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.