Facts
The case concerns a dispute between Swiss PostSA and the Verein gegen Tierfabriken (VgT) regarding PostSA's refusal to transport two VgT publications, the "VgT-Nachrichten" and the "ACUSA-News", as unaddressed mass mailings. The VgT requested the court to declare that PostSA's refusal was illegal. PostSA appealed the decision of the court of first instance, which had ruled in favor of the VgT.
The publications in question are newspapers that appear quarterly and have a circulation of 500,000 and 200,000 copies, respectively. They contain articles on animal breeding, letters from readers, book presentations, and vegetarian recipes.
PostSA refused to transport these publications, arguing that they did not meet the criteria to benefit from the preferential rate for newspapers and periodicals. The VgT contested this decision, arguing that PostSA had the obligation to transport these publications under the PostSA law.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether PostSA was obliged to transport the VgT publications. It considered that the transport of newspapers that are not subscribed to was not part of the basic services that PostSA had to provide, but belonged to the services that PostSA could provide without being obliged to do so.
The Court also examined the question of whether PostSA was bound by fundamental rights, in particular freedom of the press. It considered that PostSA was not bound by fundamental rights in the context of its competitive…