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NHK subscription - legality question

So the long and short of it is they are still in the right to demand you sign up but they are also still unable to collect unless they take each and every "offender" to court and sue them.

And thus the status quo is maintained...
 
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BIPSY said:
So the long and short of it is they are still in the right to demand you sign up but they are also still unable to collect unless they take each and every "offender" to court and sue them.
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I am guessing they will very publicly take a couple of people who refuse to sign the contract to the court and try to make them examples for all to fear.
 
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Today’s news confirms that the collectors can collect, but forcing you to sign is not a sure thing as it’s not a crime not to pay. It’s constitutional to make you enter into a contract, but not enforceable if you refuse to pay. Only a court can do that. And that would mean you’d have been summoned before a judge as as a special case to make an example out of for all to see. Rare and happens every ten to 20 years like the report today. Just either don’t pay or take it up the donkey hole if you do.
 
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It seems many people don't understand what the new decision means. Executive summary follows:

Old way: if you signed the contract they could force you to pay by taking you to court. If you didn't sign they could only harass you.

New way: They can force you to pay by taking you to court.
 
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TAG Manager said:
Not if you don't have a TV.
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Well, kind of thought that was given.

Of course anything capable of receiving their transmission will qualify also; phone, PC card, and car navigation systems pop to mind immediately.

And this can now easily turn so that you need to prove you have no way of receiving their signal.
 
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Nosophobia2017 said:
I understood well. Court will come when the back fees are worth the court process.
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I don't really think they care about the money in there. Court will come when they think you are high profile enough to raise a lot of press attention. So make publicly noise about the fact you are not paying or be famous enough. And I am guessing they will also get one foreigner in to the court soon enough to showcase.
 
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But as I recollect, this is nothing new. It’s been established for a long time that NHK will take you to court when your bill gets to about 200,000 to 300,000 yen. You can fight them for a period of time, by he end of it you might owe 500,000 yen. It’s a running tab from the time you move in with or without an antenna or TV. There’s a level of deception here on that point. Charges are address based not based on TVs. Only one person in a family per address has to pay or maybe household. So indeed most families do pay by way of household. Someone won an argument on that merit.
 
Nosophobia2017 said:
But as I recollect, this is nothing new.
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The new thing is they can take you to the court without you signing the contract. They used to take people to court like you said, but only those who signed and then stopped paying.
 
Depends on what news or neighbors you come across. I know of a story where a woman or man moved into a house and the NHK person visited but was ignored. 10 years later a court proceeding took place and the homeowner lost, but there was a settlement.
 
That address is NHKs record and they know which families pay and which don’t. The question is this: How many people will be taken to court out of the 20 percent? that don’t pay?
 
MikeH said:
The new thing is they can take you to the court without you signing the contract. They used to take people to court like you said, but only those who signed and then stopped paying.
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Honestly, good luck with that. They'll bankrupt themselves processing so many cases.
 
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In today’s ruling the fees hinge on television possession. How does NHK know you have a TV? I don’t let them in.
 
Nosophobia2017 said:
Depends on what news or neighbors you come across. I know of a story where a woman or man moved into a house and the NHK person visited but was ignored. 10 years later a court proceeding took place and the homeowner lost, but there was a settlement.
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Any source for that?

TAG Manager said:
Honestly, good luck with that. They'll bankrupt themselves processing so many cases.
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Yeah, they cannot mass process those as I guess they need to prove you have a TV. So they will go for a few select cases which they will then use to threat people. NHK wanted to have the new ruling apply as soon as they give you a notice and then go for back payments but got rejected so your payment obligations start only when you are sued.

So as long as you don't talk with them and don't get sued you are good. Of course the best option is not to have a TV to begin with.
 
I’ll start here to show how the NHK hounds get you.

Exhibit A: The purchase and filling out some basic information

According to NHK News, the same district court ordered a household in Kanagawa Prefecture to pay a TV license fee that was calculated back to when they first bought their TV set many years ago. The total fee came in at a whopping 109,000 yen. Such a ruling is a first of its kind; up until now if you could somehow avoid signing the TV license contract, you could rid yourself of any obligations to pay.
 
MikeH said:
So as long as you don't talk with them and don't get sued you are good. Of course the best option is not to have a TV to begin with.
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They should make TV's with the NHK channel blocked - problem solved. It's incapable of receiving the NHK signals. :)
I like my TV, which is mainly used for a monitor so I can watch my HBO, NetFlix and other stuff streamed from a dedicated media PC. :)

Do they make a 55+ TV that doesn't have a tuner? I haven't even looked.
 
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Nosophobia2017 said:
Exhibit A: The purchase and filling out some basic information
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Purchase of TV you mean?
There's no way to track that unless you give them your name and address.
I'd pay cash and no names/addresses involved.
 
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Exhibit B: The address extracted from some warranty or other card.

The bill begins.

8 to 10 years later you are taken to court.
 
How does this apply to apartments who came furnished? My apartment is one of these and I have a TV (I didn’t ask for of course) and I don’t use it at all.
I’ve had one of these guys show up a couple of times but since I have a monitor I never answer if I don’t expect anything or anyone.
 
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Anna Summer said:
I’ve had one of these guys show up a couple of times but since I have a monitor I never answer if I don’t expect anything or anyone.
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Don't answer if you can't ID them in the monitor. I've had religious and sales guy press the button and hide away form the camera.
I've also learned that I can have packaged delivered to my local konbini - which saves the trouble of expecting deliveries and I can pick it up when I want.
(I don't have a large delivery box system like the bigger complexes have)
 
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It seems like in the comments sections people are saying that NHK is getting address information and associating it with TV purchases. Then later suing people.
 
The situation in the UK according to the Daily Telegraph.

Ministry of Justice figures show £5 million cost of prosecuting those who refuse to pay BBC licence fee dwarfed by massive fines income
The Government makes nearly £50 million a year by prosecuting those who refuse to pay the television licence fee, according to new Ministry of Justice figures.

Around 180,000 people are prosecuted each year for failing to pay the £145.50 fee, double the number proceeded against a decade ago, and prosecutions for evasion now make up one in nine of all cases put before magistrates’ courts.
 
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