By Inti Landauro
MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish government is set to impose new restrictions on car drivers working with ride-hailing apps such as Uber after the European Union’s top court overturned a set of local curbs in Barcelona, a draft document seen by Reuters showed.
The cabinet could approve the decree as early as on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the matter, allowing regional authorities to force drivers of private cars for hire to respect additional criteria to be able to operate in specific areas.
These criteria will have to be justified by reasons such as environmental protection, road safety or sustainability of “public interest services” such as common taxis, said the draft, which is not dated.
A transport ministry spokesperson said the government was planning to adopt a new set of regulations, although it was not clear if they would be immediately introduced by decree.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, additional reporting by Belen Carreno, editing by Andrei Khalip)
