UPDATE: Consumer rights service fines Uber 100,000 rbl for client misleading

(Adds comments from Uber in last three paragraphs)

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- The Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare has fined Uber, a U.S. online taxi hailing service, 100,000 rubles in Moscow for misleading clients on the quality of services and safety of trips, the watchdog said Tuesday on its Web site.

Uber accepts orders from clients for trips and compiles a base for drivers, who service clients. The service said that customers may think that it is Uber, which renders the service.

“In such a way, the company misguides customers regarding the quality of services and safety of trips. Customers are not informed on taxi drivers’ licenses and their medical certification, as well as on client properties of carriage, in particular, the service provider,” the authority said.

A Moscow branch of the consumer rights watchdog brought Uber Technology to administrative liability and imposed the fine.

The company contested the move at the Moscow Arbitration Court, but the latter upheld the authority in September 2016. Uber Technology challenged the move in higher courts, but to no avail.

A spokesperson for Uber said that the company does not render services to consumers on the local market.

“Uber Technology has not provided or does not provide services to consumers on the territory of the Russian Federation and does not have any legal relations with them. Users of the Uber application are carried directly by partners-freighters, legal entities or individual entrepreneurs that signed corresponding agreements with Dutch company Uber B.V.,” the spokesperson said.

“We’re for a constructive dialogue with the regulators as we’re aimed at the single target to equip users with the best service.”

(57.9371 rubles – U.S. $1)

End