The Balearic Government is trying to contain the impact of the ruling of the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) that forces it to process again 600 applications for VTC licenses in Mallorca. While studying whether to appeal the ruling, the Ministry of Mobility insists that its goal remains to avoid “a massive entry of VTC” and claims the new legal framework designed in this legislature.
According to the sentence to which La Voz de Ibiza has had access, the TSJIB annuls the resolution of the previous Govern that rejected the six requests (of 100 licenses each) and orders to backtrack the file so that they are re-examined without applying the ratio of 12.6 cabs for each VTC contained in Decree 43/2014. The court also adds that these applications, submitted before 2024, are not affected by the moratorium on new licenses contained in Law 1/2024, which does suspend the granting of new authorizations submitted thereafter.
“Not good news.”
Sources from the Directorate General of Mobility have explained to this media that “the Govern is studying the different means of recourse, as well as the necessary complementary measures in its objective of avoiding a massive entry of VTCs taking into account the circumstances of the islands”.
From the Govern have stressed that the ruling “forces to process, which does not imply granting these applications for 600 VTC authorizations that were denied by the previous Govern del Pacte”. Thus, the Executive stresses that the ruling points out to assess the requirements one by one before delivering these new authorizations.
The same sources admit that “it is not good news that there is a sentence that forces to process 600 licenses again”. However, from Mobility they have been optimistic: “During these two years of legislature, with this Govern, we have done our homework, so we are confident that our islands, a limited and protected island territory, will have the cab and VTC licenses it needs, because of its insularity and its seasonality”.
In turn, the Conselleria has remarked that it will work to ensure that each island has “licenses that provide service only on the island where they are domiciled, and that each island territory determines the number of licenses” based on the needs of residents and visitors, the existence of hospitals, ports and airports, regular public transport and environmental and road congestion criteria, among others.
A ruling against fixed ratios and a regulation designed to save them
The ruling of the TSJIB comes after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) overturned in 2023 the famous ratio 1 VTC for every 30 cabs applied in Barcelona when it is not justified by objective criteria of transport and public space management. The European high court considered that limiting the number of authorizations only on the basis of the number of cabs violates the freedom of establishment if it is not supported by “overriding reasons of general interest”.
The new Balearic cab and VTC regulation, which is in its final stages of processing, tries to adapt to this scenario: it establishes objective criteria to determine how many licenses can be granted in each of the modalities. Instead of a rigid ceiling such as 1/30 or 12.6:1, the draft sets
According to the Govern, this method will be a tool that will “stop the granting of new VTC licenses” to large platforms, while at the same time it aims to shield itself against future challenges by companies that invoke European jurisprudence.
“Every VTC on its own island”.
The Govern’s statements are in line with the draft unified decree for cabs and VTC. As explained by La Voz de Ibiza, once the new regulation comes into force, VTCs will only be able to operate on the island for which they have authorization. The text contemplates “only one month for possible changes of domicile”.
So far, the current regulations allow operating in other islands of the archipelago, something especially relevant if we take into account that in the Balearic Islands there are already 768 VTC licenses granted and more than half of them (about 400) are from Ibiza.
The sentence of Mobility on “licenses that provide service only on the island where they are domiciled” is aligned with this change: the Govern aspires that each authorization is effectively associated with a territory and that the island councils are the ones who set the ceiling of licenses per island, based on studies of needs and with periodic reviews.
The cab, on guard
According to La Voz de Ibiza, from the Independent Taxi Federation of the Balearic Islands (FITIB), the sentence fell as “very bad news”. The sector expects to hold several meetings in the coming weeks to follow the case closely.
From the Balearic federation have pointed out that “there are tools” to contain a flood of VTC licenses. And they have relied on the political will of the Govern, which has stated on numerous occasions that it seeks to avoid a growth in the supply of platforms like Uber to the detriment of cab activity.
