A farmer who operates photovoltaic systems on the roofs of his farm buildings does not have to pay membership fees to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). This has now been decided by the Rhineland-Palatinate Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Koblenz (Ref.: 6 A 10460/25.OVG of 26 August 2025). The lower court, the Trier Administrative Court, had ruled differently.

The OVG has now clarified that although the farmer is generally liable to pay contributions, he can claim the privileged contribution status under Section 3 (4) sentence 3 IHKG because agriculture is his main activity and he is a member of the Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Agriculture. The privilege to pay contributions under the IHK Act does not require that the business must necessarily be part of or ancillary to agriculture. Rather, the standard is aimed at relieving those who are members of another chamber if their main activity is agriculture, forestry or fishing, if they are pharmacists or practise a liberal profession. In this case, only one tenth of the profit, in this case from the operation of photovoltaic systems, is taken as the basis for assessment. If this amount does not exceed the limit of 5,200 euros, the farmer is exempt from the IHK contribution.