Germany seeks CJEU answer whether telecommunications law applies to webmail service providers
The Higher Administrative Court for North Rhine-Westphalia (‘the Court’) announced, on 26 February 2018, that it had filed a request for a preliminary ruling with the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’), seeking clarification on whether webmail providers are considered electronic communications services under Article 2 of the Framework Directive (Directive 2002/21/EC) (‘the Directive’).
The proceedings before the Court originated from a legal dispute between the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway (‘Bundesnetzagentur’) and Google, Inc. over the Bundesnetzagentur’s classification of Gmail as a telecommunications service within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1996 (‘TKG’).
Source: Germany: CJEU Gmail referral “could lead to application of TKG” to webmail service providers
