Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 16 November 2016 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof — Austria) — DHL Express (Austria) GmbH v Post-Control-Kommission, Bundesminister für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie

(Case C-2/15) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 97/67/EC - Article 9 - Postal services in the European Union - Obligation to make a financial contribution to the operational costs of the postal sector’s regulatory authority - Scope))

(2017/C 014/04)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: DHL Express (Austria) GmbH

Defendant: Post-Control-Kommission, Bundesminister für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie

Operative part of the judgment

Article 9(2), second subparagraph, fourth indent, of Directive 97/67/EC 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 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposes on all postal service providers, including those which do not provide postal services falling within the scope of the universal service, the obligation to contribute to the financing of the national regulatory authorities responsible for that sector.

(1)  OJ C 127, 20.4.2015.