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Austria - Constitution
{ Adopted in: 1929 }
{ ICL Document Status: 1 July 1983
}
Article 1 [Republic, Democracy] Article 2 [Federal State] Article 3 [Territory] Article 4 [Currency, Customs] Article 5 [Capital] Article 7 [Equality, Political
Rights] Article 8 [Official Language] Article 8a [State Colors, Flag, Coat of Arms,
Seal] Article 9 [International Law, Transfer of
Powers] Article 9a [Defence, Military
Service] Article 10 [Federal Legislation and
Execution] Article 11 [Federal Legislation and State
Execution] Article 12 [Federal Framework
Legislation] Article 13 [Taxation] Article 14 [Education] Article 14a [State Legislation and Execution,
Exceptions] Article 15 [General Competence of the
States] Article 15a [Agreements Between Federation and
States] Article 16 [Implementation of
Treaties] Article 17 [Competences Not Restricting Civil
Rights] Article 18 [Rule of Law] Article 19 [Governmental Power,
Incompatibility] Article 20 [Administration] Article 21 [Service Code] Article 22 [Mutual Assistance] Article 23 [State Liability] Chapter II Federal Legislation Part A The House of Representatives Article 24 [Legislative Power] Article 25 [Seat] Article 26 [Election] Article 27 [Term] Article 28 [Sessions] Article 29 [Dissolution] Article 30 [Organization] Article 31 [Majority] Article 32 [Publicity] Article 33 [Publications] Article 34 [Representation] Article 35 [Election] Article 36 [Chairman, Convocation] Article 37 [Quorum, Majority, Standing Orders,
Publicity] Article 38 [Functions] Article 39 [Chairman] Article 40 [Resolutions] Part D Federal Legislative Procedure Article 41 [Bills] Article 42 [Objection] Article 43 [Referendum] Article 44 [Constitutional Laws] Article 45 [Referendum Majority] Article 46 [Initiative and Referendum
Law] Article 47 [Signatures] Article 48 [Publication] Article 49 [Promulgation] Article 49a [Republication] Part E Participation of the House of Representatives
and of the Senate in Execution by the Bund Article 50 [Treaties] Article 51 [Budget] Article 52 [Government
Interrogation] Article 53 [Committees of Inquiry] Article 54 [Tariffs] Article 55 [Main Committee] Part F Status of Members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate Article 56 [Independence] Article 57 [Indemnity, Immunity] Article 58 [Immunity in the Senate] Article 59 [Incompatibility, Public
Employment] Article 60 [Election] Article 61 [Incompatibility] Article 62 [Oath] Article 63 [Immunity] Article 64 [Temporary Discharge] Article 65 [Functions] Article 66 [Authorization] Article 67 [Recommendation,
Countersignature] Article 68 [Responsibility] Title 2 The Federal Government Article 69 [Government] Article 70 [Appointment] Article 71 [Interim Government] Article 72 [Affirmation] Article 73 [Deputy Minister] Article 74 [Vote of No Confidence] Article 75 [Presence of Government] Article 76 [Responsibility] Article 77 [Federal Ministries] Article 78 [Special Ministers, Secretaries of
State] Article 79 [Military Defence, Other
Functions] Article 80 [Command] Article 81 [State Participation] Title 4 The Federal School Authorities Article 81a [Competence, School
Boards] Article 81b [Proposals] Article 82 [Judgments] Article 83 [Court Organization, Constitutional
Judge] Article 84 [Military Tribunals] Article 85 [Capital Punishment] Article 86 [Appointment] Article 87 [Independence] Article 87a [Small Business] Article 88 [Retirement, Suspension] Article 89 [Judicial Review of
Laws] Article 90 [Publicity, Indictment] Article 91 [Juries in Criminal
Proceedings] Article 92 [Supreme Court] Article 93 [Pardons] Article 94 [Separation of Powers] Chapter IV Legislation and Execution by the
States Article 95 [State Parliaments] Article 96 [Immunity] Article 97 [State Legislation] Article 98 [Notification,
Objection] Article 99 [State Constitutions] Article 100 [Dissolution] Article 101 [State Government] Article 102 [State-Governor] Article 103 [Instructions] Article 104 [Assignment] Article 105 [Representation, Deputy State-Governor,
Responsibility] Article 106 [State Administrative
Director] Part B The Federal Capital, Vienna Article 108 [Institutions, Offices] Article 109 [Appeal] Article 110 [Administrative Tribunal] Article 111 [Special Committees] Article 112 Article 115 [Local Counties,
Competence] Article 116 [Self-Administration] Article 117 [Authorities,
Elections] Article 118 [Competencies] Article 119 [Assignment] Article 119a [Supervision] Article 120 [Local and Regional
Counties] Chapter V Control of Public Accounts and
Administration of Public Funds Article 121 [Auditing Board] Article 122 [Responsibility, Independence,
Establishment] Article 123 [President of the
Board] Article 123a [Pariticipation in
Debates] Article 124 [Temporary Discharge] Article 125 [Appointment] Article 126 [Incompatibilities] Article 126a [Ruling About
Competence] Article 126b [Scope of Examination] Article 126c [Financial Examination] Article 126d [Annual Report] Article 127 [State Examination] Article 127a [County Examination] Article 128 [Auditing Law] Chapter VI Constitutional and Administrative
Guarantees Part A The Administrative Court Article 129 [Jurisdiction] Article 130 [Cases of Illegality] Article 131 [Standing] Article 131a [Infringement of Personal
Rights] Article 132 [Complaint About
Non-Activity] Article 133 [Excluded Matters] Article 134 [Establishment] Article 135 [Tribunals] Article 136 [Standing Orders] Part B The Constitutional Court Article 137 [Pecuniary Claims] Article 138 [Conflicts of
Competence] Article 138a [Competence
Agreements] Article 139 [Ordinances] Article 139a [Legal Norms] Article 140 [Laws] Article 140a [Treaties] Article 141 [Elections] Article 142 [Liability of Officers] Article 143 [Criminal Liability of
Officers] Article 144 [Administrative
Jurisdiction] Article 145 [International Law] Article 146 [Enforcement] Article 147 [Establishment] Article 148 [Organizational Law] Article 148a [Standing, Investigation,
Independence] Article 148b [State Support,
Secrecy] Article 148c [Recommendations] Article 148d [Annual Report] Article 148e [Court Application] Article 148f [Ruling on Interpretation] Article 148g [Establishment] Article 148h [Appointment] Article 148i [State Matters] Article 148j [Ombudsmen Law] Article 149 [Old Laws] Article 150 [Transitional Law] Article 151 [Responsibility]
Austria is
a democratic republic.
(1) Austria
is a federal state.
(2) The Federal State is composed of the autonomous
States of Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg,
Styria, Tirol, Vorarlberg, and Vienna.
(1) The federal
territory comprises the territories of the Federal States.
(2) A change
in the federal territory, which is at the same time a change in State
territory, just as the change of a State boundary within federal
territory, can, apart from peace treaties, only be effected by
corresponding constitutional laws of the Federation and the State whose
territory undergoes change.
(1) The
federal territory constitutes a uniform currency, economic, and customs
area.
(2) Intermediate customs barriers or other traffic restrictions
may not be established within federal territory.
(1) The federal
capital and seat of the highest federal authorities is Vienna.
(2) For
the duration of extraordinary circumstances the Federal President can, at
the request of the Federal Government, remove the seat of the highest
federal authorities elsewhere in federal territory.
(1) All federal nationals are equal
(2) Public employees, including members of the Federal Army,
are guaranteed the unrestricted exercise of their political rights.
German is the
official language of the Republic without prejudice to the rights provided
by federal law for linguistic minorities.
(1) The colors of the Republic of Austria are
red-white-red. The flag consists of three identically broad horizontal
stripes of which the intermediate is white the upper and the lower are
red.
(2) The federal Coat of Arms
(3) Detailed provisions, in
particular as to safeguard of the colors, the coat of arms, and the seal
of the Republic, are settled by
federal law.
(1) The generally recognized rules of international
law are regarded as integral parts of federal law.
(2) Legislation or a
treaty requiring sanction in accordance with Article 50 (1)
can transfer specific federal competencies to intergovernmental
organizations and their authorities and can within the framework of
international law regulate the activity of foreign states' agents inside
Austria as well as the activity of Austrian agents abroad.
(1) Austria subscribes to universal national
defence. Its task is to preserve the federal territory's outside
independence as well as its inviolability and its unity, especially as
regards the maintenance and defence of permanent neutrality. In this
connection, too, the constitutional establishments and their capacity to
function as well as the democratic freedoms of residents require to be
safeguarded and defended against acts of armed attack from outside.
(2)
Universal national defence comprises military, intellectual, civil, and
economic national defence.
(3) Every male Austrian national is liable
for military service
(1) The Federation has powers of
legislation
1. the
Federal Constitution, in particular elections to the House of
Representatives, and referenda as provided by the Federal Constitution;
the Constitutional Court;
2. external affairs, including political and
economic representation with regard to other countries and in particular
the conclusion of international treaties of all kinds, demarcation of
frontiers; trade in goods and livestock with other countries;
customs;
3. regulation and control of entry into and exit from the
federal territory; immigration and emigration; passports; deportation,
turning back at the frontier, expulsion, and extradition from or through
the federal territory;
4. federal finances, in particular taxes to be
collected exclusively or in part on behalf of the Federation;
monopolies;
5. the monetary, credit, stock exchange and banking system;
the weights and measures, standards, and hallmark system;
6. civil law,
including the rules relating to economic association, but excluding
regulations which render real property transactions with aliens subject to
restrictions by the administrative authorities; criminal law, excluding
administrative penal law and administrative penal procedure in matters
which fall within the autonomous sphere of competence of the States;
administration of justice; establishments, such as compulsory labor and
similar institutions, for the protection of society against criminal,
degenerate or otherwise dangerous elements; the Administrative Court;
copyright; Press affairs; expropriation for the purposes of urban and
rural reclamation, reconditioning, restoration; expropriation in so far as
it does not concern matters falling within the autonomous sphere of
competence of the States, matters of notaries, lawyers, and related
professions;
7. the maintenance of peace, order and security, excluding
the local public safety administration; the right of association and
assembly; matters of personal status, including the registration of
births, marriages and deaths, and change of name; aliens police and
residence registration; matters of weapons, ammunition and explosives, and
the use of fire-arms;
8. matters of trade and industry; public
advertising and commercial brokerage; restraint of unfair competition;
patent matters and the protection of designs, trade marks, and other
commodity descriptions; matters of patent agents; matters of civil
engineering; chambers of commerce, trade, and industry; establishment of
professional associations in so far as they extend to the federal
territory as a whole, but with the exception of those in the field of
agriculture and forestry;
9. the traffic system relating to the
railways, aviation, and shipping in so far as the last of these does not
fall under Article 11; motor
traffic; matters, with exception of the highway police, which concern
roads declared by federal law as federal highways on account of their
importance for transit traffic; river and navigation police in so far as
these do not fall under Article 11; the
postal, telegraph, and telephone system;
10. mining; forestry,
including timber flotage; water rights; control and conservation of waters
for the safe diversion of floods or for shipping and raft transport;
regulation of torrents; construction and maintenance of waterways
regulation and standardization of electrical plants and establishments as
well as safety measures in this field; provisions of electric power
transmission in so far as the transmission extends over two or more
States, matters of steam- and other power-driven engines;
surveying;
11. labor legislation in so far as it does not fall under
Article 12;
social and contractual insurance; chambers for workers and salaried
employees with the exception of those relating to agriculture and
forestry;
12. public health with the exception of burial and disposal
of the dead and community sanitation and first aid services, but only
sanitary supervision with respect to hospitals, nursing homes, health
resorts and natural curative resources; measures to counter factors
hazardous to the environment through the transcendence of input limits,
veterinary affairs; nutrition affairs, including foodstuffs
inspection;
13. archive and library services for the sciences and
specialist purposes; matters of federal collections and establishments
serving the arts and sciences, all matters of the federal theaters not
however including the settlement of their structural alignment and level
nor the treatment accorded by the official building authorities to
constructions which concern surface elements in such edifices; the
preservation of monuments; religious affairs; census as well as, allowing
for the rights of the States to engage within their own territory in every
kind of statistical activity, other statistics in so far as they do not
serve the interests of one State only; endowments and foundations when
their purposes extend beyond a single State's sphere of interests and they
have hitherto not been autonomously administered by the States;
14.
organization and conduct of the federal police and the federal
gendarmerie; settlement of the conditions of establishment and
organization of other protective forces, including their armament and the
right to make use of their weapons;
15. military affairs; matters of
war damage and welfare measures for combatants and their surviving
dependents; care of war graves; whatever measures seem necessary by reason
or in consequence of war to ensure the uniform conduct of economic
affairs, in particular with regard to the population's supply with
essentials;
16. the establishment of federal authorities and other
federal agencies; service code for and staff representation rights of
federal employees; and
17. population policy in so far as it concerns
the grant of children's allowances and the organization of burden
equalization on behalf of families.
(2) In federal laws on the right of
succession to undivided farm estate as well as in federal laws promulgated
in accordance with Paragraph (1) no.10, State legislatures can be
empowered to issue implementing provisions with respect to individual
provisions which must be specifically designated. The provisions of
Article 15
(6) shall be analogously applied to these State laws. Execution of the
implementing laws issued in such cases lies with the Federation, but the
enabling ordinances, in so far as they relate to the implementing
provisions of the State law, need foregoing agreement with the State
government concerned.
(3) The Federation must allow the States
opportunity to present their views before its conclusion of treaties which
within the meaning of Article 1 render
necessary enabling measures or affect the autonomous sphere of competence
of the States in another way.
(1) In the following matters legislation is the
business of the Federation, execution that of the States:
1.
nationality and right of citizenship;
2. professional associations in
so far as they do not fall under Article 10, but
with the exception of those in the field of agriculture and
forestry;
3. national housing affairs;
4. highway police;
5.
sanitation; and
6. inland shipping as regards shipping licenses,
shipping facilities and compulsory measures of such facilities in so far
as it does not apply to the Danube, Lake Constance, Lake Neusiedl, and
boundary stretches of other frontier waters.
(2) In so far as a need
for the issue of uniform regulations is considered to exist, the
administrative procedure the general provisions of administrative penal
law, the administrative penal procedure and the administrative execution
also in matters where legislation lies with the States in particular also
in matters of taxation, are prescribed by federal law; divergent
regulations can be made in Federal or State laws settling the individual
spheres of administration only when they are requisite for regularization
of the matter in hand.
(3) Enabling ordinances to the federal laws
promulgated in accordance with Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be issued,
save as otherwise provided in these laws, by the Federation. The manner of
publication for enabling ordinances whose issue by the States in matters
concerning Paragraph (1) no.4 and 6 is empowered by federal law can be
prescribed by federal law.
(4) The application of the laws promulgated
pursuant to Paragraph (2) and the enabling ordinances issued hereto lies
with the Federation or the States, depending on whether the business which
forms the subject of the procedure is a matter for execution by the
Federation or the States.
(5) In proceedings before the administrative
authorities the final decision on administrative contraventions lies with
administrative penal tribunals to be constituted within the framework of
the competent authorities. The members of these tribunals are independent
in the exercise of their office and not bound by any instructions. The
senior official of the authority concerned or a deputy delegated by him,
who must have legal training, presides. The Federation appoints two
members also in cases where the tribunals have not been constituted within
the framework of the federal authorities. Acting on applications from the
administrative penal tribunals, the State-Governors are competent to
exercise the right of pardon provided for by law where penal
administrative business arises under the indirect federal administration,
the State Governments in matters of the autonomous sphere of competence of
the States. Details regarding the establishment of administrative penal
tribunals and their activity will be prescribed by federal law.
(1) In the following matters, framework
legislation is the business of the Federation, the issue of implementing
laws and execution the business of the States:
1. social welfare;
population policy in so far as it does not fall under Article 10;
public social and welfare establishments; maternity, infant, and
adolescent welfare; hospitals and nursing homes; requirements to be
imposed for health reasons on health resorts, sanatoria, and health
establishments; natural curative resources;
2. public institutions for
the adjustment of disputes out of court;
3. land reform, in particular
land consolidation measures and resettlement;
4. the protection of
plants against diseases and pests;
5. matters of electric power in so
far as they do not fall under Art. 10; and
6. labor legislation and the
protection of workers and employees in so far as it is a matter of workers
and employees engaged in agriculture and forestry.
(2) In matters of
land reform the final decision and that at State level lies with tribunals
composed of a chairman and judges, administrative officials, and experts
the tribunal qualified to pronounce final judgment will be appointed
within the framework of the competent Federal Ministry. The organization,
the duties and the procedure of the tribunals as well as the principles
for the organization of other authorities concerned with matters of land
reform will be prescribed by federal law. This shall provide that the
decisions by the tribunals are not subject to repeal and change by way of
administrative ruling; the exclusion of ordinary appeal from the authority
of first instance to the State jurisdiction is inadmissible.
(3) If and
inasmuch as the rulings of State authorities in matters of electric power
deviate from one another or a State Government was the sole competent
State authority, the competence in such a matter passes, provided a party
so demands within the deadline to be fixed by federal law, to the Federal
Ministry competent in the business. As soon as the Ministry has reached a
decision, the rulings hitherto made by the State authorities are
invalidated.
The competencies of
the Federation and the States in the field of taxation will be prescribed
in a special federal constitutional law.
(1) Save as
provided otherwise in the following paragraphs, legislation and execution
in the field of schooling and in the field of education in matters of
pupil and student hostels are the business of the Federation. The matters
settled in Article 14a do
not belong to schooling and education within the meaning of this
Article.
(2) Save as provided otherwise by Paragraph (4)(a),
legislation is the business of the Federation, execution the business of
the States in matters of the service code for and staff representation
rights of teachers at public compulsory schools. Such federal laws can
empower State legislatures to issue implementing provisions to individual
provisions which shall be precisely specified; in these instances the
provisions of Article 15 (6)
apply analogously. The enabling ordinances in respect of such federal
laws, save as provided otherwise herein, shall be issued by the
Federation.
(3) In the following matters framework legislation is the
business of the Federation, the issue of implementing laws and execution
the business of the States:
a) composition and disposition, including
their members' appointment and remuneration, of the boards to be
constituted in the States and political Districts as part of the federal
school authorities;
b) framework organization (structure,
organizational forms, establishment, maintenance, dissolution, local
districts, sizes of classes and instruction periods) of public compulsory
schools;
c) framework organization of publicly maintained student
hostels provided exclusively or mainly for pupils of compulsory schools;
and
d) professional employment qualifications for kindergarten teachers
and educational assistants to be employed by the States, Counties, or
County Associations at the centers and student hostels provided
exclusively or mainly for pupils of compulsory schools.
(4) In the
following matters legislation and execution is the business of the
States:
a) competence of officials, on the basis of laws promulgated
pursuant to Paragraph (2), to exercise official responsibility over
teachers at public compulsory schools; the States laws shall provide that
the federal school authorities in the States and political Districts must
participate in appointments, other selections for service positions, and
awards as well as in eligibility and disciplinary proceedings. The
participation in appointments, other selections for service positions, and
awards shall at all events comprise a right of nomination on the part of
the primary level federal school authority;
b) the kindergarten system
and the centers system.
(5) In the following matters legislation and
execution are, in deviation from the provisions of Paragraphs (2) to (4),
the business of the Federation:
a) public demonstration schools,
demonstration kindergartens, demonstration centers, and demonstration
student hostels attached to a public school for the purpose of practical
instruction as provided by the curriculum;
b) publicly maintained
student hostels intended exclusively or mainly for pupils of the
demonstration schools mentioned in Sub-Paragraph (a); and
c) the
service code for and staff representation rights of teachers, educational
assistants, and kindergarten teachers at the public institutions mentioned
in Sub-Paragraphs (a) and (b).
(6) Public schools are those schools
which are established and maintained by authorities so required by law.
The Federation is the authority so required by law in so far as
legislation and execution in matters of the establishment, maintenance,
and dissolution of public schools are the business of the Federation. The
State or, according to the statutory provisions, the County, or a County
Association is the authority so required by law in so far as legislation
or implementing legislation and execution in matters of establishment,
maintenance and dissolution of public schools are the business of the
State. Admission to public school is open to all without distinction of
birth, sex race, status, class, language and religion, and in other
respects within the limits of the statutory requirements. The same applies
analogously to kindergartens, centers, and student hostels.
(7) Private
schools are different from public schools; they shall be accorded public
status according to the statutory provisions.
(8) The Federation is
entitled, in matters which in accordance with Paragraphs (2) and (3)
belong to execution by the States, to obtain confirmation about adherence
to the laws and ordinances issued on the basis of these paragraphs and can
for this purpose delegate officials to the schools and student hostels.
Should shortcomings be observed, the State-Governor can be instructed
(Article 20 (1))
to redress the shortcomings within an appropriate deadline. The
State-Governor must see to the redress of the shortcomings according to
the statutory provisions and, to effect the execution of such
instructions, is bound also to employ the means at his disposal in his
capacity as an authority acting on behalf of the State in its autonomous
sphere of competence.
(9) The general rules in Articles 10 and 21 as to
the distribution of competencies for legislation and execution regarding
conditions of service with the Federation, the States, the Counties, and
the County Associations apply in respect of the service code for teachers,
educational assistants, and kindergarten teachers, save as provided
otherwise by the preceding paragraphs. The same applies to the staff
representation rights of teachers, educational assistants, and
kindergarten teachers.
(10) In matters of the school authorities of the
Federation in the States and political Districts, compulsory schooling,
school organization, private schools, and the relationship between school
and the Churches including religious instruction at school, the House of
Representatives, in so far as matters of universities and fine arts
academies are not concerned, can adopt federal legislation only in the
presence of at least half the members and by a two thirds majority of the
votes cast. The same applies to the ratification of treaties negotiated on
these matters and which fall into the category specified in Article 50.
(1) Save as provided otherwise in the following
paragraphs, legislation and execution are the business of the States with
regard to agricultural and forestry schooling as well as with regard to
agricultural and forestry education in matters of student hostels, and in
matters of the service code for and staff representation rights of
teachers and educational assistants at the schools and student hostels
falling under this Article. Matters of university training do not fall
under agricultural and forestry schooling.
(2) Legislation and
execution is the business of the Federation in the following
matters:
a) secondary agricultural and forestry schools and schools for
the training and supplementary training of teachers at agricultural and
forestry schools;
b) technical colleges for the training of forestry
employees;
c) public agricultural and forestry technical colleges
linked organizationally with one of the public schools mentioned in
Sub-Paragraphs (a) and (b) or with a federal agricultural and forestry
research institute to ensure provision of the demonstrations scheduled in
the curricula;
d) student hostels exclusively or mainly designated for
pupils of the schools mentioned in Sub-Paragraphs (a) to (c);
e)
service code for and staff representational rights of the teachers and
educational assistants in the establishments mentioned in Sub-Paragraphs
(a) to (d) above;
f) subsidies for staff expenditure of the
denominational agricultural and forestry schools; and
g) federal
agricultural and forestry institutes linked organizationally with an
agricultural and forestry school supported by the Federation to ensure
provision of the demonstrations scheduled in the curricula of these
schools.
(3) Save as it concerns matters mentioned in Paragraph (2),
legislation is the business of the Federation, execution the business of
the States in matters of
a) religious instruction and
b) the service
code for and staff representation rights of teachers at public
agricultural and forestry vocational schools and technical colleges and of
educational assistants at publicly maintained student hostels exclusively
or mainly designated for pupils of these schools, excepting however
matters of official competence for the exercise of the service prerogative
over these teachers and educational assistants. State legislatures can be
authorized in federal laws promulgated by reason of the provisions under
Sub-Paragraph (b) to issue implementing provisions for individual
regulations which shall be precisely specified, in this connection the
provisions of Article 15 (6)
apply analogously. Enabling ordinances for the federal laws shall, save as
otherwise provided there, be issued by the Federation.
(4) Framework
legislation is the business of the Federation, the issue of implementing
laws and execution is the business of the States:
a) as regards the
agricultural and forestry vocational schools in matters of definitions of
t,he instructional objective, the obligatory subjects, and free tuition as
well as in matters of compulsory schooling and the transfer from the
school in one State to the school in another State;
b) as regards the
agricultural and forestry technical colleges in matters of the definition
of admission prerequisites, instructional objective, organizational forms,
extent of the teaching and obligatory subjects, free tuition, and the
transfer from the school in one State to the school in another
State;
c) in matters of the public status of private agricultural and
forestry vocational schools and training colleges with the exception of
schools falling under para. 2 sub-para. b above; and
d) as regards the
organization and competence of advisory boards who in the matters of
Paragraph (1) participate in the execution by the States.
(5) The
establishment of the agricultural and forestry technical colleges and
research institutes specified under Paragraph (2)(c) and (g) is only
admissible if the State government of the State in which the vocational
school or technical college is to have its location has agreed to the
establishment. This agreement is not requisite if the establishment
concerns an agricultural and forestry school which is to be
organizationally linked to a school for the training and supplementary
training of teachers and agricultural and forestry schools to ensure
provision of the demonstrations scheduled in their curricula.
(6) It
lies within the competence of the Federation to see to the observance of
the regulations issued by it in matters whose execution in accordance with
Paragraphs (3) and (4) belongs to the States.
(7) The provisions of
Article 14
(6), (7), and (9) analogously also apply for the spheres specified in
the first sentence of Paragraph (1).
(8) federal laws on matters
pursuant to Paragraph (4) can be passed by the House of Representatives
only ill the presence of at least half the members and by a two thirds
majority of the votes cast.
(1) In so far as a matter is not expressly assigned
by the Federal Constitution to the Federation for legislation or also
execution, it remains within the States' autonomous sphere of
competence.
(2) In matters of local public safety administration, i.e.,
that part of public safety administration which exclusively or
preponderantly affects the interests of the local community personified by
the County and which, like preservation of public decency and defence
against the improper creation of noise, can suitably be undertaken by the
community within its local boundaries, the Federation has authority to
supervise the conduct of these matters by the County and to redress any
observed shortcomings by instructions to the State-Governor. Inspectoral
authorities of the Federation can for this purpose be delegated to the
County; in each and every case the State-Governor shall be informed
hereof.
(3) The provisions of States legislation in matters of theaters
and cinemas, public shows, performances, and entertainments
shall
assign to the federal public safety administration within its
local sphere of competence at least the superintendence of the events, in
so far as this does not extend to technical operation, building police,
and fire police considerations, and the participation by the
administration in the initial stage of grant of licenses as stipulated by
such legislation.
(4) To what extent the federal public safety
administration shall within its local sphere of competence be assigned
executive responsibility in the domain of the highway police, except the
local traffic police (Article 118 (4)
no.4) and the river and navigation police on the Danube, Lake
Constance, Lake Neusiedl, and boundary stretches of other frontier waters,
shall be prescribed in corresponding laws of the Federation and the State
concerned.
(5) In so far as executive acts in building matters concern
federally owned buildings which serve public purposes, like accommodation
for federal authorities and offices or public institutions including
schools and hospitals or barracks quarters for members of the Army or
other federal employees, these executive acts fall under the indirect
federal administration; the final decision on appeals rests with the
State-Governor. Nevertheless determination of alignment and level in these
cases too falls under the executive power of the States.
(6) In so far
as framework legislation has been reserved to the Federation, detailed
implementation within the framework laid down by federal law is incumbent
on State legislatures. The federal law can fix for the issue of the
implementing legislation a deadline which may not without the consent of
the Senate, be shorter than six months and not longer than one year. If a
State does not observe this deadline, competence for the issue of the
implementing legislation passes from that State to the Federation. As soon
as the State has issued the implementing legislation the federal
implementing legislation becomes invalidated. If the Federation has not
established any framework, State legislation is free to settle such
matters. As soon as the Federation has established a framework, the
provisions of State legislation shall within the deadline to be appointed
by federal law be adjusted to the framework legislation.
(7) If an
executive act on the part of one State in matters covered by Articles 11, 12, 14
(2) and (3), and 14a (3) and
(4) is to be effective in several States, the participant States shall
take the lead in reaching an agreed basis. If within six months from the
legal business arising no agreed ruling has been laid down, the competence
for such an act passes, upon request by one of the States or one of the
parties participating in the matter, to the competent Federal Ministry.
The details can be settled by federal laws promulgated under Articles 11, 12, 14
(2) and (3), and 14a (3) and
(4).
(8) In matters reserved to federal legislation in conformity
with Articles 11 and
12, the Federation is entitled to control the observance of the
regulations it has issued.
(9) States are competent within the scope of
their legislation to make likewise in the field of civil and criminal law
the provisions necessary to dispose of an item.
(10) State legislation
which alters or settles along the lines the existent organization of the
ordinary public administration in the States, may only be promulgated with
the consent of the Federal Government.
(1) Federation and States can make agreements among
themselves about matters within their respective sphere of competence. The
conclusion of such agreements in the name of the Federation is, depending
on the subject, incumbent on the Federal Government or Federal Minister.
Agreements which are to be binding also on the authorities of the federal
legislature can be concluded by the Federal Government only with the
approval of the House of Representatives. Article 50 (3)
shall by analogy be applied to such resolutions of the House of
Representatives; they shall he published in the federal law
Gazette.
(2) Agreements between the States can only be made about
matters of their autonomous sphere of competence and must without delay be
brought to the Federal Government's knowledge.
(3) The principles of
international law concerning treaties shall apply to agreements within the
meaning of Paragraph (1). The same applies for agreements within the
meaning of Paragraph (2), save as provided otherwise by corresponding
constitutional laws of the States in question.
(1) The States are bound to take measures which
become necessary within their autonomous sphere of competence for the
implementation of international treaties; should a State fail to comply
punctually with this obligation, competence for such measures,
particularly issuing the necessary laws, passes to the Federation. A
measure taken by the Federation pursuant to this provision, particularly
issuing a law or an ordinance, becomes invalid as soon as the State has
taken the requisite action.
(2) Likewise, in the implementation of
treaties with foreign states, the Federation has the right of supervision
in matters which belong to the autonomous sphere of competence of the
States. In such case the Federation has the same rights with respect to
the States as in matters of the indirect federal administration (Article
102).
(1) The provisions of Articles 10 to 15
with regard to competence of legislation and execution in no way affects
the position of the Federation as the holder of civil rights.
(2) The
Federation can in all these legal relations never be placed by State
legislation in a position less favorable than that of the State concerned.
(1) The entire
public administration shall be based on law.
(2) Every administrative
authority can on the basis of law issue ordinances within its sphere of
competence.
(3) If the immediate issue of measures, which require in
accordance with the Constitution a resolution by the House of
Representatives, becomes necessary to prevent obvious and irreparable
damage to the community at a time when the House of Representatives is not
assembled, cannot meet in time, or is impeded from action by circumstances
beyond its control, the Federal President can at the recommendation of the
Federal Government and on his and their responsibility take these measures
by way of provisional law-amending ordinances. The Federal Government must
present its recommendation with the consent of the Standing Sub-Committee
to be appointed by the Main Committee of the House of Representatives
(Article 55 (2)).
Such an ordinance requires the countersignature of the Federal
Government.
(4) Every ordinance issued in accordance with Paragraph (3)
shall without delay be submitted by the Federal Government to the House of
Representatives which if it is not in session at this time shall be
convened by the Federal President, but if it is in session by the
President of the House of Representatives, on one of the eight days
following its submission. Within four weeks of the submission, the House
of Representatives must either vote a corresponding federal law in place
of the ordinance or pass a resolution demanding that the ordinance
immediately become invalidated. In the latter case the Federal Government
must
immediately meet this demand. In order that the resolution of the
House of Representatives may be adopted in time, the President shall at
the latest submit the motion to the vote on the last day but one before
expiry of the four weeks deadline; detailed provisions shall be made in
the Standing Orders.
(5) The ordinances specified in Paragraph (3) may
not contain an amendment to provisions of federal constitutional law and
may have for their subject neither a permanent financial burden on the
Federation nor a financial burden on the States, Districts, or Counties
nor financial commitments for federal citizens nor an alienation of state
property nor measures of matters specified in Article 10 (1)
no.11 nor, finally, such as concern the right of collective
association or rent protection.
(1) The highest executive authorities are
the Federal President, the Federal Ministers and the Secretaries of State,
and the members of the State Governments.
(2) The admissibility of
activities in the private sector of the economy by the authorities
specified in Paragraph (1) and other public functionaries can be
restricted by federal law.
(1) Under
the direction of the highest authorities of the Federation and the States
elected temporary functionaries or permanent appointees conduct the
administration in accordance with the provisions of the laws. They are,
except for differing regulations by Constitutional laws, bound by the
instructions of their superiors and responsible to these for the exercise
of their office. The subordinate officer can refuse compliance with an
instruction if the instruction was given by an authority not competent in
the matter or compliance would infringe the criminal code.
(2) If
Federal or State law has appointed for decision in the last instance a
tribunal whose rulings are, according to the provisions of the law, not
subject to rescission or alteration through administrative authorities and
whose membership includes at least one judge, the other members of this
tribunal are likewise bound by no instructions in the exercise of their
office.
(3) All functionaries entrusted with administrative duties of
Federation, States, and Counties are, except for differing regulations by
law, pledged to secrecy about all facts of which they have obtained
knowledge exclusively from their official activity and whose concealment
is enjoined by the public interest or that of the parties concerned.
Official secrecy does not exist for functionaries appointed by a popular
representative body if it expressly asks for such information.
(1)
Legislation and execution in matters of the service code for and staff
representation rights of employees of the States, the Counties, and the
County Associations are, save as provided otherwise, in all matters in
Paragraph (2) and Article 14 (2) and
(3)(d), incumbent on the States. The laws and ordinances issued by the
States in matters of the service code may not differ in such degree from
the laws and ordinances of the Federation relating to the service code as
substantially to impede the alternation of service stipulated pursuant to
Paragraph (4).
(2) The State laws promulgated in accordance with
Paragraph (1) in the field of service contract regulations may only
contain provisions dealing with establishment and severance of the
employment relationship and the rights and duties arising therefrom.
Legislation and execution in matters of employee protection for
functionaries (Paragraph (1)) and to staff representation of States
functionaries, in so far as they are not
engaged in public enterprises,
are incumbent on the States. In so far as in accordance with this
paragraph the States are not competent, the aforementioned matters fall
within the competence of the Federation.
(3) The service prerogative
with regard to employees of the Federation is exercised by the highest
authorities of the Federation, the service prerogative with regard to
employees of the States by the highest authorities of the States. The
service prerogative with regard to the employees of the Auditing Board is
exercised on behalf of the Federation by the president of the Auditing
Board.
(4) The possibility of an alternation of service between the
Federation, the States, the Counties, and the County Associations pertains
guaranteed at all times to public employees. The alternation of service
will take place with the agreement of the authorities competent to
exercise the service prerogative. Special arrangements to facilitate the
alternation of service can be made by federal law.
(5) Official titles
for the functionaries of the Federation, the States, the Counties, and the
County Associations can be laid down by federal law in a standardized
form. Their use is safeguarded by law.
All
authorities of the Federation, the States, and the Counties are bound
within the framework of their legal sphere of competence to render each
other mutual assistance.
(1) The
Federation, the States, the Districts, the Counties, and the other bodies
and institutions established under public law are liable for the injury
which persons acting on their behalf in execution of the laws have by
illegal behavior culpably inflicted on whomsoever.
(2) Persons acting
on behalf of one of the legal entities specified in Paragraph (1) are
liable to it, in so far as intent or gross negligence can be laid to their
charge, for the injury for which the legal entity has indemnified the
injured party.
(3) Persons acting on behalf of one of the legal
entities specified in Paragraph (1) are liable for the injury which in
execution of the laws they have by illegal behavior inflicted directly on
the legal entity.
(4) The detailed provisions with respect to
Paragraphs (1) to (3) will be established by federal law.
(5) A federal
law can also provide to what extent special provisions deviating from the
principles laid down in Paragraph (1) to (3) above apply in the field of
the postal, telegraph, and telephone system.
The
legislative
(1) The seat of the
House of Representatives is Vienna, the federal capital.
(2) For the
duration of extraordinary circumstances, the Federal President can at the
request of the Federal Government convoke the House of Representatives
elsewhere within federal territory.
(1) The House of
Representatives is elected by the nation in accordance with the principles
of proportional representation on the basis of equal, direct, secret, and
personal suffrage
(2) The federal territory will be divided into self-contained
constituencies whose boundaries may not overlap States boundaries. The
number of deputies shall be divided among the qualified voters of a
constituency in proportion to the number of nationals in the
constituencies, i.e., the number of federal nationals who in accordance
with the result of the last census had their domicile in the
constituencies. A division of the electorate into other electoral bodies
is not admissible.
(3) The day of the poll must be a Sunday or other
public holiday.
(4) Eligible for election is every qualified voter who
has completed his/her twenty first year of life before the day appointed
prior to the election.
(5) Exclusion from the right to vote and from
eligibility can only ensue from a sentence or order by the courts.
(6)
Electoral boards shall be appointed for the implementation and conduct of
elections to the House of Representatives, the election of the Federal
President, and referenda in accordance with Article 46 as
well as for assistance in the scrutiny of initiatives. Their members, with
voting rights, shall include representatives from the participant
political parties. The main electoral board shall include members who
belong or have belonged to the judiciary. The electoral regulations shall
lay down, notwithstanding members originating from the professional
judiciary, number of members to be allocated to the participant political
parties in accordance with their strength as ascertained at the last House
of Representatives election.
(7) The electoral register will be drawn
up by the Counties as part of their assigned sphere of competence.
(1) The legislative
period of the House of Representatives lasts four years, calculated from
the day of its first meeting but in any case until the day on which the
new House of Representatives meets.
(2) The newly elected House of
Representatives shall be convened by the Federal President within thirty
days after the election. The latter shall be so arranged by the Federal
Government as to enable the newly elected House of Representatives to meet
on the day after the expiry of the fourth year of the legislative period.
(1) The Federal
President convokes the House of Representatives each year for an ordinary
session which shall not begin before 15 Sep and not last longer than 15
July the following year.
(2) The Federal President can also convoke the
House of Representatives for extraordinary sessions. If the Federal
Government or at least one third of the members of the House of
Representatives or if the Senate so demands, the Federal President is
bound to convoke the House of Representatives for an extraordinary session
to meet within two weeks of the demand; the convocation needs no
countersignature. A request by members of the House of Representatives or
by the Senate does not require a recommendation by the Federal
Government.
(3) The Federal President declares sessions of the House of
Representatives closed in pursuance of a vote by the House
of
Representatives.
(4) Upon the opening of a new House of
Representatives session within the same legislative period work will be
continued in accordance with the stage reached at the close of the last
session. At the end of a session individual committees can be instructed
by the House of Representatives to continue their work.
(5) During a
session the President of the House of Representatives convokes the
individual sittings. If within a session at least a quarter of the House
of Representatives' members or the Federal Government so demands, the
President is bound to convoke a sitting in such manner that the House of
Representatives meets within five days of the demand.
(6) The federal
law on the House of Representatives' Standing Orders shall lay down
special provisions for its convocation in the event of the elected
Presidents being precluded from the performance of their office or being
deprived of their functions.
(1) The
Federal President can dissolve the House of Representatives, but he may
avail himself of this prerogative only once for the same reason. In such
case the new election shall be so arranged by the Federal Government that
the newly elected House of Representatives can at the latest meet on the
hundredth day after the dissolution.
(2) Before expiry of a legislative
period the House of Representatives can vote its own dissolution by simple
law.
(3) After a dissolution pursuant to Paragraph (2) as well as after
expiry of the period for which the House of Representatives has been
elected, the legislative period lasts until the day on which the newly
elected House of Representatives meets.
(1) The House
of Representatives elects the President, the Second, and Third Presidents
from among its members.
(2) The business of the House of
Representatives is conducted in pursuance of a special federal law. The
federal law on the House of Representatives' Standing Orders can only be
passed in the presence of half the members and by a two thirds majority of
the votes cast.
(3) The Parliamentary Staff, which is subordinate to
the President of the House of Representatives, is competent for the
conduct of Parliamentary auxiliary services and administrative matters
within the scope of the federal legislature. The internal organization of
the Parliamentary Staff for matters of the Senate shall be settled in
agreement with the Chairman of the Senate who is likewise invested with
authority to issue instructions as to implementation of the functions
assigned to the Senate on the basis of this law.
(4) The nomination of
Parliamentary Staff employees and all other competencies in personnel
matters lie with the President of the House of Representatives.
(5) The
President of the House of Representatives can delegate parliamentary Staff
employees to parliamentary parties for help in the fulfillment of
parliamentary duties.
(6) The President of the House of Representatives
is the highest administrative authority in the execution of the
administrative matters for which he is, according to this Article,
competent and he exercises these powers in his own right. He may issue
ordinances inasmuch as these exclusively concern administrative matters
regulated by this Article.
Save as otherwise
provided in this law or as otherwise laid down in the federal law on the
House of Representatives' Standing Orders with regard to individual
matters, the presence of at least one third of the members and an absolute
majority of the votes cast is requisite to a vote by the House
of
Representatives.
(1) The sessions
of the House of Representatives are public.
(2) The public shall be
excluded if the chairman or one fifth of the members present so demand and
the House of Representatives votes this after the withdrawal of the
audience.
No one shall be
called to account for publishing true accounts of proceedings in the
public sessions of the House of Representatives and its committees.
(1)
Pursuant, to the following provisions, the States are represented in the
Senate in proportion to the number of nationals in each of them.
(2)
The State with the largest number of citizens delegates twelve members,
every other State as many as the ratio in which its nationals stand to
those in the first-mentioned State, with remainders which exceed half the
coefficient counting as full. However, every State is entitled to a
representation of at least three members. A substitute will be appointed
for each member.
(3) The number of members to be delegated by each
State accordingly will be re-calculated after every general census by the
Federal President.
(1) The members
of the Senate and their substitutes are elected by the State Parliaments
for the duration of their respective legislative periods in accordance
with the principle of proportional representation, but at least one seat
must fall to the party having the second largest number of seats in a
State Parliament or, should several parties have the same number of seats,
the second highest number of votes at the last election to the State
Parliament. When the claims of several parties are equal, the issue shall
be decided by lot.
(2) The members of the Senate need not belong to the
State Parliament which delegates them, but they must be eligible for that
State Parliament.
(3) After expiry of the legislative period of a State
Parliament or after its dissolution, the members delegated by it to the
Senate remain in office until such time as the new State Parliament has
held the election to the Senate.
(4) The provisions of Articles 34 and 35 can
only be amended, apart from the majority of votes requisite in general to
the adoption of a resolution there, if in the Senate the majority of the
representatives from at least four States has approved the amendment.
(1)
The States succeed each other in alphabetical order every six months in
the chairmanship of the Senate.
(2) The representative who heads the
delegation of the State entitled to the chairmanship acts as Chairman; the
appointment of the Deputy Chairmen will be prescribed by the Senate's
Standing Orders.
(3) The Senate will be convoked by its Chairman at the
seat of the House of Representatives. The Chairman is bound immediately to
convoke the Senate if at least one quarter of its members or the Federal
Government so demands.
(1) Save as provided differently by law, the
presence of at least one third of the members and an absolute majority of
the votes cast is requisite to a resolution by the Senate.
(2) The
Senate furnishes itself with Standing Orders by way of resolution. This
resolution can only be adopted in the presence of half the members with a
two thirds majority of the votes cast.
(3) The meetings of the Senate
are public. The public can, pursuant to the provisions of the Standing
Orders, be excluded by resolution. The provisions of Article 33 also
apply to public meetings of the Senate and its committees.
The House of
Representatives and the Senate meet, together building the Federal
Assembly, in public session at the seat of the House of Representatives
for the affirmation of the Federal President as well as for the adoption
of a resolution on a declaration of war.
(1) Apart from
the cases stated in Articles 60 (6),
63
(2), 64 (4),
and 68
(2), the Federal Assembly is convoked by the Federal President. The
chairmanship alternates between the President of the House of
Representatives and the Chairman of the Senate, beginning with the
former.
(2) The House of Representatives' Standing Orders are applied
analogously in the Federal Assembly.
(3) The provisions of Article 33 apply
for the sessions of the Federal Assembly.
(1) The
resolutions of the Federal Assembly are authenticated by its Chairman and
countersigned by the Federal Chancellor.
(2) The resolutions of the
Federal Assembly upon a declaration of war shall be officially published
by the Federal Chancellor.
(1) Legislative
proposals are submitted to the House of Representatives either as motions
by its members or as Federal Government bills. The Senate can propose
legislative motions to the House of Representatives by way of the Federal
Government.
(2) Every motion proposed by 100,000 voters or by one sixth
each of the voters in three States shall be submitted by the main
electoral board to the House of Representatives for action. The
initiative
(1) Every
enactment of the House of Representatives shall without delay be conveyed
by the President to the Senate.
(2) Save as otherwise provided by
constitutional law, an enactment can be authenticated and published only
if the Senate has not raised a reasoned objection to this
enactment.
(3) This objection must be conveyed to the House of
Representatives in writing by the Chairman of the Senate within eight
weeks of the enactment's arrival; the Federal Chancellor shall be informed
thereof.
(4) If the House of Representatives in the presence of at
least half its members once more carries its original resolution, this
shall be authenticated and published. If the Senate resolves not to raise
any objection or if no reasoned objection is raised within the deadline
laid down in Paragraph (3), the enactment shall be authenticated and
published.
(5) The Senate can raise no objection to resolutions of the
House of Representatives relating to a law on the House of
Representatives' Standing Orders, the dissolution of the House of
Representatives, the appropriation of the Federal Budget estimates, the
sanction of the final Federal Budget
If the House of
Representatives so decides or if the majority of members of the House of
Representatives so demands, every enactment of the House of
Representatives shall be submitted to a referendum
(1)
Constitutional laws or constitutional provisions contained in simple laws
can be passed by the House of Representatives only in the presence of at
least half the members and by a two thirds majority of the votes cast,
they shall be explicitly specified as such.
(2) Any total revision of
the Federal Constitution shall upon conclusion of the procedure pursuant
to Article 42 but
before its authentication by the Federal President be submitted to a
referendum by the entire nation, whereas any partial revision requires
this only if one third of the members of the House of Representatives or
the Senate so demands.
(1)
For a referendum, the absolute majority of the validly cast votes is
decisive.
(2) The result of a referendum shall be officially announced.
(1) The procedure for an initiative and a referendum
will be prescribed by federal law.
(2) Everyone who is eligible for the
House of Representatives has the right to vote.
(3) A referendum takes
place at the order of the Federal President.
(1) The
constitutional enactment of federal laws is authenticated by the signature
of the Federal President.
(2) The submission for authentication is
effected by the Federal Chancellor.
(3) The authentication shall be
countersigned by the Federal Chancellor.
Federal laws and
the treaties specified in Article 50 will
be published with reference to their adoption by the House of
Representatives; federal laws based upon a referendum with reference to
the result of that referendum.
(1) Federal
laws and the treaties specified in Article 50 shall
be published by the Federal Chancellor in the Federal Law Gazette. Unless
explicitly provided otherwise, their entry into force begins with expiry
of the day on which the number of the Federal Law Gazette containing their
publication is issued and distributed and it extends, unless explicitly
provided otherwise, to the entire federal territory; this does not apply
to treaties which are to be implemented by the issue of laws (Article 50
(2)).
(2) The House of Representatives can on the occasion of
giving its sanction to treaties pursuant to Article 50
resolve that a treaty or individual explicitly specified parts of it shall
be published not in the federal law Gazette, but in another appropriate
manner. Such a resolution by the House of Representatives has to state the
manner of publication, which must guarantee the accessibility of the
treaty for the duration of its validity, and shall be notified by the
Federal Chancellor in the Federal Law Gazette. Unless explicitly provided
otherwise, the entry into force of such treaties begins with expiry of the
day on which the number of the Federal Law Gazette containing the
notification of the resolution by the House of Representatives is issued
and distributed and it extends, unless explicitly provided otherwise, to
the entire federal territory.
(3) A special federal law on the Federal
Law Gazette will he promulgated.
(1) The
Federal Chancellor is empowered jointly with the competent Federal
Ministers to restate with binding effect federal laws in their valid
version by publication in the Federal Law Gazette.
(2) On the occasion
of the republication:
1. obsolete terminological expressions can be
rectified and outdated spelling assimilated to the new manner of
writing;
2. references to other regulations which no longer fit in with
current legislation as well as other inconsistencies can be
rectified;
3. provisions which have been nullified by later regulations
or otherwise rendered void can be declared invalid;
4. title
abridgements and alphabetical abbreviations of titles can be laid
down;
5. the designations of articles, sections, paragraphs, and the
like can in case of elimination or insertion be correspondingly altered
and in this connection references thereto within the text of the
regulation be appropriately rectified; and
6. interim provisions as
well as earlier still applicable versions of the federal law in question
can by specification of their purview be recapitulated and simultaneously
with the republication be separately issued.
(3) From the day following
issue of the republication all courts and administrative authorities are
bound by the restated text of the federal law in respect of facts
materializing thereafter.
(1) Political
treaties, and others in so far as their contents modify or complement
existent laws, may only be concluded with the sanction of the House of
Representatives.
(2) At the time of giving its sanction to a treaty
which falls under Paragraph (1), the House of Representatives can decide
that the treaty in question shall be implemented by the issue of
laws.
(3) The provisions of Article 42 (1) to
(4) and, should constitutional law be modified or complemented by the
treaty, the provisions of Article 44 (1)
apply analogously to resolutions of the House of Representatives in
accordance with Paragraphs (1) and (2). In a vote of sanction adopted
pursuant to Paragraph (1), such treaties or such provisions as are
contained in treaties shall be explicitly specified as "constitutionally
modifying".
(1) At the latest
ten weeks before expiry of the fiscal year the Federal Government shall
submit to the House of Representatives an estimate of the revenue and
expenditure of the Federation for the ensuing fiscal year. Its contents
may not be made public before the beginning of the deliberations in
the
House of Representatives.
(2) Federal expenditure not earmarked
in the Federal Finance Act or by a special law requires before its
execution constitutional sanction by the House of Representatives which
shall be obtained by the Federal Minister of Finance. Should delay be
dangerous, such federal expenditure, in so far as it does not exceed
1,000,000.- Schilling, can be undertaken with the consent of the Main
Committee of the House of Representatives; the sanction of the House of
Representatives shall subsequently be requested.
(3) If the draft
Federal Budget submitted by the Federal Government in due time (Paragraph
(1)) to the House of Representatives is not constitutionally sanctioned
before expiry of the fiscal year and by that date no temporary provision
has been made by federal law, then, during the first two months of the
ensuing fiscal year, the taxes, levies, and imposts revenue shall be
collected in accordance with the existing regulations and federal
expenditure shall be defrayed to the account of the appropriations to be
laid down by law, with the exception of expenditure of a kind not
specially earmarked in the last Federal Finance Act. The ceiling of the
admissible federal expenditure is formed by the expenditure appropriations
contained in the draft Federal Budget submitted to the House of
Representatives, and one twelfth of these appropriations shall serve as
the foundation for each month's expenditure. The expenditure requisite to
the fulfillment of legal liabilities shall be defrayed in accordance with
maturity. The filling of official appointments likewise ensues on the
basis of the draft Federal Finance Act submitted to the House of
Representatives. In other respects, the provision of the last Federal
Finance Act, in so far as they do not concern figures relating to the
administration of public funds remain analogously in force for the
above-mentioned two months.
(1) The House of Representatives and the
Senate are entitled to examine the administration of affairs by the
Federal Government, to interrogate its members about all subjects of its
execution, and to demand all relevant information as well as to ventilate
in resolutions their wishes about exercise of the executive power.
(2)
Every member of the House of Representatives and the Senate is entitled
during the sessions of the House of Representatives and the Senate to
address brief oral questions to members of the Federal Government.
(3)
The detailed regulations respecting the right of interrogation will be
settled by the federal law on the House of Representatives' Standing
Orders as well as in the Senate's Standing Orders.
(1)
The House of Representatives can, by resolution, set up committees of
inquiry.
(2) The detailed regulations respecting the establishment of
and the procedure for committees of inquiry will be settled by the federal
law on the House of Representatives' Standing Orders.
(3) The courts
and all other authorities are obliged to comply with the request of these
committees to take evidence; all public departments must on demand produce
their files.
The House of
Representatives participates in laying down railway fares, postal,
telegraph, and phone rates, and the prices for monopoly commodities as
well as the payment for persons regularly employed in federal
establishments. This participation will be prescribed by federal
constitutional law.
(1) The
House of Representatives elects its Main Committee from its members in
accordance with the principle of proportional representation; it can be
laid down by federal law that certain ordinances by the Federal Government
or a Federal Minister need the agreement of the Main Committee and that
reports by the Federal Government or a Federal Minister shall be rendered
to the Main Committee. Should the need arise, the Main Committee shall be
convoked between sessions of the House of Representatives (Article 28).
(2)
The Main Committee elects from among its members a Standing Sub-Committee
upon which it devolves the powers stipulated by law. The election takes
place in accordance with proportional representation notwithstanding
inclusion of at least one member of every party belonging to the Main
Committee. The Standing Orders must provide that the Standing
Sub-Committee can be convoked and can meet at any time. If the House of
Representatives in accordance with Article 29 (1) is
dissolved by the Federal President, participation in the executive power
which in accordance with this law otherwise lies with the House of
Representatives devolves to the Standing Sub-Committee.
The members of
the House of Representatives and the members of the Senate are not bound
in the exercise of their function by any mandate.
(1)
The members of the House of Representatives may never be made responsible
for votes cast in the exercise of their function and only by the House of
Representatives on the grounds of oral or written utterances made in the
course of their function.
(2) The members of the House of
Representatives may, on the ground of a criminal offence -- except for
apprehension in flagrante delicto -- be arrested only with the
consent of the House of Representatives. Searches of the home of House of
Representatives members likewise require the House of Representatives'
consent.
(3) Other legal action on the ground of a criminal offence may
be taken against members of the House of Representatives without the House
of Representatives' consent only if it is manifestly not connected to the
political activity of the member in question. The authority concerned must
seek a ruling by the House of Representatives on the existence of such a
connection if the member in question or a third of the members belonging
to the Standing Committee entrusted with these matters so demands. Every
act of legal process shall in the case of such a demand immediately cease
or be discontinued.
(4) In all these instances the consent of the House
of Representatives counts as granted if within eight weeks it has not
given a ruling on an appropriate request by the authority competent for
the institution of legal action; the President, with a view to the House
of Representatives' adoption of a resolution in good time, shall at the
latest put such a request to the vote on the day but one before expiry of
the deadline. The latter does not include the period when the House of
Representatives is not in session.
(5) In case of a member's
apprehension in the act of committing a crime, the authority concerned
must immediately notify the President of the House of Representatives of
the occurrence of the arrest. If the House of Representatives or, when it
is not in session, the Standing Committee entrusted with these matters so
demands, the arrest must be suspended or the legal process as a whole be
dropped.
(6) The immunity of members ends with the day of the meeting
of
the newly elected House of Representatives, that of functionaries of
the House of Representatives whose tenure of office extends beyond this
date on the expiry of this term of office.
(7) The detailed provisions
are settled by the federal law on the House of Representatives' Standing
Orders.
The
members of the Senate enjoy for the whole duration of their tenure of
office the immunity of the members of the State Parliament which has
delegated them.
(1) No one can simultaneously belong to the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
(2) Public employees,
including members of the Federal Army, require no leave of absence to hold
a seat in the House of Representatives or in the Senate. If they seek a
seat in the House of Representatives, they shall be granted the requisite
free time. The service code will provide details.
(1) The Federal
President is elected by the nation on the basis of equal, direct, secret,
and personal suffrage. If there is only one candidate, the election takes
place by way of referendum. Anyone with House of Representatives suffrage
is entitled to vote. Voting in the election is compulsory
(2) The candidate who polls more than half of all valid votes
has been elected. If no such majority results, a second ballot takes
place. Votes in this can validly be cast only for one of the two
candidates who have polled the most votes in the first ballot; but each of
the two groups of voters who put up these two candidates can in the second
ballot nominate another individual to replace its original
candidate.
(3) Only a person who has House of Representatives franchise
and was thirty five years old before the first of January of the year in
which the election is held can be elected Federal President. Members of
reigning houses or of formerly regnant families are excluded from
eligibility.
(4) The result of the election of the Federal President
shall be officially published by the Federal Chancellor.
(5) The
Federal President holds office for six years. Re-election for the
immediately following term of office is admissible once.
(6) Before
expiry of his term of office the Federal President can be deposed by
referendum. The referendum shall be held if the Federal Assembly so
demands. The Federal Assembly shall be convoked by the Federal Chancellor
for this purpose if the House of Representatives has passed such a motion.
The House of Representatives vote requires the presence of at least half
the members and a majority of two thirds of the votes cast. By such a
House of Representatives vote, the Federal President is prevented from the
further exercise of his office. Rejection by the referendum of the
deposition works as a new election and entails the dissolution of the
House of Representatives (Article 29 (1)).
The Federal President's total term of office may not exceed twelve years.
(1) During
his tenure of office, the Federal President may not belong to any popular
representative body nor exercise any other occupation.
(2) The title
"Federal President" may not, even with an addition or in the context of
another designation, be used by anyone else. It is protected by law.
(1) On his assumption
of office the Federal President renders the following affirmation before
the Federal Assembly:
"I solemnly promise that I shall faithfully
observe the Constitution and all the laws of the Republic and shall
fulfill my duty to the best of my knowledge and belief."
(2) The
addition of a religious assertion is admissible.
(1) The
institution of legal process against the Federal President is only
admissible if the Federal Assembly has agreed.
(2) The application for
the institution of legal process against the Federal President shall be
filed by the competent authority with the House of Representatives which
votes whether the Federal Assembly shall deal with the matter. If the
House of Representatives pronounces in favor of this, the Federal
Chancellor must immediately convoke the Federal Assembly.
(1)
All of the Federal President's responsibilities, should he be prevented
from their discharge, pass in the first instance to the Federal
Chancellor. If the impediment lasts longer than twenty days or if pursuant
to Article 60 (6)
the Federal President is prevented from the discharge of his office, the
President, the Second President, and the Third President of the House of
Representatives acting as a committee shall undertake the responsibilities
of the Federal President. The same applies if the position of the Federal
President is continuously deficient.
(2) The committee entrusted with
the exercise of the Federal President's functions according to Paragraph
(1) decides by majority vote. Chairmanship of the committee and its public
representation belong to the President of the House of
Representatives.
(3) Is one or are two of the House of Representatives'
Presidents prevented from the discharge of their responsibilities or is
their position continuously deficient, the committee constitutes a quorum
even without their participation; in the event of a tied vote, the
President senior in rank has the casting vote.
(4) If the position of
the Federal President is continuously deficient, the Federal Government
shall immediately arrange the election of the new Federal President; after
the ensuing election, the committee shall without delay convoke the
Federal Assembly for the affirmation of the Federal President.
(1) The Federal
President represents the Republic internationally, receives and accredits
envoys, sanctions the appointment of foreign consuls, appoints the
consular representatives of the Republic abroad, and concludes treaties.
At the time of conclusion of a treaty not falling under Article 50, he
can direct that the treaty in question shall be implemented by the issue
of ordinances.
(2) Furthermore, the following powers -- notwithstanding
the powers assigned to him by other provisions of this Constitution -- are
vested in the President:
a) to appoint federal civil servants,
including officers as well as other federal functionaries, and to bestow
official titles on them;
b) to create and to bestow professional
titles;
c) in individual cases to pardon persons sentenced without
further resources of appeal, to mitigate and commute sentences pronounced
by the courts, as an act of grace to annul sentences and to grant
remission from their legal consequences, and moreover to quash criminal
proceedings in actions subject to prosecution ex officio; and
d) on the
petition of parents to declare illegitimate children legitimate.
(3)
Special laws provide to what extent powers are additionally vested in the
Federal President with respect to the grant of honorary privileges,
extraordinary gratifications, allowances and pensions, the right to
nominate and confirm persons in appointments, and to exercise other powers
in personnel matters.
(1) The
Federal President can assign to the competent members of the Federal
Government the right vested in him to appoint certain categories of
federal civil servants.
(2) The Federal President can authorize the
Federal Government or the competent members of the Federal Government to
conclude certain categories of treaties which do not fall under the terms
of Article 50; such
an authorization extends also to the power to issue ordinances in
accordance with Article 65 (1) second
sentence.
(1) Save as otherwise provided by the
Constitution, all official acts of the Federal President shall be based on
recommendation by the Federal Government or the Federal Minister
authorized by it. The law provides to what extent the Federal Government
or the competent Federal Minister is herein dependent on recommendations
from other quarters.
(2) Save as otherwise provided by the
Constitution, all official acts of the Federal President require for their
validity the countersignature of the Federal Chancellor or the competent
Federal Minister.
(1)
Pursuant to Article 142, the
Federal President is responsible to the Federal Assembly for the exercise
of his functions.
(2) To assert this responsibility, the Federal
Assembly shall on the vote of the House of Representatives or the Senate
be convoked by the Federal Chancellor.
(3) The presence of more than
half the members of each of the two representative bodies and a majority
of two thirds of the votes cast is requisite to a vote whereby a charge,
consonant with Article 142, is
proffered against the Federal President.
(1) The Federal
Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, and the other Federal Ministers are
entrusted with the highest administrative business of the Federation in so
far as this is not assigned to the Federal President. They constitute as a
body the Federal Government
(2) The Vice-Chancellor is entitled to deputize for the
Federal Chancellor in his entire sphere of competence. Should the Federal
Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor simultaneously be prevented from the
discharge of their responsibilities, the Federal President entrusts a
member of the Federal Government to deputize for the Federal Chancellor.
(1) The
Federal Chancellor and, on his recommendation, the other members of the
Federal Government are appointed by the Federal President. No
recommendation is requisite to the dismissal of the Federal Chancellor or
the whole Federal Government; the dismissal of individual members of the
Federal Government ensues on the recommendation of the Federal Chancellor.
The appointment of the Federal Chancellor or the whole Federal Government
is countersigned by the newly-appointed Federal Chancellor; dismissal
requires no countersignature.
(2) Only persons eligible for the House
of Representatives can be appointed Federal Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor,
or Federal Minister; members of the Federal Government need not belong to
the House of Representatives.
(3) Should a new Federal Government be
appointed by the Federal President at a time when the House of
Representatives is not in session, he must convoke the House of
Representatives for an extraordinary session (Article 28 (2))
to meet within one week for the purpose of introducing the new Federal
Government.
Should the
Federal Government have left office, the Federal President shall entrust
members of the outgoing Government or senior civil servants of the Federal
departments with continuation of the administration and one of them with
the chairmanship of the provisional Federal Government until the formation
of the new Federal Government. This provision applies analogously if
individual members of the Federal Government have left office.
(1) Before
assuming office, the members of the Federal Government render an
affirmation to the Federal President. The addition of a religious
assertion is admissible.
(2) The instruments of appointment for the
Federal Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, and the other Federal Ministers
are executed by the Federal President on the day of the affirmation and
are countersigned by the newly appointed Federal Chancellor.
(3) These
provisions shall apply analogously to the cases mentioned in Article 71.
Should a
Federal Minister be temporarily prevented from discharging his
responsibilities, the Federal President entrusts one of the other Federal
Ministers or a senior civil servant of a Federal department to deputize
for the Minister. This deputy carries the same responsibility as a Federal
Minister (Article 76).
(1)
If the House of Representatives passes an explicit vote of no confidence
in the Federal Government or individual members thereof, the Federal
Government or the Federal Minister concerned shall be removed from
office.
(2) The presence of half of the members of the House of
Representatives is required for a vote of no confidence. Voting shall be
adjourned until the next working day but one if one fifth of the members
present so demands. Another adjournment of the division can ensue only
from a decision by the House of Representatives.
(3) Notwithstanding
the power otherwise vested in the Federal President in accordance with
Article 70
(1), the Federal Government or its individual members shall in the
legally specified contingencies or at their own wish be removed from
office.
The
members of the Federal Government as well as the Secretaries of State are
entitled to participate in all deliberations by the House of
Representatives, the Senate, and the Federal Assembly as well as the
committees of these representative bodies, but only at special invitation
in the deliberations by the Standing Sub-Committee of the House of
Representatives' Main Committee and by the House of Representatives'
Committees of Inquiry. On each occasion they must, in accordance with the
detailed provisions of the federal law on the House of Representatives'
Standing Orders and the Senate's Standing Orders, at their request be
given a hearing. The House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Federal
Assembly as well as their committees can require attendance by members of
the Federal Government and request them to initiate investigations.
(1)
Pursuant to Article 142, the
members of the Federal Government (Articles 69 and 71) are
responsible to the House of Representatives.
(2) The presence of more
than half the members is required for a motion which proffers a charge
pursuant to Article 142.
(1) The
Federal Ministries and the authorities subordinate to them shall perform
the business of the Federal administration.
(2) The number of the
Federal Ministries, their competence, and their internal organization will
be prescribed by federal law.
(3) The Federal Chancellor is entrusted
with the direction of the Federal Chancellery and a Federal Minister is
entrusted with the direction of each of the other Federal Ministries. The
Federal President can assign to special Federal Ministers the direction of
particular matters which fall within the Federal Chancellery's competence,
including the personnel establishment and organization of such business,
notwithstanding that these matters continue to belong to the Federal
Chancellery; such Federal Ministers have, in respect of the matters in
question, the status of a competent Federal Minister.
(4) The Federal
Chancellor and other Federal Ministers can exceptionally be entrusted with
the direction of a second Federal Ministry.
(1) In special cases, Federal Ministers can be
appointed without at the same time being put in charge of a Federal
Ministry.
(2) Secretaries of State, who are appointed and leave office
in the same way as Federal Ministers, can be attached to Federal Ministers
for assistance in the conduct of business and to deputize for them in
Parliament.
(3) A Secretary of State is subordinate to a Federal
Minister and bound by his instructions.
(1) The country' s military defence is the duty
of the Federal Army.
(2) The Federal Army, in so far as the lawful
civil power claims its co-operation, has furthermore:
1. over and above
the sphere of the country's military defence
a) to protect the
constitutionally established institutions as well as their capacity to
operate and the population's democratic freedoms,
b) to maintain order
and security inside the country; and
2. to render assistance in the
case of natural catastrophes and disasters of exceptional
magnitude.
(3) Additional tasks of the Federal Army will be prescribed
by Federal constitutional law.
(4) The Defence Law regulates which
officials and authorities can lay direct claim to the co-operation of the
Federal Army for the purposes mentioned in Paragraph (2).
(5)
Intervention by the military on its own initiative for the purposes
mentioned in Paragraph (2) is admissible only if circumstances outside
their control have put it beyond capacity of the competent officials to
effect intervention by the military and irreparable damage to the
community at large would arise from a further wait or if it concerns the
repulse of an actual attack, or the elimination of active resistance
directed against a section of the Federal Army.
(1)
Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Army is the Federal President.
(2)
Save in so far as the Defence Law reserves disposal over the Federal Army
to the Federal President, disposal over it lies with the competent Federal
Minister within the limits of the authorization conferred on him by the
Federal Government.
(3) Supreme command over the Federal Army is
exercised by the competent Federal Minister (Article 76 (1)).
Federal
law prescribes to what extent the States participate in the recruitment,
provisioning, and accommodation for the Army and the supply of its other
requirements.
(1) The administration of the Federation in the
field of schooling and in the field of education in matters of student
hostels shall be undertaken by the competent Federal Minister and -- in so
far as neither the university and fine arts academical system nor the
agricultural and forestry school system nor the forestry and agricultural
educational system in matters of student hostels are concerned -- by the
school authorities of the Federation subordinate to the competent Federal
Minister. The Counties can, as part of the Federation's assigned sphere of
competence, be called upon to maintain registers of those who are of
school-attendance age.
(2) A school authority shall be established in
each State and in each political District and be known as the State school
board and the District school board respectively. In Vienna, the State
school board shall also undertake the duties of the District school board
and be known as the Vienna City School Board. The applicable sphere of
competence for members of the State and District school boards shall be
prescribed by federal law.
(3) The following guiding principles shall
apply to the establishment, to be prescribed by law, of the Federal school
authorities:
a) Committees shall be appointed within the framework of
the Federal school authorities structure. Committee members of the State
school boards, with voting rights, shall be appointed in proportion to
party strength in the State Parliament, committee members of the District
school boards, with voting rights, in proportion to the votes polled in
the District by the parties represented in the State Parliament at the
last State Parliament election. The appointment of all or some of the
committee members by the State Parliament is admissible.
b) The
president of the State school board is the State-Governor, the chairman of
the District school board is the head of the District administrative
authority. Should the appointment of an executive State school board
president be foreseen by law, he shall deputize for the president in all
business which the president does not reserve to himself. Should the
appointment of a vice-president be prescribed by law, he is entitled to
inspect documents and to offer advice; such a vice-president shall in any
case be appointed for those five States which, in accordance with the
result of the last census taken prior to this Federal constitutional law
coming into force, have the largest number of inhabitants.
c) The terms
of reference for the committees and the presidents of the State and
District school boards shall be regulated by law. The committees shall be
competent to issue rules and general instructions, to appoint officials
and to render proposals for nominations as well as to render opinions on
drafts of laws and ordinances.
d) In cases of urgency which do not
admit of postponement until the committee's next meeting, the president
shall take action in the sphere of competence allocated to the committee
as of its business and without delay inform the committee of this.
e)
Should for more than two months a committee lack a quorum, the tasks of
the committee for the further period of its numerical incapacity devolve
upon the president. In these cases the president replaces the
committee.
(4) Instructions (Article 20 (1))
cannot be given on matters which fall into the committees' sphere of
competence. This does not apply to instructions which forbid the
implementation of a committee resolution as being contrary to law or which
direct the repeal of an ordinance issued by the committee. The reasons for
such instructions shall be stated. In accordance with Article 129 ff.,
the authority in receipt of the instruction can on the basis of a
committee resolution immediately make complaint to the Administrative
Court.
(5) The competent Federal Minister can control in person or
through officials of the Federal Ministry in his charge the condition and
performance of those schools and student hostels which are subordinate to
the Federal Ministry by way of the State school board. Noticed
shortcomings -- in so far as they do not concern such in the sense of
Article 14
(8) -- shall be revealed to the State school board for the purpose of
their redress.
(1) The State
school board shall render three sets of proposals:
(a) for the filling
of Federation vacancies for headmasters or headmistresses as well as other
teachers and educational assistants at schools and student hostels
subordinate to the State school boards;
(b) for the filling of
Federation vacancies for the school supervisory officials serving with the
State and District school boards as well as for the appointment of
teachers with school supervisory functions; and
(c) for the appointment
of chairmen and members of the examination boards for the teaching diploma
at upper primary schools and special schools.
(2) The proposals in
accordance with Paragraph (1) shall be rendered, pursuant to Article 66 (1) or
67 (1)
or by reason of other provisions, to the competent Federal Minister. The
selection of individuals from among those proposed is incumbent on the
Federal Minister.
(3) Every State school board shall establish
eligibility and disciplinary school boards of first instance for
headmasters or headmistresses and other teachers as well as educational
assistants who are employees under public law of the Federation and are
employed at a school or student hostel subordinate to the State
school
board. The details shall be prescribed by federal law.
(1) The
Federation is the source of all jurisdiction.
(2) Judgments and
decisions are pronounced and drawn up in the name of the Republic.
(1) The constitution and competence of the
courts
(2) No one may be deprived
of his lawful judge.
Military
jurisdiction, except in time of war, is repealed.
Capital
punishment is abolished.
(1) Save as
provided otherwise by this law, judges are appointed pursuant to the
proposal of the Federal Government by the Federal President or, by reason
of his authorization, by the competent Federal Minister; the Federal
Government or the Federal Minister shall obtain proposals for appointment
from the tribunals competent through the law on the organization of the
courts.
(2) If a sufficient number of candidates is available, the
proposal for appointment to be submitted to the competent Federal Minister
and to be forwarded by him to the Federal Government shall comprise at
least three names, but if there is more than one vacancy to be filled at
least twice as many names as there are judges to be appointed.
(1) Judges
are independent
(2)
A judge is independent in the exercise of his judicial office, during the
performance of any judicial function properly his by law, and in the
allocation of business, though to the exclusion of the judiciary's
administrative business which in accordance with the provisions of the law
shall not be discharged by tribunals or commissions.
(3) Business shall
be allocated in advance among the judges of a court for the period
provided by the law on the organization of the courts
(1) The
performance of certain kinds of business, which shall be exactly specified
and fall within the jurisdiction of a civil court of first instance, can
by federal law be assigned to specially trained employees of the
Federation who are not Judges.
(2) The judge competent in accordance
with the allocation of business can at any time reserve to himself or take
over the discharge of such business.
(3) Employees of the Federation
who are not judges are bound in the performance of business specified in
Paragraph (1) only by instructions from the judge competent in accordance
with the allocation of business. Article 20 (1) third
sentence applies.
(1)
The law on the organization of the courts will prescribe an age limit upon
whose attainment judges will be put on the permanently retired
list.
(2) Otherwise judges may be removed from office or transferred
against their will or superannuated only in the cases and ways prescribed
by law and by reason of a formal judicial decision. These provisions do
not apply to transfers and retirements which become necessary through
changes in the organization of the courts. In such a case the law will lay
down within which period judges can, without the formalities otherwise
prescribed, be transferred and superannuated.
(3) The temporary
suspension of judges from office may take place only by decree of the
senior judge or the higher judicial authority together with simultaneous
reference of the matter to the competent court.
(1) Save as otherwise provided by this Article, the
courts are not entitled to examine the validity of duly published laws,
ordinances, and treaties.
(2) Should a court have scruples against the
application of an ordinance on the ground of it being contrary to law, it
shall file an application with the Constitutional Court
(3) If the legal regulation to be applied has already ceased to be
in force, the Court's application to the Constitutional Court must request
a decision that the legal regulation was contrary to law or
unconstitutional.
(4) Paragraphs (2) and (3) apply analogously to
treaties as provided in Article 140a.
(5)
Federal law shall determine what effects an application pursuant to
Paragraphs (2), (3), or (4) has on the pending legal proceedings.
(1)
Hearings in civil and criminal cases are oral and public. Exceptions are
regulated by law.
(2) In criminal proceedings the procedure is by
indictment.
(1) The people shall participate in the
administration of justice.
(2) A jury returns a verdict upon the guilt
of the accused in crimes entailing severe penalties, to be specified by
law, and in all cases of political felonies and misdemeanors.
(3) In
criminal proceedings for other punishable offenses Jurors take part in the
administration of justice if the penalty to be imposed exceeds a limit to
be determined by law.
(1) The
Supreme Court is the court of final instance in civil and criminal
suits.
(2) Members of the Federal Government, a State government, or a
popular representative body cannot be members of the Supreme Court. For
members of a popular representative body elected for a fixed term of
legislation or office such incompatibility continues until the expiry of
that term of legislation or office even though they prematurely renounce
their seat. Anyone who during the preceding four years has exercised one
of the aforesaid functions cannot be appointed President or Vice-President
of the Supreme Court.
Pardons for acts
punishable by the courts are extended by federal law.
Judicial
and administrative powers shall be separate at all levels of proceedings.
(1) The
legislation of the States is carried out by the State Parliaments. Their
members are elected on the basis of proportional representation by equal,
direct, secret, and personal suffrage of all male and female federal
nationals who in accordance with the State Parliament electoral
regulations are entitled to vote and who have their domicile in the State
concerned. The provision of Article 26 (1) last
sentence applies analogously; the reasons which are held to excuse
abstention may not be more restrictive than in the electoral regulations
for the House of Representatives.
(2) The State Parliament electoral
regulations may not impose more stringent conditions for suffrage and
electoral eligibility than the electoral regulations for the House of
Representatives.
(3) The voters exercise their franchise in
constituencies each of which must comprise a territorial unit. The number
of members shall be divided among the constituencies in proportion to the
number of nationals. A division of the electorate into other electoral
bodies is not admissible.
(4) Public employees, including members of
the Federal Army, who seek a seat in or are elected for membership of a
State Parliament shall be granted the time necessary for canvassing or
fulfilling their membership duties. Service regulations will lay down
details.
(1) The members
of a State Parliament enjoy the same immunity as the members of the House
of Representatives, the provisions of Article 57 apply
analogously.
(2) The provisions of Articles 32 and 33
apply to the meetings of State Parliaments and their committees.
(1) A
State law requires a vote by a State Parliament, authentication and
countersignature in accordance with the provisions of the State concerned,
and publication by the State-Governor in the State Law Gazette.
(2)
Inasmuch as a State law foresees in its execution the co-operation of
Federal authorities, the approval of the Federal Government must be
obtained. The approval shall be deemed given if within eight weeks from
the day of the enactment's receipt at the Federal Chancellery the Federal
Government has not informed the State-Governor that the co-operation of
the Federal authorities is refused. Before the expiry of this deadline
publication of the enactment may only ensue if the Federal Government has
expressly agreed.
(1) All State Parliament enactments shall,
immediately after they have been passed by a State Parliament, be notified
by the State-Governor to the competent Federal Ministry prior to their
publication.
(2) The Federal Government can within eight weeks from the
day of an enactment's receipt at the Federal Chancellery enter a reasoned
objection to a State Parliament enactment as
endangering Federal
interests. If the Federation was prior to the initiation of the
legislative procedure for enactment given opportunity to comment on the
draft bill, the objection may only be founded on an alleged encroachment
on the Federation's competence. In case of an objection, the law may only
be published if the State Parliament in the presence of at least half the
members once more votes its enactment.
(3) Publication prior to expiry
of the deadline for objection is admissible only if the Federal Government
expressly agrees.
(4) The provisions of the Constitutional Finance Law
apply to State Parliament enactments which deal with taxation.
(1)
The State Constitution to be enacted by a State constitutional law can,
inasmuch as the Federal Constitution is not affected thereby, be amended
by State constitutional law.
(2) A State constitutional law can be
passed only in the presence of half the members of the State Parliament
and with a two thirds majority of the votes cast.
(1) Every
State Parliament can be dissolved by the Federal President at the request
of the Federal Government and with the sanction of the Senate. The motion
in the Senate must be carried in the presence of half the members and with
a two thirds majority of the votes cast. The representatives of the State
whose State Parliament is to be dissolved may not participate in the
division.
(2) In case of dissolution, writs for new elections shall be
issued within three weeks in accordance with the provisions of the State
constitution; the convocation of the newly elected State Parliament must
take place within four weeks after the election.
(1) The
executive power in each State is exercised by a State Government to be
elected by the State Parliament.
(2) The members of a State Government
need not belong to the State Parliament. Nevertheless, only persons
eligible for the State Parliament can be elected to membership of the
State Government.
(3) The State Government consists of the
State-Governor, the requisite number of deputies, and other
members.
(4) Before assumption of office, the State-Governor renders to
the Federal President, the other members of the State Government render to
the State-Governor, an affirmation with respect to the Federal
Constitution. The addition of a religious assertion is admissible.
(1) In the
sphere of the States, in so far as no direct federal administration
exists, the State-Governor and the State authorities subordinate to him
exercise the executive power of the Federation. In so far as federal
authorities, especially Federal public safety authorities, are entrusted
with the execution of matters which are performed as indirect Federal
administration, these federal authorities are subordinate to the
State-Governor and bound by his instructions (Article 20 (1));
whether and to what extent such federal authorities are entrusted with
executive acts is regulated by federal laws; these may, in so far as they
do not concern the mandate stated in Paragraph (2), only be published with
the sanction of the States concerned.
(2) The following matters can,
within the framework of the constitutionally established sphere of
competence, be directly performed by the federal authorities:
-
demarcation of frontiers, trade in goods and livestock with other
countries, customs regulation and control of entry into and exit from
federal territory,
- Federal finances monopolies, the weights and
measures, standards and hallmark system, technical experiments,
-
administration of justice, passports, residence registration,
- matters
of weapons, ammunition and explosives as well as the use of
fire-arms,
- patent matters and the protection of designs, trade marks,
and other commodity descriptions,
- the traffic system, river and
navigation police, the postal and telecommunications system, mining,
Danube control and conservation, regulation of torrents, construction and
maintenance of waterways,
- surveying, labor legislation, social
insurance, the preservation of monuments,
- operation and conduct of
the Federal police and the Federal gendarmerie, including the exceptional
circumstances where on the day of entry into force of this Federal
Constitutional Law the local sphere of competence for a Federal public
safety authority does not coincide with the territory of a Federal
State,
- the maintenance of peace, order and security, excluding the
local public safety authorities,
- Press affairs, matters of
association and assembly, and the aliens police,
- military affairs,
welfare measures for combatants and their dependents,
- population
policy in so far as it concerns the grant of children's allowances and the
organization of burden equalization on behalf of families schooling as
well as education in matters of pupil and student hostels with the
exception of agricultural and forestry education in matters of student
hostels.
(3) The Federation remains entitled to delegate to the
State-Governor its executive power also in the matters enumerated in
Paragraph (2).
(4) The establishment of federal authorities for matters
other than those specified in Paragraph (2) above can ensue only with the
sanction of the States concerned.
(5) No other regional authority may
set up and maintain a constabulary in the local sphere of competence of a
Federal public safety administration to which a Federal police force is
attached. The dissolution of constabularies whose establishment or
continuance is contrary to this provision falls under the executive power
of the Federation.
(6) The establishment of Federal public safety
authorities, the definition of their local sphere of competence and of
their substantive sphere of competence in administrative fields which in
accordance with Article 10
provide for execution by Federal public safety authorities, as well as the
issue of a special service code for their officials ensue on Federal
Government ordinance. In so far as such an authority is to be assigned the
performance of matters which fall into the autonomous sphere of execution
by a State, the ordinance can be issued only if the assignment of such
business to the Federal public safety authority has been enunciated in a
law of the State in question.
(7) Should in particular Counties the
need arise to take special measures because of danger to public peace and
order, the competent Federal Minister can for the duration of the danger
entrust special Federal officials with these measures.
(1) In
matters of the indirect Federal administration the State-Governor is bound
by instructions from the Federal Government and individual Federal
Ministers (Article 20) and
he is obliged, in order to effect the implementation of such instructions,
to employ the powers available to him in his capacity as a functionary of
the State's autonomous sphere of competence.
(2) A State Government,
when it draws up its Standing Orders, can decide that specific categories
of business of the indirect Federal administration shall be conducted by
members of the State Government in the name of the State-Governor because
of their substantive relationship with matters of the State's autonomous
sphere of competence. In such business the members concerned of the State
Government are as much bound by the instructions of the State-Governor
(Article 20) as is
the latter by the instructions of the Federal Government or individual
Federal Ministers.
(3) Instructions issued by the Federal Government or
individual Federal Ministers in accordance with Paragraph (1) shall also
in instances falling under Paragraph (2) be addressed to the
State-Governor. The latter, should he not himself be conducting the
relevant business of the indirect Federal administration, is responsible
(Article 142
(2)(d)) for passing the instruction in writing without delay and
unaltered to the State Government member concerned and for supervising its
implementation. If the instruction is not complied with although the
State-Governor has made the necessary arrangements, the State Government
member concerned is, pursuant to Article 142,
responsible to the Federal Government as well.
(4) In matters of
indirect Federal administration, in so far as it is the State-Governor's
responsibility as the appeal authority to reach a decision and federal law
because of the matter's importance does not exceptionally provide
otherwise, the State-Governor is the final instance of appeal; if the
decision rests in the first instance with the State-Governor, the stages
of administrative appeal in matters of the indirect Federal administration
extend, unless provided otherwise by federal law, to the competent Federal
Minister.
(1) The
provisions of Article 102 shall
not apply to agencies for the performance of Federal business specified in
Article 17.
(2)
Nonetheless, the Federal Minister entrusted with the administration of
Federal assets can assign the performance of such business to a
State-Governor and the authorities subordinate to him. Such an assignment
can at any time be revoked in part or in whole. To what extent in
exceptional instances the Federation makes recompense for the accrued
costs of performing such business will be regulated by federal law.
(1) The State-Governor represents the
State. In matters of the indirect Federal administration, he is, pursuant
to Article 142,
responsible to the Federal Government. The State-Governor has a member of
the State Government as Deputy State-Governor selected by the State
Government to substitute him. This appointment shall be notified to the
Federal Chancellor. Should the need for substitution occur, the member of
the State Government appointed as substitute is, pursuant to Article 142,
likewise responsible to the Federal Government in matters of the indirect
Federal administration. Immunity does not bar responsibility on the part
of the State-Governor or the member of the State Government, who acts for
him. Immunity also does not bar responsibility on the part of a member of
the State Government in a case arising under Article 103
(3).
(2) The members of the State Government are responsible to the
State Parliament pursuant to Article 142.
(3)
A vote to prefer a charge within the meaning of Article 142
requires the presence of half the members.
An administrative civil servant with legal training
will be appointed to take charge as State Administrative Director of the
State Government Office's internal services. He is also the official
assistant of the State-Governor in matters of the indirect Federal
administration.
For the
Federal capital, Vienna, in its capacity as a State, the County Parliament
has the additional function of a State Parliament, the Town Senate the
function of a State Government, the Mayor the function of the
State-Governor, the Magistrate the function of the State Government
Office, and the Magistrate Director the function of the State
Administrative Director.
In the State Vienna
the chain of appeal in matters of the indirect Federal administration,
unless precluded by federal law, is from the Magistrate acting as District
administrative authority or, in so far as federal authorities are in the
first instance entrusted with their execution (Article 102 (1)
second sentence), from them to the Mayor in his capacity as
State-Governor; in other respects Article 103 (4)
applies.
The
administrative tribunal to be constituted pursuant to Article 11 (5) at
the Magistrate of the Federal capital, Vienna, in its capacity as the
State Government Office, for the delivery of judgments as authority of
last resort in administrative penal business within the State's autonomous
sphere of competence shall at the same time also undertake the delivery of
judgments as authority of last resort in administrative penal business of
the indirect Federal administration; in these cases the Mayor, in his
capacity as State-Governor, is competent to exercise the right of clemency
on the ground of recommendations by the administrative penal tribunals.
The final
decision in matters of building and taxation lies with special committees
of officials. Their composition and appointment will be prescribed by
State law.
Except for the provisions in
Articles 108 to
111, the provisions in Part C of
this Chapter apply to the Federal capital, Vienna, with the exception of
Article 119 (4),
119a. Article 142
(2)(d) also applies to the conduct of the sphere of competence
assigned by the Federation to the Federal capital, Vienna.
(1) In so far as in the following Articles the
term County is used, the reference is to be taken as meaning Local
County.
(2) Save as competence on the part of the Federation is
expressly stipulated, State legislation shall prescribe laws of Counties
in accordance with the principles of the Articles contained in this Part.
Competence for the settlement of matters which, pursuant to Articles 118 and
119,
are to be performed by the Counties, will be determined in accordance with
the general provisions of this Federal Constitutional Law.
(1)
Every State is divided into Counties. The County is a territorial
corporate body entitled to self-administration
(2) The County is an independent economic entity. It
is entitled, within the limits of the laws of the Federation and the
States, to possess assets of all kinds, to acquire and to dispose of such
at will, to operate economic enterprises as well as to manage its budget
independently within the framework of the constitutional finance
provisions and to levy taxation.
(3) A County with at least 20,000
inhabitants shall, at its own request, if State interests are not thereby
jeopardized, be awarded its own charter by way of State legislation. Such
an enactment may only be published with Federal Government approval. This
shall be deemed given if the Federal Government, within eight weeks from
the day of the enactment's arrival at the competent Federal Ministry, has
not informed the State-Governor that the approval is refused. A town with
its own charter shall perform besides its local administrative duties also
those of the District administration.
(4) The formation of County
Associations for specific purposes can be planned on the basis of the
competent legislation (Articles 10 to
15). In so far as such County Associations are to undertake matters
within the County's own sphere of competence, the members of the County
Association shall be accorded decisive influence upon the performance of
the association's functions. The Counties concerned shall be given a
hearing prior to the formation of County Associations by way of an
executive measure.
(1) The authorities of the County shall in every
instance include:
a) the County Parliament, being a popular
representative body to be elected by those entitled to vote in the
County
b) the County Board, also known as the Town Council or, in towns
with their own charter, the Town Senate, and
c) the Mayor.
(2)
Elections to the County Parliament take place on the basis of proportional
representation by equal, direct, secret, and personal suffrage of all
Federal nationals who have their domicile in the County. In the electoral
regulations the conditions for suffrage and electoral eligibility may not
be more restrictive than in the electoral regulations for the State
Parliament. It can be provided, however, that individuals who have not yet
been residents in the County for at least one year shall not be entitled
to vote or to stand for election to the County Parliament if their
residence in the County is manifestly temporary. The provisions about
compulsory voting in the elections to the State Parliament (Article 95 (1) last
sentence) apply analogously to elections to the County Parliament. The
electoral regulations can provide that the voters exercise their suffrage
in constituencies each of which must comprise a territorial unit. A
division of the electorate into other electoral bodies is not
admissible.
(3) A simple majority by members present in sufficient
numbers to form a quorum is requisite to a vote by the County Parliament;
for certain matters, though, other requirements for the adoption of
resolutions can be provided.
(4) Meetings of the County Parliament are
public, but provision
can be made for exceptions. The public may not be
excluded when the County Budget or the County's final accounts are on the
agenda.
(5) Electoral parties represented in the County Parliament have
a claim to representation on the County Board in accordance with their
strength.
(6) The business of the Counties will be performed by the
County Administration or Town Administration, that of towns with their own
charter by the Magistrate. A civil servant with legal training shall be
appointed to take charge as Magistrate Director of the Magistrate's
internal services.
(1) A County
has its own sphere of competence and one assigned to it either by the
Federation or the State.
(2) Its own sphere of competence comprises,
apart from the matters mentioned in Article 116 (2),
all matters exclusively or preponderantly concerning the local community
as personified by a County, and suited to performance by the community
within its local boundaries. Legislation shall expressly specify matters
of that kind as being such falling within the County's own sphere of
competence.
(3) A County is guaranteed official responsibility in its
own sphere of competence particularly for performance of the following
matters:
1. appointment of the local authorities, notwithstanding the
competence of selection boards at a higher level; settlement of the
internal arrangements for performance of the County functions;
2.
appointment of the County staff and exercise of the official
responsibility over them, notwithstanding the competence of disciplinary,
eligibility, and investigatory commissions at a higher level;
3. local
public safety administration (Article 15 (2)),
local events control;
4. administration of County traffic areas, local
traffic police;
5. crops protection police;
6. local market
police;
7. local sanitary police, especially in the field of emergency
and first aid services as well as matters of deaths and interment;
8.
public decency;
9. local building police excluding federally owned
buildings which serve public purposes (Article 15 (5));
local fire control; local environment planning;
10. public services for
extra-judicial settlement of disputes; and
11. debtors' sale of
goods.
(4) The County shall perform the business for which it is
competent within the framework of the laws and ordinances of the
Federation and the State on its own responsibility free from instructions
and -- subject to the provisos of Article 119a (5)
-- to the exclusion of legal redress to administrative authorities outside
the County. A right of supervision (Article 119a)
pertains to the Federation and to the State over the County with respect
to its performance in its own sphere of competence. The provisions of
Article 12
(2) remain unaffected.
(5) The Mayor, the members of the County
Board, and, if appointed, other County officials are responsible to the
County Parliament for the performance of their functions relating to the
County's own sphere of competence.
(6) The County is entitled in
matters of its own sphere of competence to issue on its own initiative
local police ordinances for the prevention or elimination of nuisances
interfering with local community life as well as to declare non-compliance
with them an administrative contravention. Such ordinances may not violate
existent laws and ordinances of the Federation and State.
(7) On
application by a County, the performance of certain matters in its own
sphere of competence can, in accordance with Article 119a (3),
be assigned by ordinance of the State Government or by ordinance of the
State-Governor to a state authority. In so far as such an ordinance is
meant to assign competence to a Federal authority, it requires the
approval of the Federal Government. In so far as such an ordinance by the
State-Governor is meant to assign competence to a State authority, it
requires the approval of the State Government. Such an ordinance shall be
rescinded as soon as the reason for its issue has ceased. Assignment does
not extend to the right to issue ordinances in accordance with Paragraph
(6).
(1) The
assigned sphere of competence comprises those matters which the County, in
accordance with federal laws, must undertake at the order and in
accordance with the instructions of the Federation or in accordance with
State laws at the order and in accordance with instructions of the
State.
(2) The business of the assigned sphere of competence is
performed by the Mayor. In doing so, he is in matters of Federal execution
bound by instructions from the competent Federal authorities, in matters
of State execution by instructions from the competent State authorities,
he is responsible in accordance with Paragraph (4).
(3) The Mayor can,
without deviation from his responsibility, on account of their factual
connection with matters of the County's own sphere of competence transfer
individual categories of matters of the assigned sphere of competence to
members of the County Board other authorities created in accordance with
Article 117 (1),
or members of official bodies for performance in his name. In these
matters the authorities concerned or their members are bound by the
instructions of the Mayor and responsible in accordance with Paragraph
(4).
(4) In so far as malice or gross negligence can be laid to their
charge, the authorities named in Paragraphs (2) and (3) can on account of
breach of law as well as on account of non-compliance with an ordinance or
instruction be declared to have forfeited their office, by the
State-Governor if they were acting in the field of Federal execution, by
the State Government if they were acting in the field of State execution.
Should such a person belong to the County Parliament, the membership is
not affected.
(1) The
Federation and the State exercise the right of supervision over a County
to the purpose that it does not infringe laws and ordinances in dealing
with its own sphere of competence, in particular does not overstep its
sphere of competence, and fulfills the duties legally devolving upon
it.
(2) The State has the right to examine the financial administration
of a County with respect to its thrift, efficiency, and expediency. The
result of the examination shall be conveyed to the Mayor for submission to
the County Parliament. The Mayor shall within three months inform the
supervisory authority of the measures taken by reason of the result of the
check.
(3) In so far as a County's own sphere of competence comprises
matters deriving from the sphere of Federal execution, the right of
supervision and its legislative regulation lie with the Federation, in
other respects with the States, the right of supervision shall be
exercised by the authorities of the ordinary public administration.
(4)
The supervisory authority is entitled to inform itself about every kind of
County business. The County is bound to give the information demanded in
individual cases by the supervisory authority and to allow examination to
be conducted on the spot.
(5) Whoever alleges infringement of his
rights through the ruling of a local authority in matters belonging to its
own sphere of competence can, after exhausting all channels of appeal
(Article 118 (4)),
within two weeks after issuing of the ruling make representations against
it to the supervisory authority. The latter shall rescind the ruling if
the right of the intervener has been infringed and remand the matter to
the County. For towns with their own charter, the competent legislature
(Paragraph (3)) can direct that representation to the supervisory
authority.
(6) The County shall without delay advise the supervisory
authority of ordinances issued in its own sphere of competence. The
supervisory authority shall, after a hearing of the County, rescind
ordinances which are contrary to law and advise the County of the
reasons.
(7) In so far as the competent legislature (Paragraph (3))
contemplates the dissolution of the County Parliament as a supervisory
expedient, this measure rests with the State Government in exercise of the
State's right of supervision, with the State-Governor in exercise of the
Federation's right of supervision. The admissibility of effecting a
substitution shall be restricted to cases of absolute necessity.
Supervisory expedients shall be applied with greatest possible
consideration for third parties' acquired rights.
(8) Individual
measures to be taken by a County in its own sphere of competence, but
which to a certain degree affect extra-local interests particularly such
having a distinct financial bearing, can be tied by the competent
legislature (Paragraph (3)) to a sanction on the part of the supervisory
authority. Only a state of affairs which unequivocally justifies the
preference of extra-local interests may come into consideration as a
reason for withholding the sanction.
(9) The County has the status of a
party to supervisory authority proceedings; it is entitled to lodge
complaints with the Administrative Court (Articles 131 and
132) and with the Constitutional Court (Article 144)
against the supervisory authority.
(10) This Article applies
analogously to supervision of County Associations in so far as these
perform matters pertaining to a County's own sphere of competence (Article
116
(4)).
The combination of Local Counties into Regional
Counties, their establishment in line with the pattern of
self-administration, and the determination of other principles for the
organization of the ordinary public administration in the States is the
business of Federal constitutional legislation; its implementation
devolves upon the State legislatures. Settlement of the competence in
matters pertaining to the service code for and staff representation rights
of the employees of Regional Counties is the business of Federal
constitutional legislation.
(1) The
Auditing Board is competent to examine the administration of public funds
by Federation, States, County Associations, Counties and other legal
entities determined by law.
(2) The Auditing Board draws up the final
Federal budget accounts and submits them to the House of Representatives.
The contents of the final Federal budget accounts may not be published
before the beginning of the debate thereon in the House of
Representatives.
(3) All vouchers about financial debts of the
Federation, in so far as they result in liability on the part of the
Federation, shall be countersigned by the President of the Auditing Board
or, should he be impeded, by his deputy. The countersignature guarantees
only the legality of the debt incurred and its proper entry in
the
National Debt ledger.
(1) The Auditing Board is directly
subordinate to the House of Representatives. It acts in matters pertaining
to Federal administration of public funds as agent for the House of
Representatives, in matters pertaining to States, County Associations, and
local administration of public funds as agent for the State Parliament
concerned.
(2) The Auditing Board is independent of the Federal
Government and the State Governments and subject only to the provisions of
the law.
(3) The Auditing Board consists of a President, a
Vice-President, and the requisite officials and auxiliary
personnel.
(4) The President and Vice-President of the Auditing Board
are elected on the proposal of the Main Committee of the House of
Representatives. Before their assumption of office they render an
affirmation to the Federal President.
(5) The President and the
Vice-President of the Auditing Board may neither belong to any popular
representative body nor may they, during the past four years, have held
office in the Federal Government.
(1) With regard to accountability, the President of
the Auditing Board has the same status as members of the Federal
Government or members of the State Government concerned, depending on
whether the Auditing Board acts as agent of the House of Representatives
or a State Parliament.
(2) The President and/or the Vice-President of
the Auditing Board can be relieved of office by a vote of the House of
Representatives.
(1) The President and the Vice-President of the
Auditing Board are entitled to participate in the debates by the House of
Representatives and its committees (sub-committees) on reports by the
Auditing Board, on the final Federal budget accounts, and on the sections
relating to the Auditing Board in the Federal Finance bill.
(2) The
President of the Auditing Board has, in accordance with the detailed
provisions of the Federal law on the House of Representatives' Standing
Orders, always the right to be heard at his own request in the debates on
the subjects listed in Paragraph (1).
(1)
Should the President of the Auditing Board be prevented from the discharge
of his responsibilities, the Vice-President will act for him, and if the
Vice-President too is impeded, the senior official of the Auditing Board
will deputize. This also holds good if the office of President is vacant.
Who shall act in the House of Representatives as deputy for the President
of the Auditing Board is settled by the Federal law on the House of
Representatives' Standing Orders.
(2) If someone deputizes for the
President, the provisions of Article 123 (1)
apply to the deputy.
(1) The
officials of the Auditing Board are appointed by the Federal President
upon the recommendation and with the countersignature of the President of
the Auditing Board; the same applies to granting official titles. The
Federal President may, however, authorize the President of the Auditing
Board to appoint officials of certain categories.
(2) The President of
the Auditing Board appoints the auxiliary
personnel.
No member
of the Auditing Board may be a participant in the management and
administration of enterprises subject to control by the Auditing Board.
Just as little may a member of the Auditing Board participate in the
management and administration of any other enterprises operating for
profit.
Should divergences of opinion arise between the
Auditing Board and the Federal Government or a Federal Minister or a State
Government on interpretation of the legal provisions which prescribe the
competence of the Auditing Board, the Constitutional Court, upon request
by the Federal or State Government or the Auditing Board, decides the
issue in closed proceedings. The Procedure will be prescribed by Federal
law.
(1)
The Auditing Board shall examine the entire management, of the Federation
and, furthermore, the financial administration of endowments, funds, and
institutions administered by Federal authorities or persons or groups of
persons appointed for this purpose by authorities of the
Federation.
(2) The Auditing Board also examines the financial
administration of enterprises where the Federation is either the sole
participant or holds at least fifty percent of the share capital together
with other legal entities falling within the competence of the Auditing
Board or where the Federation is either their sole or joint operator with
other such legal entities. Such a financial participation shall be deemed
equivalent to the control of enterprises by other financial, economic, or
organizational measures. Moreover, the competence of the Auditing Board
extends to enterprises of any additional category where the conditions
pursuant to this paragraph exist.
(3) The Auditing Board is competent
to examine the financial administration of corporations under public law
using Federal funds.
(4) The Auditing Board shall, on a vote by the
House of Representatives or at the request of House of Representatives
members, carry out special measures of investigation into financial
administration which falls into its sphere of competence. The more
detailed regulation will be laid down by the Federal law on the House of
Representatives' Standing Orders. The Auditing Board shall likewise carry
out such measures at the substantiated request of the Federal Government
or a Federal Minister and report the result to the applicant
authority.
(5) Examination by the Auditing Board shall extend to
arithmetical correctness, compliance with existing regulations, and the
employment of thrift, efficiency and expediency.
The
Auditing Board is competent to examine the financial administration of the
social insurance institutions.
(1) The
Auditing Board annually renders the House of Representatives, not later
than 15 October, in any year a report on its activities. The Auditing
Board can also, at any time, report to the House of Representatives its
observations on individual matters and, if necessary, make proposals. The
Auditing Board must simultaneously with its submission to the House of
Representatives inform the Federal Chancellor of every report. The annual
report of the Auditing Board on its activities shall be published; a
publication of the contents may not, however, ensue before the beginning
of the House of
Representatives deliberation.
(2) A Standing
Committee shall be appointed by the House of Representatives to discuss
the reports of the Auditing Board. Its appointment shall maintain the
principle of proportional representation.
(1) The
Auditing Board shall examine the financial administration of the States in
their autonomous sphere of competence as well as the financial
administration of endowments, funds, and institutions administered by the
authorities of a State or persons of groups of persons appointed for the
purpose by authorities of the State. The examination shall extend to
arithmetical correctness, compliance with existing regulations, and the
employment of thrift, efficiency, and expedience in the financial
administration; it shall not, however, include the resolutions passed by
the constitutionally competent representative bodies with respect to the
financial administration.
(2) The State Governments shall annually
transmit to the Auditing Board the budget estimates and the final budget
accounts.
(3) The Auditing Board also examines the financial
administration of enterprises where the State is either the sole
participant or holds at least fifty per cent of the share capital together
with other legal entities falling within the competence of the Auditing
Board or where the State is either their sole or joint operator with other
such legal entities. As regards the concept of financial participation,
Article 126b (2)
applies analogously. The competence of the Auditing Board also extends to
enterprises of any additional category where the conditions pursuant to
this paragraph exist.
(4) The Auditing Board is competent to examine
the financial administration of corporations under public law using State
funds.
(5) The Auditing Board shall inform the State Government of the
result of its examination for submission to the State Parliament and for
the delivery, if need be, of comment which must be made within three
weeks. The State Government shall, within three months, advise the
Auditing Board of the measures taken by reason of the result of the
examination.
(6) The Auditing Board shall also notify the Federal
Government of the report rendered to the State Parliament together with
any possible comment by the State Government.
(7) The Auditing Board
shall, at the substantiated request of a State Government, carry out
special measures of examination into financial administration which fall
into its sphere of competence and report the result to the applicant
authority.
(8) The provisions of this Article also hold good for the
examination into the financial administration of the City of Vienna, the
County Parliament taking the place of the State Parliament, and the Town
Senate taking the place of the State Government.
(1)
The Auditing Board shall examine the financial administration of Counties
with at least 20,000 inhabitants as well as the financial administration
of endowments, funds, and institutions administered by the authorities of
a County or persons or groups of persons appointed for the purpose by the
authorities of a County. The examination shall extend to the arithmetical
correctness, compliance with existing regulations, and the employment of
thrift, efficiency, and expediency in the financial administration.
(2)
The Mayor shall annually transmit to the Auditing Board and simultaneously
to the State Government the budget
estimates and the final budget
accounts.
(3) The calculation shall also examine the financial
administration of enterprises where a County with at least 20,000
inhabitants is either the sole participant or holds at least fifty per
cent of the share capital together with other legal entities falling
within the competence of the Auditing Board or where the County is either
their sole or joint operator with other such legal entities. As regards
the concept of financial participation, Article 126b (2)
applies analogously. The competence of the Auditing Board also extends to
enterprises of any additional category where the conditions pursuant to
this paragraph exist.
(4) The Auditing Board is competent to examine
the financial administration of corporations under public law using funds
of a County with at least 20,000 inhabitants.
(5) The Auditing Board
shall inform the Mayor of the result of its examination for submission to
the County Parliament and for the delivery of possible comment which must
be made within three weeks. Upon the expiry of this deadline, the Auditing
Board transmits the result of the examination together with the possibly
accompanying comment to the State Government which informs the State
Parliament of the submission. The Mayor shall, within three months, advise
the Auditing Board of the measures taken by reason of the result of the
examination.
(6) The Auditing Board shall also inform the Federal
Government of the result of its examination of the financial
administration.
(7) The Auditing Board shall also, at the substantiated
request of the competent State Government, examine in individual cases the
financial administration of Counties with less than 20,000 inhabitants and
inform the State Government of the result of this examination. Paragraphs
(1) and (3) apply analogously.
(8) The provisions applying for the
examination of the financial administration of Counties with at least
20,000 inhabitants shall apply analogously to the examination of the
financial administration of County Associations.
The more
detailed provisions about the establishment and activity of the Auditing
Board will be laid down by Federal law.
The authority
competent to secure the legality of all acts of public administration is
the Administrative Court at Vienna.
(1)
The Administrative Court pronounces on complaints which allege:
a)
illegality of rulings by administrative authorities;
b) illegality in
the exercise of direct administrative power and compulsion against a
particular person; or
c) breach of administrative authorities' duty to
take a decision.
The Administrative Court also decides complaints
against instructions received pursuant to Article 81a
(4).
(2) No illegality exists where legislation forbears from the
establishment of a binding rule on an administrative authority's conduct,
leaving the determination of such conduct to the authority itself, and the
authority has made use of this discretion in the spirit of the law.
(1) Complaint
about illegality can be brought against the ruling of an administrative
authority by:
1) anyone who, after exhausting all appellate stages,
alleges that the ruling infringes their rights;
2) the competent
Federal Minister in matters pertaining to Articles 11, 12, 14
(2) and (3) and 14a (3) and
(4) as well as in those matters where the ruling of a State or
District school board is based on a committee decision and the parties are
no longer able to contest the ruling by way of appeal; and
3) the
competent State government against rulings by the Federal Minister
competent in matters pertaining to the first sentence in Article 15
(5).
(2) The Federal or State laws relating to the individual
fields of administration regulate under what conditions complaints about
illegality are admissible against administrative authorities' rulings in
cases other than those stated in Paragraph (1).
A party subject to the exercise of direct
administrative power and compulsion can lay complaint against the alleged
infringement of personal rights by the measure concerned.
Complaint for breach of the duty to take a
decision can be brought by the party who in administrative proceedings was
entitled to claim fulfillment of that duty of decision.
The
following matters art excluded from the jurisdiction of the Administrative
Court:
1) matters pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Constitutional
Court;
2) {...};
3) patent matters;
4) matters where the
final decision rests with a tribunal if, in accordance with the Federal or
State law which prescribes the organization of this authority, its
membership includes at least one judge, the remaining members too are in
the exercise of this office not bound by any instructions, the rulings of
this authority are not subject to administrative rescission of alteration,
and complaint to the Administrative Court, notwithstanding the fulfillment
of these conditions, is not expressly declared admissible.
(1) The
Administrative Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, and the
requisite number of other members (tribunal presidents and Court
councilors).
(2) The President, the Vice-President, and the other
members of the Administrative Court are appointed by the Federal President
on the proposal of the Federal Government. The Federal Government submits
its recommendations, in so far as appointment of the President or
Vice-President is concerned, on the basis of a recommendation listing
three candidates for each vacancy submitted by the Administrative Court in
plenary session.
(3) All members of the Administrative Court must have
completed their studies in law and political science and for at least ten
years have held a professional appointment which prescribes the completion
of these studies. At least one third of the members must be qualified to
hold judicial office while at least one quarter should be drawn from
professional appointments in the States, whenever possible from the
States' administrative service.
(4) Members of the Federal Government,
a State Government, or a popular representative body cannot be members of
the Administrative Court; for members of a popular representative body
elected for a fixed term of legislation or office, such
incompatibility
continues until the expiry of that term of legislation or office even
though they prematurely renounce their seat.
(5) Anyone who during the
preceding four years has exercised one of the functions specified in
Paragraph (4) cannot be appointed President or Vice-President of the
Administrative Court.
(6) All members of the Administrative Court are
professionally employed judges. The provisions of Articles 87 (1) and
(2) and 88 (2)
apply to them. Members of the Administrative Court are, by operation of
law, put on the permanently retired list on 31 Dec of the year in which
they attain their sixty fifth birthday.
(1) The
Administrative Court pronounces judgment through tribunals which shall be
constituted by the plenary assembly from members of the Administrative
Court.
(2) Business shall, for the period provided by Federal law, be
allocated by the plenary assembly in advance among the tribunals.
(3) A
matter devolving upon a member in accordance with this allocation may be
removed from his jurisdiction only in case of his being prevented from the
discharge of his responsibilities.
(4) Article 89
applies analogously to the Administrative Court.
Detailed
provisions about establishment, scope, and procedure of the Administrative
Court will be prescribed in a special Federal law and Standing Orders be
passed on the basis of this by the plenary assembly.
The
Constitutional Court
(1) The Constitutional Court also pronounces on
conflicts of competence:
a) between courts and administrative
authorities;
b) between the Administrative Court and all other courts,
in particular between the Administrative Court and the Constitutional
Court itself, as well as between the ordinary courts and other
courts;
c) between the States as well as between a State and the
Federation.
(2) The Constitutional Court furthermore determines at the
application of the Federal Government, or a State Government whether an
act of legislation or execution falls into the competence of the
Federation or the States.
(1) The Constitutional Court establishes on
application by the Federal Government or a State Government concerned
whether an agreement within the meaning of Article 15a (1)
exists and whether the obligations arising from such an agreement, save in
so far as it is a matter of pecuniary claims, have been fulfilled.
(2)
If it is stipulated in an agreement within the meaning of Article 15a (2),
the Court also establishes on application by a State Government concerned
whether such an agreement exists and whether the obligations arising from
such an agreement, save in so far as it is a matter of pecuniary claims,
have been fulfilled.
(1) The
Constitutional Court pronounces on application by a court whether
ordinances issued by a Federal or State authority are contrary to law, but
ex officio in so far as the Court would have to apply such an
ordinance in a pending suit. It also pronounces on application by the
Federal Government whether ordinances issued by a State authority are
contrary to law, and likewise on application by the County concerned
whether ordinances issued by a County supervisory authority in accordance
with Article 119a (6)
are contrary to law. It also pronounces whether ordinances are contrary to
law when an application alleges direct infringement of personal rights
through such illegality in so far as the ordinance has become operative
for the applicant without the delivery of a judicial decision or the issue
of a ruling; Article 8 (3)
applies analogously to such applications.
(2) If the litigant in a suit
lodged with the Constitutional Court, entailing application of an
ordinance by the Administrative Court, receives satisfaction, the
proceedings initiated to examine the ordinance's legality shall
nevertheless continue.
(3) The Constitutional Court may rescind an
ordinance as contrary to law only to the extent that its rescission was
expressly submitted or the Court would have had to apply it in the pending
suit. If the Court reaches the conclusion that the whole ordinance
a)
has no foundation in law;
b) was issued by an authority without
competence in the matter; or
c) was published in a manner contrary to
law,
it shall rescind the whole ordinance as illegal. This does not
apply if rescission of the whole ordinance manifestly runs contrary to the
legitimate interests of the litigant who has filed an application pursuant
to the last sentence in Paragraph (1) or whose suit has been the occasion
for the initiation of ex officio examination proceedings into the
ordinance.
(4) If the ordinance has, at the time of the Constitutional
Court's delivery of its judgment, already been repealed and the
proceedings were initiated ex officio or the application was filed
by a court or an applicant alleging direct infringement of his personal
rights through the ordinance's illegality, the Court must pronounce
whether the ordinance contravened the law. Paragraph (3) applies
analogously.
(5) The judgment by the Constitutional Court which
rescinds an ordinance as contrary to law imposes on the highest competent
authority in the Federation or State the obligation to publish the
rescission without delay. This applies analogously in the case of a
pronouncement pursuant to Paragraph (4) above. The rescission enters into
force on the day of publication if the Court does not set a deadline,
which may not exceed six months or, if legal dispositions are necessary, a
year, for the rescission.
(6) If an ordinance has been rescinded on the
score of illegality or if the Constitutional Court has pursuant to
Paragraph (4) pronounced an ordinance to be contrary to law, all courts
and administrative authorities are bound by the Court's decision. The
ordinance shall, however, continue to apply to the circumstances effected
before the rescission, the case in point excepted, unless the Court in its
rescissory judgment decides otherwise. If the Court has in its rescissory
judgment set a deadline pursuant to Paragraph (5), the ordinance shall
apply to all the circumstances effected, the case in point excepted, till
the expiry of this deadline.
The
Constitutional Court pronounces on application by a court whether in the
re-publication of a legal norm the limits of the authority conferred were
transcended; ex officio, in so far as the re-publication of the
legal norm constitutes the prerequisite to a judgment by the Court itself;
also on application by a State Government, in the case of legal norms
re-published by the Federation. Likewise on application by the Federal
Government in the case of legal norms republished by a State. It
pronounces furthermore whether in the re-publication of a legal norm the
limits of the authority conferred were transcended when an application
alleges direct infringement of personal rights in so far as the
republished legal norm has become operative against the applicant without
the delivery of a judicial decision or the issue of a ruling. Article 59 (2), (3)
and (5) as well as Article 139 (2) to
(6) apply analogously.
(1) The
Constitutional Court pronounces on application by the Administrative
Court, the Supreme Court, or a competent appellate court whether a Federal
or State law is unconstitutional, but ex officio in so far as the
Court would have to apply such a law in a pending suit. It pronounces also
on application by the Federal Government whether State laws are
unconstitutional and likewise on application by a State Government or by
one third of the House of Representatives' members whether Federal laws
are unconstitutional. A State constitutional law can provide that such a
right of application as regards the unconstitutionality of State laws lies
with one third of the State Parliament's members. The Court also
pronounces whether laws are unconstitutional when an application alleges
direct infringement of personal rights through such unconstitutionality in
so far as the law has become operative for the applicant without the
delivery of a judicial decision or the issue of a ruling. Article 89 (3)
applies analogously to such applications.
(2) If the litigant in a suit
lodged with the Constitutional Court, entailing application of a law by
the Court receives satisfaction, the proceedings initiated to examine the
law's constitutionality shall nevertheless continue.
(3) The
Constitutional Court may rescind a law as unconstitutional only to the
extent that its rescission was expressly submitted or the Court would have
to apply the law in the suit pending with it. If, however, the Court
concludes that the whole law was enacted by a legislative authority
unqualified in accordance with the allocation of competence or published
in an unconstitutional manner, it shall rescind the whole law as
unconstitutional. This does not apply if rescission of the whole law
manifestly runs contrary to the legitimate interests of the litigant who
has filed an application pursuant to the last sentence in Paragraph (1) or
whose suit has been the occasion for the initiation of ex officio
examination proceedings into the law.
(4) If the law has, at the time
of the Constitutional Court's delivery of its judgment, already been
repealed and the proceedings were initiated ex officio or the
application filed by a court or an applicant alleging direct infringement
of personal rights through the law's unconstitutionality, the Court must
pronounce whether the law was unconstitutional. Paragraph (3) applies
analogously.
(5) The judgment by the Constitutional Court which
rescinds a law as unconstitutional imposes on the Federal Chancellor or
the competent State-Governor the obligation to publish the rescission
without delay. This applies analogously in the case of a pronouncement
pursuant to Paragraph (4). The rescission enters into force on the day of
publication if the Court does not
set a deadline for the rescission.
This deadline may not exceed one year.
(6) If a law is rescinded as
unconstitutional by a judgment of the Constitutional Court, the legal
provisions rescinded by the law which the Court has pronounced
unconstitutional become effective again, unless the judgment pronounces
otherwise, on the day of entry into force of the rescission. The
publication on the rescission of the law shall also announce whether and
which legal provisions again enter into force.
(7) If a law has been
rescinded on the score of unconstitutionality or if the Constitutional
Court has, pursuant to Paragraph (4), pronounced a law unconstitutional,
all courts and administrative authorities are bound by the Court's
decision. The law shall, however, continue to apply to the circumstances
effected before the rescission, the case in point excepted, unless the
Court in its rescissory judgment decides otherwise. If the Court has in
its rescissory judgment set a deadline pursuant to Paragraph (5), the law
shall apply to all the circumstances effected, the case in point excepted,
till the expiry of this deadline.
(1) Article 140 shall
apply to treaties concluded pursuant to Article 50 with
the sanction of the House of Representatives and correspondingly Article
139 to
all other treaties with the provision that the authorities competent for
their execution shall, from the day of the judgment's publication, not
apply those which the Court establishes as being contrary to law or
unconstitutional unless it determines a deadline prior to which such a
treaty shall continue to be applied. The deadline may not exceed two years
in the case of treaties specified in Article 50 and
one year in the case of all others.
(2) If the Constitutional Court
establishes that a treaty whose fulfillment requires the issue of laws or
ordinances is contrary to law or unconstitutional, the effect of the vote
in accordance with Article 50 (2) or
of the ordinance in accordance with Article 65 (1) second
sentence expires.
(1) The
Constitutional Court pronounces upon:
a) challenges to the election of
the Federal President and elections to the popular representative bodies
or the constituent authorities (representative bodies) of statutory
professional associations;
b) challenges to elections to a State
Government and to local authorities entrusted with executive power;
c)
application by a popular representative body for a loss of seat by one of
its members;
d) application by a constituent authority (representative
body) of a statutory professional associations for a loss of seat by one
of the members of such an authority;
e) the challenge to rulings
whereby the loss of a seat in a popular representative body, in a local
authority entrusted with executive power or in a constituent authority
(representative body) of a statutory professional association has been
enunciated, in so far as laws of the Federation or States governing
elections provide for declaration of a loss of seat by the ruling of an
administrative authority, and after all stages of legal remedy have been
exhausted.
f) The challenge (application) can be based on the alleged
illegality of the electoral procedure or on a reason provided by law for
the loss of membership in a popular representative body, in a local
authority entrusted with executive power, or in a constituent authority
(representative body) of a statutory professional association. The Court
shall allow an electoral
challenge if the alleged illegality has been
proved and was of influence on the election result. In the proceedings
before the administrative authorities, the popular representative body or
statutory professional association has litigant status.
(2) If a
challenge pursuant to Paragraph (1)(a) is allowed and it thereby becomes
necessary to hold the House of Representatives or a State Parliament
election in whole or in part again, the representative body's members
concerned lose their seat at the time when it is assumed by those elected
at the ballot which has to be held within a hundred days after delivery of
the Constitutional Court's decision.
(3) The premise for a decision by
the Constitutional Court in challenges to the result of initiatives or
referenda will be prescribed by Federal law. How long, in view of the
possibility of such a challenge, it is necessary to retard publication of
the law about which a referendum took place, can also be enacted by
Federal law.
(1)
The Constitutional Court pronounces on suits which predicate the
constitutional responsibility of the highest Federal and State authorities
for legal contraventions culpably ensuing from their official
activity.
(2) Suit can be brought:
a) against the Federal President,
for contravention of the Federal Constitution: by a vote of the Federal
Assembly;
b) against members of the Federal Government and the
authorities placed with regard to responsibility on an equal footing with
them, for contravention of the law: by a vote of the House of
Representatives;
c) against members of a State Government and the
authorities placed by the present law or the State constitution with
regard to responsibility on an equal footing with therm, for contravention
of the law: by a vote of the competent State Parliament;
d) against a
State-Governor, his deputy (Article 105 (1))
or a member of the State Government (Article 103 (2) and
(3)) for contravention of the law as well as for non-compliance with
ordinances or other directives (instructions) of the Federation in matters
pertaining to the indirect Federal administration, in the case of a member
of the State Government also with regard to instructions from the
State-Governor in these matters: by a vote of the Federal
Government;
e) against the authorities of the Federal capital, Vienna,
in so far as within its autonomous sphere of competence they perform
functions from the domain of the Federal executive power, for
contravention of the law: by a vote of the Federal Government;
f)
against a State-Governor, for non-compliance with an instruction pursuant
to Article 14 (8) by
a vote of the Federal Government;
g) against a president or executive
president of a State school board, for contravention of the law as well as
for non-compliance with ordinances or other directives (instructions) of
the Federation: by a vote of the Federal Government.
(3) If, pursuant
to Paragraph (2)(d), the Federal Government brings a suit only against a
State-Governor or his deputy and it is shown that another member of the
State Government in accordance with Article 103 (2)
concerned with matters pertaining to the indirect Federal administration
is guilty of an offence within the meaning of Paragraph (2)(d), the
Federal Government can at any time pending the passing of judgment widen
its suit to include this member of the State Government.
(4) The
condemnation by the Constitutional Court shall pronounce a forfeiture of
office and, in particularly aggravating circumstances, also a temporary
forfeiture of political rights. In the case of minor legal contraventions
in the instances mentioned in Paragraph (2)(d), (f), and (g) the Court can
confine itself to the statement that the law has been contravened. From
forfeiture of the office of president of the State school board ensues
forfeiture of the office with which pursuant to Article 81a
(3)(b) it is linked.
(5) The Federal President can avail himself of
the right vested in him in accordance with Article 65 (2)(c)
in the cases under Paragraph (2)(a), (b), and (c) only on the request of
the representative body which has voted for the filing of the suit, in
cases under Sub-Paragraphs (d), (f), and (g) only on the request of the
Federal Government, and in all cases only with the approval of the
defendant.
A suit can be brought against the persons mentioned
in Article 142 also
on the score of actions involving penal proceedings connected with the
activity in office of the individual to be arraigned. In this case,
competence lies exclusively with the Constitutional Court; any
investigation already pending in the ordinary criminal courts devolves
upon it. The Court can in such cases, in addition to Article 142 (4),
apply the provisions of the criminal law.
(1) The Constitutional Court pronounces on
rulings by administrative authorities in so far as the applicant alleges
an infringement by the ruling of a constitutionally guaranteed right or
the infringement of personal rights on the score of an illegal ordinance,
an unconstitutional law, or an unlawful treaty. On the same premises, the
Court likewise pronounces on complaints against the exercise of direct
administrative power and compulsion against a particular individual. The
complaint can only be filed after all other stages of legal remedy, in so
far as such come into consideration, have been exhausted.
(2) The
Constitutional Court can, before the proceedings, decide to reject a
hearing of the complaint if it has no reasonable prospect of success. The
rejection of the hearing is inadmissible if it concerns a case that
according to Article 133 is
barred from the competence of the Administrative Court.
(3) If the
Constitutional Court finds that a right within the meaning of Paragraph
(1) has not been infringed by the challenged ruling or the exercises of
direct administrative power and compulsion, and if it does not concern a
case that in accordance with Article 133 is
barred from the competence of the Administrative Court, the Court shall,
on the request of the applicant, at the same time as it rejects the plea
transfer the complaint to the Administrative Court for decision whether
the applicant, by the ruling or the exercise of direct administrative
power and compulsion, sustained the infringement of any other right. This
applies analogously in the case of decisions in accordance with Paragraph
(2).
The
Constitutional Court pronounces judgment on contraventions of
international law in accordance with the provisions of a special Federal
law.
(1) The
enforcement of judgments pronounced by the Constitutional Court on claims
made in accordance with Article 137 is
implemented by the ordinary courts.
(2) The enforcement of other
judgments by the Constitutional Court is incumbent on the Federal
President. Implementation shall, in accordance with his instructions, lie
with the Federation or States authorities, including the Federal Army,
appointed at his discretion for the purpose. The request to the Federal
President for the enforcement of such judgments shall be made by the
Constitutional Court. The aforementioned instructions by the Federal
President require, if it is a matter of enforcements against the
Federation or Federal authorities, no countersignature in accordance with
Article 67.
(1) The
Constitutional Court consists of a President, a Vice-President, twelve
additional members, and six substitute members.
(2) The President, the
Vice-President, six additional members, and three substitute members are
appointed by the Federal President on the recommendation of the Federal
Government; these members shall be selected from among judges,
administrative officials, and professors holding a chair in law. The
remaining six members and three substitute members are appointed by the
Federal President on the basis of recommendations listing three candidates
for each vacancy, the House of Representatives submitting those for three
members and two substitute members and the Senate those for three members
and one substitute member. Three members and two substitute members must
have their domicile outside the Federal capital, Vienna. Administrative
officials who are appointed members of the Constitutional Court shall, in
so far and for as long as they are not superannuated, be freed from all
official duties.
(3) The President, the Vice-President, and the other
members and substitute members must have completed their studies in law
and political science and for at least ten years have held a professional
appointment which prescribes the completion of these studies.
(4) The
following cannot belong to the Constitutional Court:
members of the
Federal Government or a State Government, members of the House of
Representatives, the Senate, or any other popular representative body; for
members of these representative bodies who have been elected for a fixed
term of legislation or office such incompatibility continues until the
expiry of that term of legislation or office. Finally, persons who are
under employment of or hold office in a political party cannot belong to
the Constitutional Court.
(5) Anyone who, during the preceding four
years, has exercised one of the functions specified in Paragraph (4),
cannot be appointed President or Vice-President of the Constitutional
Court.
(6) Articles 87 (1) and
(2), 88 (2)
apply to members of the Constitutional Court; detailed provisions will be
prescribed in the Federal law to be promulgated pursuant to Article 148. The
31 Dec of the year in which a judge completes his seventieth year of life
is fixed as the age limit on whose attainment his term of office
ends.
(7) If a member or substitute member disregards without
satisfactory excuse three successive requests to attend a hearing of the
Constitutional Court, the Court shall formally establish the fact after
listening to his testimony. Establishment of the fact entails loss of
membership or the status of substitute membership.
Detailed
provisions about the organization and procedure of the Constitutional
Court will be prescribed by a special Federal law and in Standing Orders
to be voted by the Constitutional Court on the basis of this.
(1) Everyone can lodge complaint with the
Ombudsmen
(2) The Ombudsmen Council is ex officio entitled to
investigate its suspicions of maladministration by the Federation
including its activity as a holder of private rights.
(3) The Ombudsmen
Council is independent in the exercise of its authority.
(1) All Federal, State, and County authorities
shall support the Ombudsmen Council in the performance of its tasks, allow
it inspection of its records, and upon request furnish the information
required. Official secrecy is inoperative in the case of the Ombudsmen
Council.
(2) The Ombudsmen Council must observe official secrecy to the
same degree as the authority whom it has approached in the fulfillment of
its tasks. The Ombudsmen Council is however bound by the observation of
official secrecy in its reports to the House of Representatives only in so
far as this is requisite on behalf of the interest of the parties
concerned or of national security.
The
Ombudsmen Council can issue to the authorities entrusted with the
Federation's highest administrative business recommendations on measures
to be taken in or by reason of a particular case. The authority concerned
must within a deadline to be settled by Federal law either conform to
these recommendations and inform the Ombudsmen Council accordingly or
state in writing why the recommendations have not been complied with.
The Ombudsmen
Council shall annually render the House of Representatives a report on its
activity.
On
application by the Ombudsmen Council, the Constitutional Court pronounces
on the illegality or otherwise of ordinances by a Federal authority.
If
differences of opinion arise between the Ombudsmen Council and the Federal
Government or a Federal Minister on the interpretation of legal
provisions, the Constitutional Court, on application by the Federal
Government or the Ombudsmen Council, decides the matter in closed
proceedings.
(1) The
Ombudsmen Council has its seat in Vienna and consists of three members,
one of whom acts in turn as chairman. The term of office lasts six years.
Reelection of the Ombudsmen Council's members more than once is
inadmissible.
(2) Ombudsmen Council members are elected by the House of
Representatives on the basis of a joint recommendation drawn up by the
Main Committee in the presence of at least half its
members. Each of
the three parties with the largest number of votes in the House of
Representatives is entitled to nominate one member for this
recommendation. The members of the Ombudsmen Council render an affirmation
to the Federal President before their assumption of office.
(3) The
Ombudsmen Council chairmanship rotates annually between the members in the
sequence of the voting strength possessed by the parties who have
nominated them. This sequence remains unchanged during the Ombudsmen
Council's term of office.
(4) Should a Ombudsmen Council member retire
prematurely, the party represented in the House of Representatives who
nominated this member shall nominate a new member. The new election shall
pursuant to Paragraph (2) be operative for the remaining term of
office.
(5) Ombudsmen Council members must be eligible for the House of
Representatives; during their service in office, they may belong neither
to the Federal Government nor to a State government nor to any popular
representative body and they may not practice any other profession.
(1)
Ombudsmen Council officials are appointed by the Federal President on the
recommendation and with the countersignature of the Ombudsmen Council
chairman. The Federal President can however authorize him to appoint
officials in certain categories. Auxiliary personnel is appointed by the
chairman who is to this extent the highest administrative authority and
exercises these powers in his own right.
(2) The Federation's service
prerogative with regard to Ombudsmen Council employees is exercised by the
Ombudsmen Council chairman.
(3) The Ombudsmen Council determines its
Standing Orders and an allocation of business that regulates which tasks
shall be autonomously performed by its members. The adoption of the
Standing Orders and the allocation of business requires the unanimous vote
of the Ombudsmen Council's members.
(1) The
States can by State constitutional law declare the Ombudsmen Council
competent also in the sphere of the particular State's administration. In
such case Articles 148e and
148f
shall apply analogously.
(2) If States create agencies in the sphere of
State administration with tasks similar to the Ombudsmen Council, State
constitutional law can prescribe a provision corresponding to Articles 148e and
148f.
Detailed
provisions relating to the implementation of this chapter shall be made by
Federal constitutional law.
(1) In addition
to the present law, the following laws, with the modifications
necessitated by this law, shall, within the meaning of Article 44 (1),
be regarded as constitutional law:
- Basic Law of 21 Dec 1867 on the
general rights of nationals in the kingdoms and States represented in the
Reichs' Congress;
- Law of 27 Oct 1862 on protection of personal
liberty;
- Law of 27 Oct 1862 on protection of the rights of the
home;
- Resolution of the Provisional National Assembly of 30 Oct
1918;
- Law of 3 April 1919 respecting the banishment and expropriation
of property of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine;
- Law of 3 April 1919 on
the abolition of the nobility, the secular orders of chivalry, male and
female, and of certain titles and dignities;
- Law of 8 May 1919 on the
coat of arms and seal of state of the Republic of German-Austria, with the
modifications effected by Arts. 2, 5, and 6 of the law of 21 Oct
1919;
- Section V of Part III of the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 Sep
1919.
(2) Article 20 of the Basic Law of 21 Dec 1867 as well as the Law
of 5 May 1869 issued on the basis of this Article are repealed.
The
transition to the Federal Constitution introduced by this law will be
prescribed in a special law entering into force simultaneously with the
present law.
The execution
of this law is entrusted to the Federal Government.