Minimum price dispute in Cologne reaches court in Münster

The legal battle over minimum pricing for ride-hailing services in Cologne has escalated to the Higher Administrative Court in Münster. This follows a decision by the Cologne Administrative Court in July, which found the minimum price regulations for services like Bolt and Uber to be likely unlawful. These regulations, implemented in Cologne since early June, stipulate that rides with these platforms cannot be more than 20 percent cheaper than taxi fares, aiming to create fair competition.

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The dispute over minimum prices for ride-hailing trips via platforms like Bolt or Uber in Cologne is entering the next legal round.

The initial ruling by the Cologne court cited several reasons for its objection. It questioned the mayor's authority to make such decisions without council involvement and argued that the city overstepped its jurisdiction by implementing rules beyond Cologne's boundaries. Furthermore, the court suggested that transferring pricing regulations from the taxi sector to ride-hailing services was fundamentally impermissible due to the distinct nature of these transportation modes.

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The Administrative Court of Cologne ruled in several preliminary proceedings in July that the minimum prices are likely unlawful.

The Higher Administrative Court in Münster will now review these points. The city of Cologne has filed an appeal against the preliminary decisions concerning Bolt and another ride-hailing company. While Uber's subsidiary also received a preliminary ruling in its favor in late July, the city has not yet filed an appeal in that specific case. Meanwhile, Essen, which was the first city in North Rhine-Westphalia to introduce similar minimum prices in January, had its regulation suspended in April following a court decision deeming it unlawful in its current form. This ruling in Essen is final.

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The regulation was not lawful in its current form, the court decided, upholding the applications of a ride-hailing and a booking company.