Egypt: Court suspends Uber and Careem ban April 7 /update 1

Event

On Saturday, April 7, the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters ordered the suspension of an earlier ruling that revoked the licenses of ride-share companies Uber and Careem. The companies will be allowed to continue to operate until a higher court rules on the issue.

Egypt’s Administrative Court had initially ordered the ride-share companies to suspend operations on March 20. However, both Careem and Uber had continued operating.

Context

Uber has been active in Egypt since 2014, with up to 4 million users. According to company officials, Egypt is Uber’s largest market in the Middle East and had over 157,000 drivers signed in 2017. Taxi drivers claim that Uber and Careem are illegal because the private vehicles are not registered as taxis and the drivers do not pay related taxes. The regular taxi drivers also claim that the ride-share companies have decreased their standard of living due to competition. The court suspended the licenses for both companies after ruling in favor of a group of taxi drivers that filed a lawsuit in March 2017. According to judicial sources, both companies have 60 days to appeal the ruling. Uber released a statement saying that it plans to file an appeal.

Advice

Individuals in Egypt are advised to keep abreast of the situation.