Austrian OGH on Media Law: Defendant Must Be Named

Jan 24, 2025 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has recently dealt with the question of whether the name of defendants must be mentioned in reports, pursuant to Section 37 (1) of the Austrian Media Act (Mediengesetz, hereinafter MedienG).

In the case at hand, a private prosecution for defamation, the private prosecutor applied for an order for the publication of a notice that was to provide information about proceedings under the Austrian MedienG.

The court of first instance did issue the requested notification, but only in relation to the defendant. The higher regional court, acting as a court of appeal, did not uphold the appeal of the private prosecutor. It ruled that the only information that needed to be included in the notification was the name of the private prosecutor.

In response, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a nullity appeal to uphold the law. The OGH ruled that the court of appeal’s interpretation of the law was not in accordance with the law.

The purpose of Section 37(1) of the MedienG is to ensure that the public has access to early knowledge that legal proceedings have been initiated against an individual. The order to publish is a provisional protective measure designed to warn and prevent.

An anonymised report that does not name the accused cannot fulfil this function. It would be contrary to the purpose of informing the public if a notification had to contain the name of the person concerned who requested the notification, the name of the court, the court section, and the date of the decision, but not the name of the defendant. Only by including the name of the defendant in an announcement can the purpose of public information and transparent communication of legal proceedings be achieved.

The appeal against the annulment was successful and the law was upheld.

OGH 15 Os 117/24f (09 December 2024)