Civil proceedings on infrastructure utilization fees

The ECJ ruled in its judgment of November 9, 2017, that an assessment of fairness of the infrastructure utilization fees through a civil court pursuant to Section 315 BGB is incompatible with European Railway Law. On the basis of the ECJ judgment, several courts have already passed several judgments in favor of DB Netz AG and DB Station&Service AG. The judgments are not yet le­gally binding. A decision has not yet been reached by the Federal Supreme Court (BGH). The BGH, in a decision of January 29, 2019, suspended a pending proceeding until the BNetzA issues 
a decision on an application made by a plaintive TOC re­­garding a retroactive assessment of utilization fees. The proceeding is expected to be resumed as soon as a bind­ing decision is available from the BNetzA regarding this matter.