Tourism Law in Europe

DENMARK | MARIE JULL SØRENSEN AND KIM ØSTERGAARD 133 4. TRANSPORTATION 4.1. Taxi In Denmark, it is illegal to transport passengers for profit unless certain requirements are met24. Thus, it is not permitted to pick up passengers on the street or be hired through an app to drive passengers without meeting these requirements. Some of the requirements will be listed in this paragraph to get an idea of the level of regulation in this area. “For profit” is defined as getting paid more than enough to cover the expenses25. Recent legislation has removed the geographical restrictions, which means that the taxis can now drive and pick up passengers wherever they want. Each taxi has to be connected to driving offices in charge of distributing the rides26. The driving offices make sure that the official nationwide price limit on fares is not exceeded. Additionally, they have the duty to gather information on the fares. To run a taxi business, you need an authorisation27. To drive a taxi, you need a special taxi driver permit, which will be valid for five years28. To obtain the permit, you have to pass a qualification course consisting, among other parts, of a driving test.29 To be admitted to the qualification course, you have to pass a test proving you possess minimum skills in the Danish language30. Furthermore, you have to be 21 years old, hold a license for at least three years and be able to pass a health test31. Additionally, there is a requirement of being able to behave in a proper manner32. This is mainly evaluated after checking the criminal record. The car has to be equipped with certain technical features such as a fare meter and seat registration or similar registration, interior camera and an electronic traffic book33. On the outside of the car, a number of requirements also have to be met in order to identify the taxi as such and to identify the specific taxi34. Because of these requirements, companies like Uber cannot have drivers legally driving for them in Denmark if they do not meet all these requirements. During the short period Uber was 24 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 3 (Law on Taxis). 25 LFF 2017-10-04 nr 24 Forslag til Taxilov, kommentar til § 1 (Preparatory work for the proposal of Law on Taxis). 26 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 4, stk. 2 (Law on Taxis). 27 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 3 (Law on Taxis). 28 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 9 (Law on Taxis). 29 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 7 (Law on Taxis). 30 Bekendtgørelse 2019-11-26 nr. 1244 om taxikørsel, § 24, stk. 1, nr. 1 (Declaration on Taxi Driving). 31 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 7, stk. 2 (Law on Taxis). 32 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 5 (Law on Taxis). 33 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 25 (Law on Taxis). 34 Lov 2017-12-19 nr. 1538 Taxilov § 26 (Law on Taxis).

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