Introduction

• Author: Thomasberger, Martina
• Pages: 5-6

5

1Introduction

1.1Basic structure of the national legal system

Austrian legislation is based on the constitutional principles ofthe Federal Constitutional

Act (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz),1additional constitutional legislation, the Federal

Financial Constitution Act (Finanzverfassungsesetz) and the provincial constitutional acts

for the nine provinces (Bundesländer) which constitute the federal territory. A standing

principle of Austrian legislation is a strict adherence to the rule of law according to the

doctrine of Stufenbau der Rechtsordnung(which may be translated as steps of legal

interdependence). This refers to the hierarchical structure by which every piece of

legislation, legal decision, contract or any other legal transaction is only valid if the legal

grounds can be directly deduced from other valid legal sources.

Competence for legislation is split between the federal and provincial levels by Articles 10

to 15 of the Federal Constitutional Act. For instance, the competence for legislating labour

law and federal civil service statutes lies with the federal level, while legislation concerning

provincial civil servants and contractual employees, including equal treatment rules, lies

with the provincial levels. Federal legislation is enacted by Parliament, which consists of

two chambers (Nationalrat and Bundesrat); constitutional changes require two-thirds

majorities in each chamber. Administration is the responsibility of federal or provincial

authorities according to organisational rules laid out by Articles 7 and 101 to 104 of the

Federal Constitutional Act. Civil and criminal cases are decided within the federal court

system with the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) as the final instance of jurisdiction.

Administrative decisions can be appealed within the Administrative Court system

(Bundesverwaltungsgerichtand nine Landesverwaltungsgerichte) with the Supreme

Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) as the final instance of jurisdiction.

Questions of the constitutionality of administrative decisions or of federal or provincial

legal rules can be taken to the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof). Equal

treatment and anti-discrimination rules are mostly implemented by civil law and labour

law provisions, which means that claims need to be taken to the civil courtsor to the

labour and social courts.

1.2List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives

Equal Treatment Act for the Private Sector (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, GlBG) BGBl I

66/2004, which also contains the guidelines for the provincial equal treatment legislation

for forestry and agricultural workers in Part IV.2

Equal Treatment Act for Federal Civil Servants and Federal Contract Employees (Bundes-

Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, B-GBG);3for constitutional reasons the directives have to be

implemented separately at provincial legislative level (nine separate equal treatment acts

for civil servants of provinces and municipalities), and for forestry and agricultural workers

in the provinces (nine separate acts for farm and forestry labourers).

1.3Sources of law

The anti-discrimination and gender equality provisions of the relevant directives must be

implemented by federal or provincial legislation according to the constitutional principles.

The legislator has chosen to use the German language version of the relevant directive

provisions as national legal provisions in most cases. This approach using the broad

1https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung/Bundesnormen/10000138/B-

VG%2c%20Fassung%20vom%2006.04.2019.pdf.

2

https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung/Bundesnormen/20003395/GlBG%2c%20Fassung%20vom%20

06.04.2019.pdf.

3https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung/Bundesnormen/10008858/B-

GlBG%2c%20Fassung%20vom%2006.04.2019.pdf.