Deutschlandticket: Cancellation must also work without login
It must be possible to cancel the Deutschlandticket directly and without logging in. This is the ruling of the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court.
A train operated by the non-federally owned railroad company metronom stops at Alfeld (Leine) station. A Deutschlandticket purchased in Bavaria is also valid here.
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
The cancel button must be "directly and easily accessible", even with the Deutschlandticket. This was decided by the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court in a lawsuit against a Bavarian public transport operator (OLG Nuremberg, final judgment of 30.07.2024, Ref. 3 U 2214/23). Although the public transport operator always offered a cancel button, this was initially only visible after logging into a user account. According to the OLG, such a barrier may even be permissible in certain constellations, but not with the Deutschlandticket.
The termination button has been a legally required button on websites and in apps for the simple online termination of long-term contracts since mid-2022. Anyone who clicks on it must be able to give both ordinary and extraordinary notice of termination on the following page. "The buttons and the confirmation page must be permanently available and directly and easily accessible," states Section 312k (2) of the German Civil Code (BGB).
Last year, the Bavarian consumer advice center issued warnings to two Bavarian transport companies due to the lack of cancellation buttons. One company inserted the cancel button and issued a declaration to cease and desist. The second transport company announced improvements, but refused to issue a cease-and-desist declaration with a penalty clause. The Bavarian consumer advice center then filed a lawsuit.
Forgotten passwords are a hassle
The public transport operator argued that the online purchase of the Deutschlandticket was only possible with a customer account. Accordingly, it was sufficient to provide the cancel button in this closed area. This would also be more practical for customers because they would not have to type in their relevant data again.
The OLG Nuremberg rejects this view: "(...) rather, the requirement to first log in to one's own protected customer area is a hurdle that the legislator did not want to impose on the customer," the senate of judges states. On the one hand, without logging in, it is not clear that online termination is even provided for – and it was precisely important to the legislator that consumers are shown the low-threshold termination option.
On the other hand, once the electronic ticket has been purchased and obtained, the customer account is no longer necessary to use the service. There is therefore a risk that the customer will forget their password. Restoring access "requires time and effort", according to the judges. And it is precisely this effort that the cancel button is intended to reduce. (At the same time, the German ticket retailer is free to add the cancel button to the customer account).
Exception perhaps for computer games
However, the judges indicate that in certain cases they would probably accept that a cancel button is only visible after logging into a customer account: Namely, if the service owed "by its very nature requires a login anyway". This could be the case for computer game subscriptions, for example, but not for travel tickets or fitness studios. With regard to a streaming service, the Munich I Regional Court ruled differently last year (case no. 33 O 15098/22). The Nuremberg Higher Regional Court judges, on the other hand, identified a legal loophole and indicated that they would like to close it: "If the user has to log in regularly anyway, it can be assumed from a standardized point of view that he always has the necessary login data at hand," they write, only to then emphasize that this does not apply to the present case.
In the Deutschlandticket case, the Bavarian public transport operator faces a fine of up to 250,000 euros or six months' imprisonment for each further case of non-compliance as a consequence of the ruling. It must also pay 270 euros plus interest for the original warning and bear the majority of the costs of the proceedings. The OLG does not allow an ordinary appeal to the Federal Court of Justice.
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