France is a nation of silly customs and infuriatingly odd notions of fairness and justice.

  Starting January 1, Uber drivers in France will have to wait 15 minutes
  between receiving a reservation and actually picking up the customer.

  The rule, reported by French newspaper Libération, is meant to "better
  distinguish the activity of these vehicles from that of taxis," as only taxis
  have the right to drive around looking for customers, instead of taking
  reservations.

  More simply, it's designed to protect the legal monopoly of taxis by making
  services like Uber a lot slower and a lot less convenient. [1]

Thankfully the decree was struck down.

  France’s Conseil d’État suspended the controversial decree against urban
  transportation services like Uber and LeCab. As a reminder, since January
  1, drivers have had to wait 15 minutes between the time a customer hails them
  and they let them in the car. But it created a competitive imbalance, that’s why
  the rule was just suspended — TechCrunch has confirmed with multiple services. 
  The French authority will now have to state whether this law should be 
  completely repealed.

  In France, the cab industry is very regulated, and taxi licenses are hard to
  obtain. Over the past few years, the French government has been very 
  understanding with cab drivers as they have the ability to block airports 
  and city centers.

  Many cab drivers started to consider LeCab, Chauffeur-privé, SnapCar, Allocab,
  Uber and countless of others as direct competitors — they wanted something from
  the government.[2]

[1]

http://www.businessinsider.com/french-law-makes-uber-less-co...

[2]

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/05/council-of-state-suspends-1...