The Regional Administrative Court Again Cancels Google's Administrative Fees
*by Fulvio Sarzana di S.Ippolito, Lawyer, Sarzana and Partners Law Firm. Studio Legale Sarzana e Associati
On May 29, 2026, the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio published two twin rulings annulling the AGCOM resolutions that set the fees due by Google Ireland Limited for 2025, respectively, as a video-sharing platform provider (VSP) and as a copyright operator in the Digital Single Market.
The reasoning is identical in both cases: Google Ireland is established in Ireland, and pursuant to Article 3 of Directive 2000/31/EC, it is subject exclusively to the obligations established by the law of the Member State of establishment.
Italy cannot impose additional charges on it.
The tax issue: the most delicate issue
This point is worth considering.
AGCOM argued, in both cases, that the contributions are tax-based and therefore fall outside the scope of the E-Commerce Directive, which expressly excludes taxation from its scope.
It should be noted that the Budget Law (Law No. 199/2025) introduced a structural reform of AgCom contributions, classifying the levy as a tax and shifting the entire cost of the Authority's operation to the regulated industry, eliminating the share borne by the State.
Therefore, if the contributions were truly taxes, the E-Commerce Directive would not apply, and with it the entire jurisprudential framework that has ruled in favor of foreign operators to date would collapse.
The Regional Administrative Court, in line with the now consolidated position of the Council of State, rejected this argument.
The reasoning is as follows: the contribution is not a tax linked to a generic economic requirement, as is the case with taxes. It is a financing measure functionally linked to the exercise of regulatory activities that are directly based on European Union law.
The legal basis is not national but EU: the contribution exists because the directive assigns AGCOM certain functions, and serves to finance them. It cannot therefore be separated from the European legislation that generates it and treated as a standard tax outside the rules of the internal market.
It should be added that the same objection of lack of jurisdiction raised by AGCOM, based precisely on the tax nature of the contribution, was rejected in both rulings. The Regional Administrative Court confirmed the administrative judge's jurisdiction, noting that the appeal does not challenge a single tax measure but fundamentally challenges the Authority's power to impose contribution obligations on a party established in another Member State. This is a question of European law and the division of regulatory powers, not a tax dispute.
The Regional Administrative Court Again Cancels Google's Administrative Fees
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