when they are in traffic or in parking areas. These cars serve the transport needs of the islands during the summer season, except for Crete and Evia.

Now, the Fourth Chamber of the Council of State, chaired by Spyridoula Chrysikopoulou and with the State Counsel, Ourania Nikolarakou, as rapporteur, in its decision No 656/2024, accepted the application for annulment of the undertakings in question and annulled the contested decision.

The State Counsellors held that the regulation of Article 2(2) of the contested ministerial decision “has been put in breach of the terms of the authorisation of Law 4093/2012”.

Elsewhere in the decision of the Fourth Chamber, the State Counsellors underline that the necessity of the introduced restriction on the exercise of the relevant activity for the purpose of serving the prosecuted purpose is not substantiated.

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Therefore, the State Counsels add, “since it does not appear that the contested regulation of the Ministerial Decision serves the purpose pursued in a proportionate manner, the regulation has been introduced in breach of the terms of the relevant authorisation granted by Law 4093 of 2012”.

Finally, the Council of State rejected the intervention of the Panhellenic Federation of Professional Taxi and Car Owners’ Professionals in favour of the validity of the contested ministerial decision.