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Finland and Norway will allow cross-border taxi traffic in the future - a unified EU regulation is still outstanding.
Until now, Finnish taxis were not allowed to take passengers all the way to their destination in Norway. The same applied in the reverse direction. For example, anyone who wanted to go from Kilpisjärvi to Tromsø had to transfer at the border – often in the middle of the night and in wintry temperatures. Some drivers ignored the ban, which occasionally led to fines and police checks. In the Inari region, along the 736-kilometer-long border between the two countries, that was not an uncommon scenario. Passengers were sometimes left by the roadside when a Finnish taxi was forced to turn around.
The new agreement, already signed in March by Finland's Transport Minister Lulu Ranne and her Norwegian counterpart Jon-Ivar Nygård, is set to remove this hurdle. From now on, Finnish taxis will be allowed to drive their customers to Norway and even bring them back — provided the return trip was booked in advance. The same applies in the reverse direction. Thus, a gap that had existed despite similar agreements between the two countries with Sweden has now been closed.
For many taxi companies in the north, the new regulatory framework could ease daily operations. Especially in sparsely populated border regions, rides across national borders are often the only practical way to reach airports or hospitals. For example, a trip from Kilpisjärvi to Tromsø Airport could soon be possible without having to change vehicles.
EU Regulation Still Lacking
So far, cross-border transport of passengers in many parts of Europe remains prohibited or severely restricted. The reason for this is mainly national regulations and the lack of a unified EU regulatory framework for taxi services across borders. In Germany, for instance, a taxi may only transport passengers up to the German border – any trip beyond the border is not permitted without special permits. A taxi company would have to prove in the foreign country, for example, a business establishment and a local tax number, which entails significant effort for many operators.
In Germany, for example, the Passenger Transport Act (PBefG) clearly prescribes: Authorized trips end at the state border (unless regulated otherwise by law). However, exceptions are possible—and already today a reality in individual cases. In border regions, for instance, the so-called cabotage ban can be relaxed with prior booking: A taxi may then pick up passengers from abroad and bring them back to their home country, if this is explicitly allowed. In the Netherlands, this exception applies: German taxis may — upon prior booking — pick up people in the Netherlands and drive them to Germany, but not vice versa. Such bilateral special agreements allow a limited cross-border business without demanding full liberalization.
In exceptional cases cross-border taxi traffic is possible
However, these exceptions remain tightly limited — they usually require prior booking, specific permits, or cross-border agreements. Also for tax reasons and with regard to market supervision, many states draw a clear line. Thus, a general, unrestricted right to cross-border taxi travel remains, in many places, both uncertain and an exception — even though Northern Scandinavia now shows where the journey with prudent legislation can lead.
Content automatically translated.
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