The Administrative Court of Neustadt an der Weinstraße has overturned blocking orders issued by the Media Authority of Rhineland-Palatinate against certain pornography platforms. The chamber granted the lawsuits filed by an Internet service provider and the operator of the affected platforms, according to the court in the Palatinate city.
The Media Authority had, according to the report, in April 2024 urged several access providers to block certain pornographic websites via a DNS block. The platforms are operated by a company based in Cyprus. In justification, the authority cited violations of the Youth Media Protection State Treaty (JMStV). The sites did not deploy age-verification systems to protect children and youths.
The court ruled that there was a lack of a suitable enabling basis for the blocking orders. The national provisions of the JMStV were not applicable due to the primacy of European law and because of the so-called country-of-origin principle.
Since the full entry into force of the European Digital Services Act (DSA) in February 2024, there is a single EU-wide framework for digital services. National rules in regulated areas are impermissible.
Moreover, the orders, in the chamber’s view, violate the so-called country-of-origin principle. Under this principle, providers of digital services are generally subject to the law of the EU member state in which they are established — here Cyprus. Deviations are only possible under narrow conditions.
Independent of that, action by the state media regulator against one of the platforms is ruled out because the European Commission has already initiated its own proceedings — thereby establishing exclusive competence for the Commission. The court allowed an appeal to the Rhineland-Palatinate Higher Administrative Court.
