Romania’s Transport Ministry and Regional Development Ministry have finalized the draft of the emergency ordinance regulating ridesharing services, prime minister Viorica Dancila announced before the cabinet meeting on Thursday. The Government will adopt the emergency ordinance next week, she added.

“The emergency ordinance draft will be put up for public debate today and we will adopt the agreed measures next week,” Dancila said.

Representatives of the ridesharing services Uber, Bolt and Clever had a final meeting with Government officials on Thursday, May 23, and agreed on the solutions for regulating app-based transport services. The new regulations will ensure equal conditions for authorizing ridesharing service providers and taxi service providers, according to a press release issued by Clever.

The ordinance will provide that all drivers must be authorized for alternative transport, have a clean criminal record, medical and psychological approvals, and professional driver certificate. Alternative transport apps will also have to be authorized by the Communications Ministry and pay an annual fee based on the number of enrolled cars. The cars used for providing alternative transport services will have to be authorized by the Romanian Road Authority (ARR) and respect the same age standards as taxis, according to Clever.

The emergency ordinance should thus put an end to several years of conflicts between taxi operators and ridesharing apps, which culminated with ample protests by taxi drivers and an emergency ordinance that enforced stricter rules for taxi services and also made it possible for the police to sanction drivers providing transport services without a license, including those enrolled in the Uber, Bolt and Clever apps.

Over 200,000 Romanians signed a petition asking the Government to regulate app-based transport services, also known as ridesharing services, which have 2.5 million users in Romania.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Uber)