"Garbage Fee" at the Nova Rock Festival is Illegal

The VKI, on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, sued Nova Music Entertainment GmbH for charging a so-called "garbage deposit" of 20 euros. Visitors of the Nova Rock Festival received 10 euros back if they returned "at least a half-full garbage bag". The other 10 euros were retained as a "garbage fee" in any case.

The Eisenstadt Regional Court judged the clauses related to this as illegal, as they are unclearly formulated and can be misunderstood by festival visitors. The chosen formulation ("a half-full garbage bag") also leaves room for unequal treatment of visitors. The verdict is not yet legally binding.

Organizer Demanded "Garbage Fee" from Nova Rock Visitors

At least until the time of the last Nova Rock Festival 2024, the following clauses were on the festival website: "The garbage deposit is € 20,- (to be paid in cash on site) of which € 10 will be credited back to your cashless band if you bring back at least a half-full garbage bag including receipt at the return points. Anyone who has a tent or a backpack is considered a camper*in, regardless of the ticket, i.e. a garbage bag deposit is collected." In addition, a poster with the inscription: "20 € garbage deposit ready" was displayed on site at the band issue. No additional service, besides the service of waste disposal, was provided for the payment.

The LG Eisenstadt judged these clauses as inadmissible for several reasons. The term "half-full garbage bag" is insufficiently defined, giving the company room for arbitrary decisions and consequently treating visitors unequally and potentially misleading them. Moreover, according to the court, it is part of the contractual secondary obligations of a festival organizer to dispose of the garbage after an event. Therefore, it remains unclear what additional services are associated with the garbage fee of 10 euros retained by the company. With the garbage fee, visitors therefore have to pay for a service (again) that is usually already included in the contractual obligations. Thus, there is a grossly disadvantageous surcharge to the main service, which is inadmissible in this form.

Charging Additional Fees for Contractual Obligations is Not Permissible

"Clauses that regulate additional fees beyond the ticket price must be clearly formulated and must not be suitable for treating consumers unequally," comments VKI lawyer Joachim Kogelmann on the verdict. "This also applies if the fee wants to take into account a fundamentally supportable environmental protection idea. If a company charges an additional fee for the contractual obligations that usually have to be fulfilled - and not for a possibly required additional service in individual cases - then this is generally not permissible".

(Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.