Labor of taxi drivers on the basis of Internet platforms: Some issues of legal regulation

The aim of this study is to identify legal problems with the use of Internet platforms for the provision of taxi services as they change the content of relations in the sphere in question and create new legal links between the participants. The research is based on the study of the practice of using Internet platforms to provide taxi services by large aggregators, which carry out their activities practically all over the world. The introduction of this network technology leads to the same problems in many countries and large metropolitan areas. Uncertainty in the qualification of legal relations between the taxi driver and the aggregator creates a variety of risks, including the risks for road safety, fair competition, observance of the rights of consumers of transport services, as well as professional risks for drivers themselves because of the reduced level of their social and labor guarantees. The legal regulation systems existing in Russia and abroad do not allow to regulate the activity of Internet platforms rendering services in the field of taxis. This leads to social tension, unfair competition, violations of the rights of professional drivers, passengers and other road users and, as a consequence, to discussions and litigations. To overcome negative trends in different countries, various means, related to the administrative and judicial resolution of emerging conflicts, are adopted. The article contains examples of attempts to regulate the activity of taxi aggregators in the countries of the European Union and Russia. Based on the analysis of Russian and mainly foreign experience, the general context of problems and possible directions for their resolution are formulated. Special attention is paid to the problems of interaction between the Internet platform, which positions itself exclusively as a provider of information services, and a taxi driver, who is in fact an economically dependent self-employed person. In this regard, possible legal approaches to the legal regulation of the activities of such a person are considered, taking into account the experience of such countries as Sweden, Norway, the United States, Great Britain, South Africa, etc., as well as the possibility of applying already existing legal structures aimed to regulate atypical labor relations in Russia. Thus, the main methodological approaches used in the work are comparative studies as well as the method of peer review. The authors come to a conclusion that modern law does not possess the necessary arsenal of means that would provide effective legal protection to all participants of the investigated relations, starting from the consumer of transport services and ending with the driver. The authors identify the main challenges that have emerged in connection with the development of taxi aggregators and some directions for the development of legal regulation in the field under investigation.

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