Cash will remain a legal form of tender for goods and services across the eurozone, even if creditors don't want to accept it, after a decree from Europe's top court. 

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that in all but exceptional cases, coins and notes must be accepted as a form of payment, despite mounting pressure from banks and vendors for cashless transactions by default.

Many European Union member states, particularly those in the former eastern bloc such as Czechia and Hungary, have been embracing the move towards cashless payment options in recent years. Speed of transactions, along with worries about banknotes funding crime and terrorism, were helping the switch away from physical tender even before the advent of COVID-19. Now, with concerns about the cleanliness of notes and coins that may have passed through a multitude of hands, the move to a cashless society is accelerating. 

However, Tuesday's ruling, centering on a case in Germany in which two people had insisted on paying a TV license fee with cash, the ECJ has poured cold water on the trend. Judges have ruled that creditors do have an obligation "in principle" to accept the euro, except in instances where the parties have made a prior alternative agreement, or where the member state concerned has already introduced legislation to limit the use of cash as a public interest objective.

In a statement, the ECJ claimed that, by not accepting a cash payment for the contested license fee, Germany's public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk had acted contrary to German federal law, which provides that euro banknotes are "unrestricted" legal tender.

Despite the judgment, across the 27 states an increasing number of consumer-facing industries, such as shops, restaurants and transport providers, are demanding payment in cash-free form only from their customers. 

In Sweden, which has led the march, the use of notes and coins fell by more than half to just 13 percent in the 10 years to 2018. However, there are signs that even across Scandinavia a backlash is developing. Concern that the elderly, and those in rural or more marginalized communities are being excluded from access to basic goods and services has led several political parties to change position on the issue. Elsewhere, waiters, hairdressers and even homeless people, used to receiving small cash stipends from the public, complain they are also losing out.

Proponents continue to insist that cashless payment remains the most powerful tool to tackle the growing problem of organized crime and tax avoidance across the eurozone, as transactions are automatically logged and traceable. However, Tuesday's ruling is being heralded as the most explicit legal pronouncement so far of the obligation for creditors to accommodate some of Europe's most socially excluded citizens, as the race to the cash-free society continues.