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Man wants to pay radio license fee in cash and sues: ECJ makes a decision

2021-01-26T13:49:59.672Z


Lawyers are currently examining whether the license fee can also be paid in cash. A journalist sparked the debate.


Lawyers are currently examining whether the license fee can also be paid in cash.

A journalist sparked the debate.

  • Pay

    the

    license

    fee

    in

    cash

    ?

    Journalist

    Norbert Häring is fighting

    for this in court.

  • An assessment by the

    European Court of Justice

    could turn the case around.

  • The

    debate

    about increasing the

    license

    fee only escalated recently, at the end of 2020.

Frankfurt / Luxembourg -

Norbert Häring

wants to

pay

his

radio license fee in cash

.

The 57-year-old even insists.

Since 2015 he has therefore been in a

legal dispute

with the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR).

Together with a fellow campaigner, he would like to

enforce

payment of

the

radio license

fee

, which was formerly known as GEZ, in

coins

and

bills

- in court.

In doing so, the plaintiffs rely on Section 14, Paragraph 1, Clause 1 of the

Bundesbank Act

, which states that “in Germany [...] banknotes denominated in euros are the only unrestricted legal tender”.

In other words: A

cash payment

must be possible, argues Häring.

The HR countered on the one hand that the statutes of the broadcasting company exclude this, and on the other hand that the "sensibility of cashless payment" exists: "Electronic payment transactions have become indispensable today and are particularly expedient from a time and cost perspective," explains Steffen Janich, deputy legal advisor of HR.

Broadcasting fee: ECJ refers to states - cash payments possible

The case is now with the

Federal Administrative Court

in

Leipzig, which

has asked

the

European Court of Justice

(ECJ) for an assessment of the relevant law.

On Tuesday (January 26th, 2021) the Luxembourg judges declared that it could not be refused

to be allowed to pay

the

broadcast

amount

with

cash

.

The

ECJ

even emphasized that European states could even oblige their administrations to accept cash - but only if this did not cause "unreasonably" high costs.

This is in the "public interest", so the judges.

The key point is

proportionality

.

The restriction is particularly in the case when “the number of contributors from whom the claims are to be collected is very high”, a possibility.

Now it is again up to the

Federal Administrative Court

to make a decision.

The mentioned

proportionality

must be examined.

Only then will it be possible to assess whether it is lawful

to refuse

the

cash payment of

the

license

fee.

European Court of Justice allows cash restrictions, Federal Administrative Court leaves room for maneuver https://t.co/ZvekobteQE

- Norbert Häring (@norberthaering) January 26, 2021

Häring

commented on the ECJ's statement on his blog - and summed up: "One can safely assume that the EU Commission will now intensify its anti-cash campaign."

Häring

has been an opponent of the abolition of cash for some time.

The 57-year-old journalist emphasizes: "I want cash to remain a relevant option that many people also use," said Häring in an interview with "web.de".

On the

other hand, he is not

a categorical opponent of the

broadcasting

fee.

The contribution service of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio, which was formerly known as GEZ, has been discussed for a long time, especially when it comes to increases.

This was most recently the case at the end of 2020, when Saxony-Anhalt took on the rest of the federal states. * (Tobias Utz)

* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-01-26

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