Case C-231/20: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 October 2021 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof — Austria) — MT v Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Freedom to provide services — Article 56 TFEU — Games of chance — Making prohibited lotteries available — Penalties — Proportionality — Minimum-level fines — Accumulation — No limit — Custodial sentence in the event of non-payment — Proportional contribution to the costs of proceedings — Article 49(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)
Date: 2021-10-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: criminal proceedings, freedom to provide services, game of chance, legal expenses, monopoly, penalty, principle of proportionality








C_2021502EN.01000801.xml










13.12.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 502/8






Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 October 2021 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof — Austria) — MT v Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark
(Case C-231/20) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Freedom to provide services - Article 56 TFEU - Games of chance - Making prohibited lotteries available - Penalties - Proportionality - Minimum-level fines - Accumulation - No limit - Custodial sentence in the event of non-payment - Proportional contribution to the costs of proceedings - Article 49(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)
(2021/C 502/11)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: MT

Defendant: Landespolizeidirektion Steiermark

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 56 TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that, in proceedings concerning the imposition of penalties for infringement of a monopoly in the sector of games of chance, a national court, hearing an assessment of the lawfulness of a penalty imposed for such an infringement, must specifically assess whether the penalties laid down by the applicable legislation comply with Article 56 TFEU, having regard to the actual rules for determining those penalties;










2.


Article 56 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding a national provision which, in cases where prohibited lotteries have been made commercially available, makes it mandatory to:






—


impose a minimum fine per unauthorised gaming machine, with no limit on the total amount of the fines imposed, to the extent that the total amount of the fines imposed is not disproportionate to the economic benefit which the infringements thus penalised might provide;










—


impose a custodial sentence in lieu of a fine per unauthorised gaming machine, with no limit on the total length of the custodial sentences imposed, to the extent that the length of the custodial sentence in lieu of a fine actually imposed is not excessive in the light of the seriousness of the infringements found; and










—


contribute to the costs of proceedings amounting to 10 % of the fines imposed, to the extent that that contribution is neither excessive in the light of the actual cost of such proceedings nor infringes the right of access to a tribunal enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.










(1)  OJ C 304, 14.9.2020.