Published on 12 July 2021
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 15480/19
MS BET SPORTWETTEN GMBH & CO. KG
against Austria
lodged on 17 April 2018
communicated on 21 June 2021
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the request by the applicant company for a prolongation of its temporary business permit of 26 January 2016. The Vienna Municipal Authority (Magistrat) failed to decide on the applicant company’s request of 16 March 2016 under the Vienna Betting Act (Wettengesetz) as in force at the relevant time. The Vienna Regional Administrative Court (Landesverwaltungsgericht) dismissed its request. It held that since the amendment of the Vienna Betting Act, no. 26/2016, had entered into force on 14 May 2016 and the applicant company had failed to amend its request in accordance with these new legal provisions, the request could no longer be granted.
In the applicant company’s appeals to the Constitutional Court and to the Administrative Court, it requested both courts, respectively, to seek a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the question of the amended Vienna Betting Act’s compatibility with European Union law.
On 21 September 2017 the Constitutional Court declined to deal with the applicant company’s request. On 5 September 2018 the Administrative Court rejected the applicant company’s appeal.
Regarding the request to seek a preliminary ruling from the CJEU, neither the Constitutional Court nor the Administrative Court gave any reasons.
The applicant company complains under Article 6 of the Convention that the Constitutional Court and the Administrative Court did not provide sufficient reasons for their decisions not to refer the case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Did the fact that neither the Constitutional Court nor the Administrative Court gave any reasons for their respective refusals of the applicant’s request to seek a preliminary ruling with the CJEU render the proceedings unfair, in violation of Art 6 § 1 of the Convention (see Harisch v. Germany, no. 50053/16, §§ 33-36, 11 April 2019)?
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