The High Court has blocked enforcement of an 18 per cent commission cap, giving ride-hailing platforms greater leeway over the share of trip earnings deducted from drivers and vehicle owners.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The cap had been introduced under the 2022 Digital Taxi regulations, which had restricted platforms from taking more than that percentage of drivers’ total earnings per trip as commission.

On Wednesday, Justice Roselyne Aburili found that the government had not provided sufficient empirical evidence to demonstrate that the cap was necessary or proportionate.

The court also faulted the government for failing to undertake a regulatory impact assessment before introducing the restriction.

📌 What You Need to Know

Further, the court found that the regulations had not undergone adequate legislative scrutiny after being gazetted while Parliament was in recess.

Subsequently, the court suspended its declaration of invalidity for 12 months, allowing the government that period to conduct fresh public participation, complete the required assessment and align the regulations with the law.

Provisions covering driver verification, safety and operational standards remain temporarily protected as the court found that their immediate nullification could destabilise the sector .

The ruling comes after some operators challenged the 2022 regulations, while other stakeholders viewed the cap as a measure to protect drivers’ earnings after commission rates on some platforms rose to between 25 and 30 per cent.

Without a fixed commission cap in place, the ruling means drivers’ actual deductions will, in the meantime, depend on the terms set by platforms .

Besides the commission matter, the judgment also halted enforcement of a provision requiring platforms to retain detailed passenger, driver, trip and payment records for three years and surrender them to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on demand.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke