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ORF compulsory contribution collapsed: court ruling makes waves!
A young blogger wins against the ORF contribution service in court: an invalidity notice was discovered due to a missing signature.
ORF compulsory contribution collapsed: court ruling makes waves!
In a surprising decision, the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) declared the ORF-Betrags Service GmbH (OBS) decision on the mandatory contribution for the blogger and law student Lucas Ammann to be null and void. This happened because the notice did not have a valid signature. As a result, this means that Ammann and potentially hundreds of other affected complainants are not obliged to pay. The case particularly reflects the legal weaknesses in the current ORF contribution collection system.
The legal dispute began in January 2024 when Ammann received a payment request from OBS. He then submitted an application for an official determination of his obligation to pay contributions. However, in August 2024 he received a decision that only had an initial. Attorney Mag. Gerold Beneder filed the complaint against this decision and claimed that it did not meet the legal requirements. On May 21, 2025, the BVwG decided that a valid decision requires a legible signature or a qualified electronic signature and declared the document status as “non-act”, therefore absolutely void. This decision could have far-reaching effects on the entire ORF contribution system, as other people with comparable decisions could also be affected. The lawyer Beneder also criticized the OBS's inability to issue valid notices.
Further legal dimensions
In addition to this specific case, the BVwG has already rejected the first complaints against the determination of the ORF contribution for 2024. Currently, 120 of an expected 13,000 complaint procedures are pending at the BVwG. The court sees no violation of fundamental rights or EU state aid law by the ORF contribution obligation. These decisions will soon be published in the federal legal information system bvwg.gv.at reports that....
The legal framework for the ORF contribution is also in the context of an important decision by the Constitutional Court (VfGH). In a ruling that will come into force at the end of 2023, the Constitutional Court has repealed some provisions of the ORF law as unconstitutional. This applies in particular to the regulation that allows people who receive ORF programs exclusively via the Internet not to pay a program fee. The Constitutional Court found that linking the program fee to the payment of broadcasting fees is unconstitutional. In this context, the legislature is called upon to find a new regulation by December 31, 2023 in order to secure the financing of public broadcasting vfgh.gv.at has determined that....
The developments surrounding the ORF contribution obligation not only raise questions about compliance with the legal framework, but also about the general supervision and transparency of the regulatory authorities. Ammann himself has also called on the Finance Minister to review the functioning of the OBS in order to avoid future legal disputes.