Germany: : Regional Constitutional Courts find broadcasting charge acceptable

• Autores: Tobias Raab
• Localización: IRIS: Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory, ISSN-e 1023-8565, Nº. 7, 2014, págs. 7-8
• Idioma: francés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In a ruling of 13 May 2014, which has not yet been published in full, the Verfassungsgerichtshof Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court) decided that the new regulations on the financing of public service broadcasting through the levying of broadcasting charges did not infringe the provisions of the Constitution (case no. VGH B 35/12; regarding the introduction of the new broadcasting charge in Germany, see IRIS 2012-2/14). A complaint lodged by the Montabaur-based road construction firm Volkmann und Rossbach, which has numerous branches both in Rhineland-Palatinate and elsewhere, was deemed inadmissible by the court insofar as it concerned details of the collection of the charge and of related data. These details should initially have been clarified by the administrative courts. It was also clear that alleged violations of the freedoms of occupation, trade and information, and of the right to informational self-determination could be ruled out immediately, since the broadcasting charge did not interfere with any of these areas.