The Constitutional Court has decided to annul the Balearic law that requires hiring a VTC car at least 30 minutes in advance. According to sources from the Guarantee Court of elDiario.es, the plenary session examined the question of unconstitutionality raised months ago by the Supreme Court and understands that this rule is not compatible with the constitutional right to freedom of enterprise.
The magistrates understand that the objectives pursued by the Government in 2019 were legitimate: “Seeking a balance between the taxi sector and the VTC sector and the management of mobility,” he explains. But the obligation to book a VTC at least half an hour in advance is not reasonable: “There is no explanation as to how this contributes to achieving the objectives that the Balearic regulations claim to pursue.”
This measure, according to the Constitutional Court, also represents a “competitive disadvantage” for VTCs and does not offer “protection to the consumer, insofar as it represents a restriction of activity”.
The Balearic Parliament approved the rule in 2019 with votes in favour of the parties that were part of the government at the time, but also of the Popular Party and the opposition of the two Ciudadanos deputies. A regulation carried out after an agreement with the taxi sector with the aim of controlling the landing of Chauffeur Transport Vehicle (VTC) platforms on the islands.
The rule included, among other restrictions, the obligation to book this type of vehicle at least half an hour in advance, also offering information such as the car’s license plate or the beginning and end of the contract to make the trip. The case reached the Constitutional Court from the Supreme Court following a lawsuit filed by two companies: Ares Capital and Aucona Servicios Integrales. The first controls several thousand VTC licenses throughout the territory.
The clearest precedent in terms of mobility in the Balearic Islands came from the same Supreme Court in February 2023, when the judges annulled the Basque decree that imposed the same ban on renting these vehicles with less than 30 minutes’ notice. The High Court was firm in this case: the time limitation was not compatible with the right to freedom of enterprise “nor does it exceed the canon of necessity, adequacy and proportionality” required by the laws that regulate the market in Spain.
The coexistence between taxis and VTC vehicles has become one of the major commercial conflicts in the Balearic Islands in recent years, both upon arrival in Mallorca and Ibiza. A sector linked to tourism that, according to the latest available data, leaves more than 2,500 taxi licenses and another 739 VTC licenses on the islands. According to the Government, throughout 2023, the administration received more than 10,000 new applications for the allocation of these VTC licenses.
The rule that the Constitutional Court is now annulling was approved in 2019, during the mandate of the socialist Francina Armengol, while the current executive of Marga Prohens and the PP has chosen to wait for the judgment to execute the idea that was launched shortly after reaching the last year: to eliminate the 30-minute notice. Already in December of last year, the government spokesman, Antoni Costa, had explained that he would wait for the constitutional decision before negotiating a new text in the face of the flood of license applications.
