# C_2015127EN.01000801.xml

| 20.4.2015 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 127/8 |
| --------- | -- | -------------------------------------- | ------- |

---

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Austria) lodged on 7 January 2015 — DHL Express (Austria) GmbH

(Case C-2/15)

(2015/C 127/12)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: DHL Express (Austria) GmbH

Respondent authority: Post-Control-Kommission

Other party to the proceedings: Bundesminister für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie

Questions referred

| 1. | Does Directive 97/67/EC( 1 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, as amended by Directive 2008/6/EC( 2 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008, in particular Article 9 thereof, preclude national rules under which postal service providers are obliged to contribute to the financing of the national regulatory authority’s operational costs irrespective of whether they provide universal services? |
| -- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |

| 2. | If the first question is answered in the affirmative:
(a)
Is it sufficient for a financing obligation to exist that the provider concerned provides postal services which are to be classified under the national rules as universal services, but which go beyond the mandatory minimum range of universal services under the directive? (b)
When determining an undertaking’s share of the financial contributions, is one to proceed in the same way as when determining the financial contributions to the compensation fund under Article 7(4) of the directive? (c)
Do the requirement to respect the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality within the meaning of Article 7(5) of the directive and the ‘taking account of inter-changeability with the universal service’ within the meaning of recital 27 in the preamble to Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 then mean that shares of turnover which are attributed to value-added services, hence postal services not assignable to the universal service, but which are connected with the universal service, are excluded and are not taken into account when determining the share? | (a) | Is it sufficient for a financing obligation to exist that the provider concerned provides postal services which are to be classified under the national rules as universal services, but which go beyond the mandatory minimum range of universal services under the directive? | (b) | When determining an undertaking’s share of the financial contributions, is one to proceed in the same way as when determining the financial contributions to the compensation fund under Article 7(4) of the directive? | (c) | Do the requirement to respect the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality within the meaning of Article 7(5) of the directive and the ‘taking account of inter-changeability with the universal service’ within the meaning of recital 27 in the preamble to Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 then mean that shares of turnover which are attributed to value-added services, hence postal services not assignable to the universal service, but which are connected with the universal service, are excluded and are not taken into account when determining the share? |
| --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| (a) | Is it sufficient for a financing obligation to exist that the provider concerned provides postal services which are to be classified under the national rules as universal services, but which go beyond the mandatory minimum range of universal services under the directive? | | | | | | |
| (b) | When determining an undertaking’s share of the financial contributions, is one to proceed in the same way as when determining the financial contributions to the compensation fund under Article 7(4) of the directive? | | | | | | |
| (c) | Do the requirement to respect the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality within the meaning of Article 7(5) of the directive and the ‘taking account of inter-changeability with the universal service’ within the meaning of recital 27 in the preamble to Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 then mean that shares of turnover which are attributed to value-added services, hence postal services not assignable to the universal service, but which are connected with the universal service, are excluded and are not taken into account when determining the share? | | | | | | |

---

( 1 )  OJ 1998 L 15, p. 14.

( 2 )  Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 amending Directive 97/67/EC with regard to the full accomplishment of the internal market of Community postal services (OJ 2008 L 52, p. 3).

---