The process to approve the new cab and VTC regulations -including Uber- in the Balearic Islands has taken an unexpected turn. The Consell Consultiu has demanded the Govern to reopen the process of hearing and public information, appreciating that the text was“substantially modified” after the first public exhibition without offering the affected sectors the possibility of presenting new allegations. The decision puts the brakes on the calendar that the Autonomous Executive was handling and returns the decree to a phase that was considered to have been overcome.
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From the renewal of licenses to the size of the cars: how the regulation that will regulate the cab in Ibiza has changed
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Economy calls for a major reordering of the regulations that will define the future of cabs and Uber in Ibiza
The reopening of the process is contained in a resolution signed on December 19 by the Councilor for Housing, Territory and Mobility, José Luis Mateo, and published on the portal of citizen participation of the Govern. The new period of public exposure is articulated by way of urgency and will remain open until January 2, with a period of seven working days (counted from this Monday, December 22) to submit allegations, both online and in person. The Govern itself states in the resolution that the step responds to a requirement of the Consultiu, not to a voluntary decision.
Why the Consultiu forces to repeat the procedure
The origin of the decision is strictly legal. According to the resolution, the president of the Consell Consultiu informed the president of the Govern on December 18 that, on examining the file, it had been detected that after the hearing and participation procedures already carried out, modifications were incorporated into the project that the body considers “substantial”. In this context, the Consultiu concludes that it is essential to repeat the public information, in application of its doctrine and the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, expressly citing sentence 519/2025, of May 6.
The document does not list the specific changes that motivate the requirement, but makes it clear that it is not enough to have informed a first version of the text if it is later significantly altered. Otherwise, the decree would be exposed to the risk of nullity for violating the principles of participation and transparency. This is the scenario that the Govern is now trying to avoid by reopening the procedure.
A regulation with many twists and turns
The cab and VTC regulation has not followed a linear path. It started at the beginning of 2025 with separate public consultations for cab and VTC, which were later unified in a single text. After the first public exposure, the project has gone through five drafts, incorporating changes derived from sectoral reports and technical opinions.
Precisely in that phase after the first public information some of the most sensitive changes were introduced, which now forces to go back a step in the procedure. The Government has opted for the urgent procedure in order not to further lengthen the process, but the planned timetable has been altered. The autonomous Executive had not given dates for approving the regulation, but intended it to be ready at the beginning of 2026.
A key precedent: the change on car size
The resolution of the Consellería does not specify which are the “substantial changes” that trigger a new public exposure period.
Among the most discussed modifications of the regulation is the one related to vehicle requirements, specifically the elimination of the exception that allowed hybrid cars not to meet the minimum length requirement. In the first versions of the draft, this exception existed and was the one that was submitted for public information. However, in later versions -from the third draft- the Government decided to remove it, leaving the length reduction only for 100% electric vehicles or other alternative energies, and no longer opened a new period of allegations.
This change generated concern in the cab sector, especially among professionals who had acquired or planned to acquire hybrid vehicles under the initial text. The Govern defended that the participation process was already closed, while some cab drivers questioned that a relevant technical condition had been altered without the possibility of expressing their opinion.
The urgency and blocking of licenses
The resolution justifies the urgent processing in a specific context: the validity of the decree law that keeps new cab licenses and VTC authorizations suspended until the definitive regulation enters into force, at the latest, until February 21, 2026, when the annual extension provided for in the decree law expires….
Now, the regulation will have to pass this new public exposure period before it returns to the Consell Consultiu to issue its final opinion.
As this is a retroactive action limited to the public information process -and not an annulment of the procedure-, the decree must return to the Consell Consultiu for an opinion once the allegations have been analyzed, without it being necessary to repeat the sectorial reports already issued.
Thus, once this second public information periodthe General Directorate of Mobility shall analyze the allegationsIf necessary, make further adjustments and to forward the project to the Consell Consultiu. Only after receiving its final favorable opinion, the decree may be submitted to the Consell de Govern for approval.
For now, the regulation called to order the future of the cab and Uber in Ibiza is once again open to citizen participation, not by political will, but by express demand of the highest advisory body of the Autonomous Community.
