Germany’s Monopoly Commission has endorsed a plan to deregulate the country’s heavily regulated taxi market.

The decision is seen as a win for ride-sharing provider Uber, which has struggled against taxi cab operators in a number of German cities such as Hamburg that want to ban the ride-sharing company.

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It is not certain if German lawmakers in the Bundestag, the country's parliament, will follow the Monopoly Commission's recommendations and change the law that requires drivers to obtain specialist licenses and follow a standard fare structure. 

Existing German regulations set a high bar for new competitors in the country's taxi market. Under the law, cab drivers must obtain a special license to ply their trade. Furthermore, the  Monopoly Commission has recommended switching from uniform fares to a maximum fare that requires the drivers to adhere to its fare structure.

The city government of Hamburg has said that Uber, which was launched only two weeks ago, does not abide by the federal passenger transportation laws.

A city government spokesperson said Hamburg assumes that Uber doesn’t comply with passenger transport regulation and as such "will get a prohibitive order (from the administration).”

Should Hamburg ban Uber, this will be the second time Uber will be banned in a German city. The company opened a service called Black and Pop in Berlin. Black offers chauffeur and limousine services and Pop, the economical one, is provided by private drivers.

Berlin issued a ban on Uber because it said Uber cars were not following the federal law that requires cars return to their home base first before picking up a new passenger.

Although facing legal battles, Uber is planning to add Cologne and Dusseldorf to their expansion list in the coming weeks. Uber is valued at more than US$18 billion by investors.

TagsUber, taxi app, Germany, taxi operations, taxi drivers