Belgium's Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected most of the appeals lodged against a 2022 Brussels ordinance reforming the taxi sector.
Operators of Uber-type vehicles, a taxi operator holding a permit issued by the Flemish Region, traditional taxi operators, and a dispatcher had sought the outright annulment of the ordinance of 9 June 2022.
This text reformed the individual transport services sector in the Brussels-Capital Region. It created a unified sector, while distinguishing between taxi ranks (traditional taxis), street taxis (Uber and other platforms) and ceremonial taxis, to which different rules apply. The ordinance also regulates the activities of dispatchers.
Transitional measures allowed holders of taxi permits granted under the previous legislation to continue working.
The Court largely rejected the complaints, particularly those directed against the impossibility for legal persons to obtain authorisations to operate taxis, the rules relating to dispatchers, and the transitional measures.
However, it ruled that a cooperation agreement should have been concluded between the regions on inter-regional journeys and annulled the provision of the 2022 ordinance that regulates this point "unilaterally." However, it maintained its effects until 30 June 2027 at the latest.
The applicants were critical of the conditions under which holders of Flemish or Walloon licenses could carry out taxi journeys in the Brussels-Capital Region. In their view, a cooperation agreement should first have been concluded between the three regions on that subject, in accordance with a provision of the special law of 8 August 1980 on institutional reforms.
The Court followed this line of argument, ruling that the issue must be regulated by a cooperation agreement.
