Storage Media Levy: austro mechana Publishes New Tariff for Cloud Storage

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling of 16 December 2025, it has now been clarified for Austria that the provision of cloud storage also falls within the storage media levy. In case 4 Ob 15/25x, the Supreme Court held that anyone who provides cloud storage space to consumers in Austria on a commercial basis must, in principle, pay storage media remuneration – even if the data centres are located abroad. It remains unclear, however, exactly what constitutes cloud storage – whether it covers only the main services or also secondary services associated with products. There is still a considerable need for clarification in this regard.

Austro Mechana, as the relevant collecting society, has now also published a tariff for this purpose. This applies to products first placed on the market from 1 April 2026 and, for the first time, explicitly covers cloud storage space as well. It is available on the Austro Mechana website: Tariffs for remuneration on storage media, valid from 1 April 2026.

What is payable under the collective agreement?

For cloud storage, the tariff provides for a fee per customer per quarter. The determining factor in each case is the highest storage category utilised by the customer during the quarter in question:

The rates are significantly higher than those for hard drives and do not distinguish between B2C and B2B customers in the wording. No court ruling has yet been made on the rate, nor is there a relevant framework agreement in place. It is therefore questionable whether the rate is in fact lawful at this level.

Please note the deadlines for registration and payment

 
Cloud service providers who are, in principle, subject to the rate must comply with the relevant reporting and payment deadlines, regardless of whether the amount of the rate is reasonable:

The obligation to report arises from Section 90a(1) of the Copyright Act (UrhG). Anyone who is the first to place storage media or reproduction equipment on the market on a commercial basis, whether from a location within Germany or abroad, must report the type and quantity of the items imported 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, from which the published rate applies, the relevant deadline is therefore 15 July. Payment must then be made by the end of the month following the quarter – which, for Q2 2026, is 31 July.

In summary, the following reporting and payment deadlines apply:

Registration is carried out via austro mechana’s SMV online portal. It may take a few days from registration to activation on the portal – it is therefore essential to register in advance.

Please note: double payment in the event of a missing or incomplete declaration

The reporting deadlines are not merely a formality: under Section 90a(2) of the Copyright Act, double the standard rate of remuneration may be claimed for the relevant part if the person required to report fails to fulfil their reporting obligation, or fulfils it only incompletely or otherwise incorrectly.

Cloud service providers should therefore check as soon as possible whether, and to what extent, their services in Austria fall under the new rate. Failure to report, or late reporting, may result in the costs being doubled.

What businesses should be doing now

Cloud providers should clarify the following points in the short term:

• Identifying the Austrian connection: Which customers belong to the Austrian market?
• Documenting storage categories: What was the highest storage category used by each customer during the quarter?
• Setting up the reporting process: The legal reporting deadlines should also be scheduled internally in line with the calendar, and access to the SMV online portal should be requested in good time.
• Calculating rate charges: The costs must be calculated on the basis of the quarterly billing cycle and the highest storage category per customer.
• Strategic considerations: Will the declaration and payment be made, and if so, for what purpose? This will depend on which services are 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, preparing notifications and carrying out a legal assessment of the new rate, as well as in determining 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 in his team and specialises in particular in copyright law and the law governing collecting societies, as well as copyright levies. She is supported by Vanessa Heger, an Associate in the IP, IT and Data Protection practice group.