Authorities allege Uber is an illegal taxi business | Getty Images France arrests Uber executives The company’s French and Western Europe general managers are in custody.

Two of Uber’s top executives in France were arrested Monday over the alleged illegality of the car-booking service.

Uber France General Manager Thibaud Simphal and the company’s regional general manager for Western Europe, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, were taken into custody on Monday after a pre-arranged meeting with Parisian police, the company confirmed. According to the Paris prosecutor, they may be held for up to a day for questioning.

“Our general managers for France and Western Europe today attended a hearing with the French police. We are always happy to answer questions the authorities have about our service — and look forward to resolving these issues,” Uber said in a statement. “Those discussions are ongoing.”

A company spokesman said the authorities are alleging not only that Uber is an illegal taxi business, but also that it has engaged in “unfair commercial practices” and personal data protection breaches.

The arrests follow an investigation into the UberPop service that began in November and led to a raid of the company’s offices in March. UberPop is analogous to the UberX app in some other parts of the world, in that it provides an interface between non-professional drivers and people in their area who require their services.

France introduced a new law last year to explicitly outlaw apps such as UberPop. However, while the so-called Thévenoud law came into force at the start of this year, the courts so far haven’t enforced it.

Last week, the French court of cassation asked the country’s constitutional court to decide on the legality of certain provisions in the law. Uber has also complained about the law to the European Commission, which warned France that its laws must not discriminate between competitors and must respect freedom of establishment.

Also last week, a coordinated protest across France turned ugly in some areas, with cars being damaged and Uber passengers threatened. The drivers argue Uber doesn’t compete fairly because its drivers do not abide by the stringent licensing regulations.

Following the protests, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve launched legal action against Uber’s local managers and ordered the banning of the UberPop app. On Friday, Simphal said the move “changed nothing” as a court had not ordered the ban.

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