When the ridesharing service Uber announced its Copenhagen launch in November, a lobby group for the Danish taxi industry immediately filed a complaint with the police, the Danish Transport Authority and the Transport Ministry.

 

See also: Legal challenge greets Uber's debut in Denmark

 

After investigating the complaint, Copenhagen Police has now officially charged the San Francisco-based company with violating Denmark’s taxi operation laws.

 

“We believe that they have violated the law and therefore we have charged them and that’s where the case stands at the moment,” Commissioner Bertel Hejlesen told Berlingske Business on Thursday. 

 

Copenhagen’s prosecuting authority will now look at merits of the preliminary charges against Uber and determine if there is enough to bring the case to trial. 

 

Uber has argued that it is not a taxi company but rather a ridesharing programme and therefore should not be held to the same requirements as others in the taxi business, which financial daily Børsen describes as one of the most thoroughly-regulated industries in Denmark. 

 

Uber has already led to confrontations in cities such as Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Berlin and there have been reports of Uber drivers assaulting and raping customers in some cities. 

 

Just this week, Uber was forced to pull out of the US state of Kansas after state legislators passed a law enforcing tougher restrictions on Uber and similar services. 

 

Uber was launched in 2009 and is currently operating in 47 countries. In neighbouring Germany, the company has faced strong legal challenges and was banned both on the national level and in Berlin. The national ban has since been overturned.