Storage Media Levy: austro mechana publishes new tariff for cloud storage

Following the Supreme Court's decision of December 16, 2025, it is now clear in Austria that the provision of cloud storage is also subject to the storage media levy. In 4 Ob 15/25x, the Supreme Court held that anyone who commercially provides cloud storage space to customer in Austria must, in principle, pay a storage media levy – even if the data centers are located abroad. It remains unclear, however, what exactly constitutes cloud storage – whether only primary services or also product related ancillary services are encompassed. There is still a significant need for clarification in this regard.

As the responsible collecting society, austro mechana has now published a tariff for this purpose. It applies to the first distribution of storage media on the market on or after April 1, 2026, and, for the first time, explicitly covers cloud storage as well. It is available on the austro mechana website: tariff for storage media levies effective April 1, 2026.

What is the amount to be paid according to the tariff?

For cloud storage, the tariff specifies a fixed fee per customer per quarter. The determining factor is the highest storage capacity selected by the customer during the quarter in question: 

The tariffs are significantly higher than those for hard drives and do not distinguish linguistically between B2C and B2B customers. No court ruling has yet been issued regarding the tariff, nor is there a relevant general agreement in place. It is therefore questionable whether the tariff is actually justified. 

Observe reporting and payment deadlines

Cloud providers that are generally subject to the rate must comply with the corresponding reporting and payment deadlines, regardless of whether the amount of the tariff is justified:

The reporting requirement is set forth in Section 90a (1) of the Austrian Copyright Act (UrhG). Any person who is the first to commercially distribute storage media or reproduction equipment on the Austrian market from a location within or outside Austria must report the type and quantity of the distributed items on a quarterly basis by the fifteenth day following the end of each quarter to the joint receiving office. For the second quarter of 2026, when the published tariff takes effect, the relevant deadline is therefore July 15. Payment must then be made by the end of the month following the quarter – which is July 31 for Q2 2026. 

The following reporting and payment deadlines apply:

Reports can be submitted via the SMV online portal of austro mechana. It may take a few days between registration and account activation on the portal – so registering early is essential. 

Beware: Double reimbursement for failure to report/incomplete reporting

The reporting deadlines are not merely a formality: Under Section 90a (2) UrhG, double the standard tariff may be charged for the relevant portion if the party required to report fails to comply with this obligation, or does so only partially or otherwise incorrectly. 

Cloud service providers should therefore promptly determine whether and to what extent their services in Austria fall under the new tariff. Omissions or delays in reporting may result in double the costs.

What businesses should do now

Cloud providers should quickly address the following points:

• Identifying the Austrian market: Which customers belong to the Austrian market? 
• Track storage capacity: What was the highest storage capacity each customer selected during the quarter?
• Set up the reporting process: The statutory reporting deadlines should also be scheduled internally, and access to the SMV online portal should be requested in a timely manner.
• Calculate tariff charges: Costs must be calculated based on the quarterly billing cycle and the highest storage capacity per customer.
• Strategic considerations: Will the reports and payments be made, and if so, for what purpose? This will depend on the services affected. In the event of non-payment, provisions will need to be set aside.

DORDA is happy to assist cloud providers in assessing their obligation to pay fees, preparing reports, conducting a legal assessment of the new tariff, and developing an appropriate strategy.

Axel Anderl, Partner and Head of the IP, IT, and Data Protection Practice Group as well as the Digital Industries Group, represented the cloud provider before the national courts and the European Court of Justice in the underlying proceedings. Ida Woltran is a Principal Associate on his team and specializes in particular in copyright and collecting society law as well as copyright levies. They are supported by Vanessa Heger, an Associate in the IP, IT, and Data Protection Practice Group.