Country Profile: Austria

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 89-93

89

1. COUNTRY PROFI LE: AUSTRI A

Introduction

Austria is a federal country with political responsibilities shared both at national and

loc al/ mu nici pal leve l. Accor ding to t his, also t he p rov ision an d m ana gem ent of St ate aid

schemes is usually shar ed bet ween t hem .

1.1 . Section 1- Nat ional rules for the evaluation of State aid schem es

1.1.1.Ob ligation or lack thereof to ev aluate

I n Au str ia t here are no speci alise d co urt s f or the enf orce men t of Stat e a idru les, ne ith er

is there one law regulating State aid. Thus,State aidschemes in Austria are mainly

sub ject to ESI F and GBER regulation s.

Different aspects of State aidare covered by various legislations such as the Federal

Unf air Com pet it ion Act 49, th e Gen eral Ad min ist rat ive Pro cedur e Act 50, t he Res earch and

Technology Promotion Act 51, and the General Guideline for the Grantin g of Funds ( ARR

20 14 ) 52.

In 2013, Austria introduced its own evaluation systemfor all public policies with the

Out com e Ori ented Imp act Assessm ent (OOI A).53Th e ev aluat ion sy stem is based on the

Federal Budget Act (BGH 2013) 54and the Impact Controlling Decree55. Similar to EU

Impact assessments, the aim is to assess all drafts of laws and directives (regulatory

pr ojects), but also larg er p roj ects ( oth er pro ject s) on th e ba sis of the desir ed g oals and

m easu res . Th er efo re, t his im pac t asses sme nt go es b ey ond St at e ai dan d c ove rs all ki nds

ofState interventions. The OOIA consists of the following steps: problemanalysis,

target formulation, formulation of measures and impact assessment. The underlying

pr oject will be evaluated aft er five y ears at the latest. The report s are subm itted t o t he

Nat ional Council (Par liam ent of Austria) annu ally.

1.1.2.Procedures to enfor ce t he obligat ion

The General Guideline for th e Grant ing of Funds (ARR 2014) regulates t he types of aid

and requirements for federal funding, as well as the control and evaluation thereof.

Am ong ot her req uir ement s, it out lin es t hat fu ndi ng fall ing und er EU St ate aidlaw ne eds

to follow the EU State aidprinciple for the existence of an incentive effect. Regarding

control and evaluation, the guideline specifies that the authority responsible for

pr ovid ing fu ndin g h as t o m ake an assessm ent of w het her and t o what ex ten t t he tar get

49Official title:Bundesgesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb 1984– UWG. Available at:

ht tp s:/ / ww w.r is.b ka. gv. at/ Gel ten deFassun g.w xe?Ab fra ge= Bun desno rm en&Ge setze snum me r= 10 002 665 .

50Official title:Allgemeines Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz 1991 – AVG. Available at:

ht tp s:/ / ww w.r is.b ka. gv. at/ Gel ten deFassun g.w xe?Ab fra ge= Bun desno rm en&Ge setze snum me r= 10 005 768 .

51Official title:Forschungs- und Technologieförderungsgesetz. Available at:

https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/1982/434/P2d/NOR40202202.

52Of ficia l t it le: All gem eine Rahm enr icht lini en f ür die Gewä hru ng von Förd eru ngen au s Bu nde smi tt eln - ARR

2014. Avail able at: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/II/2018/190/20180726.

53Official title:Wirkungsorientierte Folgenabschätzung. For more information see (only in German):

https://www.oeffentlicherdienst.gv.at/wirkungsorientierte_verwaltung/folgenabschaetzung/index.html.

54Of ficia l t it le: Bund esgese tz ü ber di e Führ un g de s Bun desh aush alt es ( Bund eshau shal tsge setz 20 13 – BHG

2013). Avail able at: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2009/139/20091230.

55Official title:Verordnung des Bundeskanzlers über das ressortübergreifende Wirkungscontrolling

(Wirkungscontrollingverordnung). Avai labl e at : https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/II/2015/68/20150401.