Busan: The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the current law revoking a taxi driver's license upon conviction for sexual offenses against young people conforms to the Constitution. The Passenger Transport Service Act prohibits any person who receives a sentence heavier than a suspended prison term for a violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses from obtaining a taxi driver's license during the probation period. Incumbent taxi drivers, if affected by the law, should have their licenses revoked.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the court made the ruling in a petition filed by an incumbent taxi driver in Busan who was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison, suspended for three years, in February last year for violating the child protection law. The driver began the constitutional petition as well as an administrative lawsuit after the Busan mayor canceled his taxi driver's license in May last year.
The court said it is important to protect the public from crimes and relieve the public's anxiety over using passenger transport services.