It is illegal for a driver to ferry passengers for a reward even if the arrangement is made via a third party, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal has ruled in a case involving 24 Uber drivers.

The judge, Joseph Fok, rejected the appellants' claims that passenger-carrying rules set out in the Road Traffic Ordinance did not apply to them because no direct agreement existed between the driver and the passengers.

The Uber drivers' interpretation of the law “would make no sense in the context of the driver of a public bus or public light bus, since the contract for the carriage would be between the passenger and the bus company,” Fok wrote in his judgement on Wednesday.

The law referred to “the nature of circumstances of the carriage rather than requiring the direct agreement contended for the appellants,” he continued.

In their appeal, the Uber drivers also argued that it could not have been the law’s intention to criminalize their conduct because the technology had not existed at the time of the legislation in 1982 — a contention that the court also rejected.

“Whilst it may be true to say that the Uber App was not in the specific contemplation of the legislature in 1982, it does not follow that the activity in which the appellants were engaged was not part of the mischief which the provisions of the RTO were intended to address,” Fok wrote.

The 24 drivers were earlier found guilty of carrying passengers for hire or reward. Hong Kong’s top court dismissed their challenge earlier this month and released the full judgement on Wednesday.

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