HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - In the dispute over the termination options at the dating platform Parship, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg has declared a clause that was valid until the beginning of last year partially invalid. Affected are six- or twelve-month contracts of paying customers, which automatically extended by a full year, unless they were terminated twelve weeks before expiration. That restricts consumer freedom too much, court spokeswoman Christina Schachten said after the ruling was handed down Thursday. The civil senate did not object to the automatic extension by one year for contracts with a term of 24 months.

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations had filed a model declaratory action on behalf of 29 Parship customers, which was joined by more than 1,200 other consumers. "It is a great success for the users of Parship that the court has largely declared the contract extensions inadmissible," said Henning Fischer, a consultant in the team of model declaratory actions at the Federal Association. For consumers, it is often a matter of several hundred euros.

In the decision on automatic contract renewal, the aspect of success-relatedness also played a role for the court, said Schachten. A customer no longer needs the contract if he has found a partner through the online agency. This is different from a mobile phone contract, for example, which is usually only terminated in order to change providers. Already in the oral hearing on September 21, the rapporteur of the civil senate, Stefan Schilling, had explained: "That is very individual, when someone feels successfully in love." He said it was hard to imagine that a user would want to stay on the platform after that.

In February 2022, Parship had changed its terms and conditions due to a new legal situation. After the automatic renewal in case of not timely termination, the membership can now be terminated on a monthly basis. That for the search for love at all money must be paid, explains Parship on its Internet side in such a way: A respectable Kontaktborse costs money, because Matching procedures, profile examinations and data security konnen only over a payment to be ensured."

The model declaratory action was not only directed against the termination clause at Parship. In the opinion of the consumer centers, customers should be allowed to terminate without notice at any time. If a customer has the feeling that his data is no longer in good hands with the agency, holding on to the contract for a longer period is unreasonable, argued the association, which referred to a paragraph in the German Civil Code.

However, the Higher Regional Court rejected the two declaratory motions on this point. A dating platform is not a so-called service of a higher nature, such as medical treatment, which can be terminated at any time, Schachten explained. In addition, the Federal Court of Justice had already ruled in June 2021 that Parship was not a classic marriage agency with index cards. The partner suggestions were based on algorithms.

Fischer, on the other hand, said the dating platform asks for a lot of very private information from users. They must therefore be entitled to termination without notice under the German Civil Code. For the off-line partner switching that is recognized, but for on-line offers not yet hochstrichterlich clarified. The Federal association would examine therefore an revision, as soon as the reasons for judgement were present.

Because the complaint was rejected to the predominant part, the consumer centers must carry two thirds of the procedure costs, Parship however only one third. Should the judgment become legally binding, the plaintiffs would not automatically get money back from Parship, Schachten explained. They would then have to assert their claims in individual lawsuits at the district court. Parship, like Elitepartner and Lovoo, belongs to the online dating service of the ProSiebenSat.1 media group./bsp/DP/nas