USANCEN: LegalNews June 2026/03

Jun 18, 2026

Dear Readers!

This week's newsletter edition features Austrian Supreme Court rulings with a focus on competition law, as well as an interesting German ruling on cyber fraud.

The first article deals with a request for a preliminary ruling from the Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ): Austria’s sole toll collecting corporation, ASFINAG, refused a reseller access to its toll shop. The OGH has asked the ECJ whether this refusal constitutes an abuse of a dominant market position, even if no ‘new service’ is being provided.

Antitrust law is a dynamic area of legal study. Following a preliminary ruling by the ECJ, the OGH has clarified that a victim of a cartel is entitled to interest from the moment the damage occurred, i.e., the moment of purchase of the overpriced product, and not from the date the action was brought. For victims of the European lorry cartel case, this makes a significant financial difference.

The Regional Court of the German city of Karlsruhe has handed down an interesting ruling on cyber fraud: If you transfer the purchase price to a third-party account on the basis of a manipulated invoice, you are left to bear the loss. The risk of the misdirected transfer is borne by the debtor. There is no obligation to send invoices in encrypted form.

Finally, on the subject of tenancy law: The OGH has confirmed that a loan from the 2011 Vienna Housing Initiative does not fall under the definition of 'recourse to public funds' as outlined in Section 1(4)(1) of the Austrian Tenancy Act. This is because it is based on private law rather than statutory provisions, meaning it only applies to a limited extent.

We hope you find these articles interesting and look forward to your feedback at usancen@lawthek.eu.

Kind regards,

The Editorial Team

Civil Law

Austrian OGH on Interest for Cartel Damages

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has recently examined the issue of entitlement to interest on damages claims for companies affected by cartel conduct. The central question considered was whether interest should begi...

(18. Juni 2026)

Civil Law

GER: Altered IBAN – Buyers Bear Resulting Loss

Instead of receiving valuable gold bars, the buyers in the case at hand ultimately incurred a six-figure loss. Criminals had altered bank details on an emailed invoice, resulting in the buyers transferring over EUR 100,000 to a third-party account. T...

(18. Juni 2026)

Civil Law

Housing Initiative 2011 Not Classified as ‘Public Funds’

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) was tasked with determining whether financing through the Vienna Housing Initiative 2011 constitutes ‘use of public funds’ within the meaning of Section 1, paragraph 4, item 1 of the ...

(18. Juni 2026)

European Law

Roads Toll Act: Request for Preliminary Ruling to the ECJ

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has referred a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling concerning the potential abuse of a dominant market position. Tolls for specific ...

(18. Juni 2026)

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USANCEN: LegalNews June 2026/03

Austrian OGH on Interest for Cartel Damages

GER: Altered IBAN – Buyers Bear Resulting Loss

Housing Initiative 2011 Not Classified as ‘Public Funds’

Roads Toll Act: Request for Preliminary Ruling to the ECJ

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