Uber controversy | A change of mind: ride-hailing services not totally illegal in Macau

A customer holds a phone displaying the Uber Technologies Inc. car service taxi application logo

In a recent reply to the Times, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) acknowledged that, according to Macau law, “taxi hailing applications are not illegal. What is illegal [is] the collaboration between such applications and unauthorized parties to run a fare-charging passenger transport service.”
The reply follows new rules enforced in mainland China regarding ride-sharing applications. Beijing instructed local officials to promote the booming industry, thus confirming the legal status of companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Didi Chuxing, following run-ins with regulators.
The decision from the government’s cabinet set guidelines for registration, fares, employment of drivers, and payments. Local authorities will decide on the details for each city.
In the reply to the Times, DSAT mentioned that it has “also noticed the newly released national guidelines on the regulations on online ride-sharing services in China.”
“With the gaining popularity of smartphones and the increasing need for online taxi hailing services, when granting the special taxi license concession, the government required that the concessionaire should develop other ways of hailing; such as mobile applications besides providing on-call taxi services (including immediate and advanced booking), in order to respond to the needs of the members of the public,” DSAT noted.
Such a reply opens the door to a scenario that until now had been discarded by both the police and the transport authorities.
The Public Security Police Force (PSP) stated last week that “we keep paying attention to the ride-hailing problem [in the territory] and continue to fight illegal operations as, according to the Macau law, it is not legal to operate such a service because of the design of the app and the business model […] except if the vehicle is a registered taxi [or similar] and if the driver is a registered taxi driver [or similar].”
Mainland regulators last year banned Uber, Didi Chuxing and other competitors from using drivers without taxi licenses as the services adapted by working through vehicle-rental companies.
The measure came after taxi drivers protested the unfair competition from such services, leading the authorities to perform several police raids on Uber offices in a number of Chinese cities that were accused of operating unlicensed taxi services.
At a press conference last week, the police force also presented the most recent data on the prosecution cases filed against the referred service.
The police force claims that from January to July this year, a total of 413 prosecutions were filed against ride-hailing services, followed by 286 cases against the mobile app company.
During the same period, PSP reportedly fined taxi drivers for 860 cases of overcharging and 883 cases of refusal of transportation.
These 1,743 cases represent 71 percent of the 2455 cases filed during the first seven months of this year.

November: Uber is ‘illegal’, said Alexis Tam

DSAT’s stance on ride-hailing services seems to differ from statements by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam. Back in November, Tam declared that he does “not agree with the provision of transport services in private vehicles by Uber,” stating that this activity “violates the law and, therefore, is illegal.”
The secretary added that the government would continue to oppose these activities, further stating that “the tourism sector is in line with this decision.”

Didi sees new regulations as a ‘milestone’

The new regulations enforced last month in the mainland were classified by the market leader Didi as a “milestone in China’s endeavor toward steady and healthy development of the rideshare industry,” the company said in a statement.
The document considers different types of labor agreements with drivers – who had previously been required to sign contracts with companies as fully-fledged employees – and drops the proposal to limit drivers to working for no more than two ride-hailing companies.
The implementation of such measures saw immediate results just a few days after with the acquisition of Uber China by rival Didi Chuxing last week.
According to Bloomberg, Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick decided to call off the war, agreeing to a deal in which the local market leader acquired Uber’s China operations in return for a seat on Didi’s board and a slice of the Chinese company.
As Kalanick said at the time of Uber’s withdrawal announcement, “U.S. technology companies struggle to crack [China’s] code.”