Egyptian court allows Uber and Careem to continue operations

An Egyptian court ruled on Saturday that a judicial decision to suspend the licenses of ride-hailing companies Uber and Careem should not be applied, allowing them to continue their work, judicial sources said.

Forty-two Egyptian taxi drivers filed a lawsuit in the administrative court a year ago against US-based Uber and its Dubai-based competitor Careem, arguing they were illegally using private cars as taxis. They also claimed that the two firms were registered as a call center and an internet company, respectively.

In March, the administrative court ordered the government to suspend the licenses of the two companies.

However, the two companies applied to another court, the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters, which said on Saturday that the previous ruling should be suspended and the two firms should be allowed to continue work until a final decision from the Highest Administrative Court, the sources said.

The March decision had not yet been applied, according to judicial sources. The government appealed against the March ruling before the Highest Administrative Court. Uber followed suit.