The Hellenic Competition Commission has issued a formal Opinion assessing the regulatory framework governing private urban on-demand transport services provided by private passenger vehicles with professional drivers, in the context of a draft law introduced by the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport on the modernisation and upgrading of the transport sector.
The Opinion was adopted pursuant to the Commission’s advisory powers under Article 23 of Law 3959/2011, which authorises the authority to provide guidance on draft legislation and regulatory provisions that may create barriers to effective competition. The assessment takes into account both the current national legal framework and the draft legislative proposal, which was submitted for public consultation and notified to the Commission on 5 February 2026.
According to the Commission, private on-demand passenger transport services form part of a single and interdependent ecosystem in which public passenger vehicles, such as taxis, and private passenger vehicles with professional drivers operate in both complementary and competitive relationships. The Commission emphasised that these services are increasingly interconnected due to technological development and the rise of online platforms, which have enhanced functional convergence and made the services more directly comparable from the perspective of consumers. This convergence has increased substitutability between the two categories of services and intensified competitive interaction.
The Commission noted that, despite these market developments, the current national framework maintains distinct authorisation regimes, operating rules, and compliance obligations for taxis and private passenger vehicles with professional drivers. It stressed that this regulatory distinction is a critical factor in evaluating proposed legislative reforms. The Commission warned that any removal or amendment of regulatory restrictions affecting private passenger vehicles, if undertaken without a parallel and coherent review of the regulatory regime applicable to taxis, could result in substantial regulatory asymmetry. Such asymmetry could alter the competitive balance of the market and distort supply and demand dynamics based on regulatory differentiation rather than efficiency, quality, or innovation.
Within this context, the Commission recommended the abolition of restrictions limiting the number of entities authorised to provide vehicle rental services with professional drivers and called for the establishment of neutral, objective, and proportionate conditions for market entry and operation, regardless of the provider’s legal form or professional status. The Commission also proposed eliminating statutory minimum rental durations, which currently impose a general minimum of three hours and a shorter minimum duration in certain island regions during specified periods.
The Opinion further recommended removing restrictions that prevent providers from concluding new rental agreements before the expiration of minimum contractual periods and abolishing requirements mandating advance reservation periods prior to the commencement of service. The Commission also addressed operational restrictions requiring vehicles to return to their base premises after completing a service, recommending their removal or, alternatively, the adoption of less restrictive measures where justified by overriding public interest considerations.
In addition, the Commission proposed eliminating minimum regulated fees for rental services provided by private passenger vehicles with professional drivers. It stated that, where regulatory intervention in pricing is deemed necessary, such measures should remain proportionate and aligned with the pricing framework applicable to taxi services. At the same time, the Commission supported maintaining the requirement for prior administrative authorisation for providers offering intermediation services in this market.