The Constitutional Court announced that 18 cases regarding the ORF fee obligation are already pending. These complaints are directed against decisions of the Federal Administrative Court, which is confronted with an even higher number of cases. In September 2023, there was talk of 120 pending cases. At that time, the Federal Administrative Court had dismissed two complaints, deciding that the ORF fee neither violated fundamental rights nor constituted breaches of EU state aid law.

Introduction of the Household Levy Leads to a Flood of Lawsuits

Since the beginning of 2024, the ORF has been financed through a household levy. The transition from the previous device-dependent GIS fee to a uniform ORF fee was decided by the then ÖVP-Green government. Since then, each household pays 15.30 euros monthly, regardless of whether a television or radio is present.

While the transition brought financial relief for many former GIS payers, hundreds of thousands of households became liable for the fee for the first time. This led to numerous legal challenges. The Federal Administrative Court can only continue processing the cases once the Constitutional Court has made a fundamental decision on the constitutionality of the ORF fee.

(APA/Red)

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