Austria
1. Legal Gazette
1.1. Overview
Bundesgesetzblatt - Federal Law Journal
Published by: Bundeskanzleramt, Verfassungsdienst - (Federal Chancellery, Constitutional Service)
Ballhausplatz 2 — 1014 Vienna, Austria
Tel. +43 1531154721 - Fax +43 1531094721
E-mail: v2a@bka.gv.at - Website: http://www.austria.gv.at
| Official journal/ legal gazette |
There are distinct official publications for primary/secondary legislation (Bundesgesetzblatt) and for legal notices, ministerial circulars and other official texts (Amtsblatt zur Wiener Zeitung); see point 1.2 for details.
|
| First edition |
Reichsgesetzblatt: 1849 (since 1920: Bundesgesetzblatt) |
| First online edition |
June 1997 (legally non-binding version) January 2004 (authentic, legally binding version) |
| Paper edition |
Bundesgesetzblatt
A non-official print edition is made available through the main official gazette publisher, the private company Wiener Zeitung Digitale Publikationen GmbH.
http://www.wienerzeitung.at
There are 5 subscription variants from a price of EUR 225,- containing, as desired, Bundesgesetzblatt part(s) I-III. |
| Online edition |
http://www.ris.bka.gv.at
Available texts
HTML: from 1945
PDF: from 1945
PDF: 1940–45, 1848–1940 and 1780–1848 (links to the Austrian National Library)
Access and price
Free
Legally binding
Since 1 January 2004, the online edition is legally binding in its authentic edition (signed XML documents). |
1.2. Details on the legal gazette in general
| Content |
- Part I: Federal legal acts (Gesetze)
- Part II: Regulations (Verordnungen)
- Part III: International public law (Völkerrecht)
|
| Legal basis |
Federal Act on the Federal Law Gazette/Publication Reform Act, Bundesgesetzblatt I No 100/2003 (Bundesgesetzblattgesetz/Kundmachungsreformgesetz, BGBl. Nr 100/2003) |
| Legally binding |
The online edition in its authentic form (signed XML document) has been the only legally binding version since 1 January 2004. |
| Financing |
State budget |
| Other gazettes |
Apart from the Bundesgesetzblatt, which is officially no longer published in a paper, a main official gazette (Amtsblatt zur Wiener Zeitung) exists, containing information on businesses, official announcements, etc. This gazette is published, together with other official gazettes (Amtsblätter) for specific sectors, by the Wiener Zeitung GmbH (Vienna Newspaper Ltd — http://www.wienerzeitung.at).
All nine states (Bundesländer) publish their own legal official gazettes. |
1.3. Details on the online edition
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/UI/Erv/Info.aspx
See also point 1.1.
| Functionalities |
All available and publicly accessible working and final documents are available in the section 'Meetings'
|
| Format description |
- Download possible
- Links to other related acts
- E-mail service (notification) available
|
| Authenticity |
The legally binding version of the Bundesgesetzblatt starting at January 2004 is available in XHTML (with and without certificate).
A non-legally binding version of the Federal Law Gazette is available in PDF format and RTF.
The issues of the Bundesgesetzblatt from 1945 to 2003 are available in HTML and PDF formats (http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Bgbl-PDF/). |
| Archiving |
The Federal Chancellery is responsible for archiving. There is no legal provision for the archiving of electronic legislation/electronic official texts in general. However, the Federal Act on the Federal Law Gazette (§ 8 III) specifies that ‘at least three backup copies and four certified printouts shall be made of each document. One backup copy and certified printout each shall be delivered to the Austrian National Archive and to the Austrian National Library to be filed there. One certified printout shall be forwarded to the Parliament library'. |
1.4. Details on the publishing institution
Bundeskanzleramt, Verfassungsdienst (Federal Chancellery, Constitutional Service) For contact details, please refer to point 1.1.
| Form and nature |
Prime Minister’s department
|
| Basic tasks |
- Pre-press: no
- Printing: no
- Dissemination/distribution: no
- Legal gazette online: yes
- Legislation database: yes
- Consolidation: yes
|
| Other services offered |
Newsletters
|
1.5. Drafting and publishing procedures
| Text processing system |
- The draft bill is edited in Microsoft Word and the documents are structured according to legal category (format).
- Special templates are used for conversion to XML.
- Some documents are also converted from PDF to XML (Part III of the Federal Law Gazette and complex texts).
|
| Workflow |
The electronic workflow is used as a transmission method between drafting, adopting and publishing.
|
| Publishing |
- Electronic edition
Final proofreading is carried out by the editing department of the Federal Chancellery, Constitutional Service.
The delay for publication after the law has been certified by the Federal President and signed by the Federal Chancellor is around one to two days, depending on the amount and scope of laws.
- Paper edition
An official paper edition is no longer published, but paper copies are reprinted by the Official Gazette Publisher, Wiener Zeitung GmbH (Vienna Newspaper Ltd), subject to payment. The company uses the PDF texts from the Legal Information System (RIS) for printing the paper edition.
Both editions are published simultaneously.
- The paper edition is divided into three different parts:
Permanent edition: approx. 500 copies
Retail sale: approx. 600 copies
Retail collections on particular laws: approx. 100 copies
-
|
2. Collections of consolidated Legislation
See full details >>
Rechtsinformationssystem (RIS) (Law information system)
http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/bundesrecht
For details, see point 3.2
Body carrying out
consolidation |
Bundeskanzleramt, Verfassungsdienst
|
| Content |
Federal legislation only. In general, consolidated laws are available two to six weeks after publication of an amendment in the Bundesgesetzblatt.
|
Status of the
consolidated texts |
Consolidation is for information purposes only.
|
Deadline for
consolidation |
Six weeks
|
3. Legislative portals and online databases
3.1. Official portals
For the time being, no official portal is available.
3.2. Official databases
For the Bundesgesetzblatt online, see point 1.3
Rechtsinformationssystem (RIS)
(Legal information system)
http://www.ris2.bka.gv.at
Organisation
responsible |
Bundeskanzleramt, Verfassungsdienst
|
| Content |
- All federal law (in a consolidated version)
- Bundesgesetzblatt (see point 1.3)
- Preparatory works (draft bills, government bills)
- Law of the nine states (Bundesländer)
- Municipal law
- Selected Austrian laws in English
- Case law (e.g. Supreme Court, Constitutional Court)
|
| Access |
Free of charge |
Access via N-Lex
(see Annex 2) |
Yes (with restrictions) |
3.3. Additional information: other commonly used legal databases
