Legislative initiatives announced in Austria

Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, it may seem that the Austrian legislator has only been enacting regulations to combat the pandemic. However, this is not the case.

Here are details of some of the new important legislative initiatives recently announced in Austria.

Telecommunications Act:

At the beginning of November last year, the new Telecommunications Act 2021 (TKG 2021) came into force. The TKG 2021 transposes the European Union Directive 2018/1972 of 11th December 2018 on the European Electronic Communications Code, into Austrian law. The new law aims in particular to promote competition in the field of electronic communications and to ensure the provision of reliable, affordable, high-quality and innovative communications services to the population and the economy. In addition, the level of consumer protection will be further increased.

The law contains detailed regulations on network expansion and infrastructure use, a separate chapter on competition regulation, such as the definition of companies with significant market power, as well as provisions on the content, terms and termination of contracts between tele-communications companies and their customers (consumers).

Antitrust Law:

Amendments to the Cartel Act and the Competition Act resulted in a revision of Austrian anti-trust law. The amendments transposed Directive 2019/1 of the European Union to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market, into Austrian law.

The main contents of the new legal provisions are, for example, the exemption of corporate collaboration for the purpose of an ecologically sustainable or climate-neutral economy from the ban on cartels, the more precise definition of the criteria for determining market power, the creation of independent definitions of relative market power and absolute market power as well as the extension of the merger control provisions including the test criterion of significant impediment of effective competition (SIEC).

Condominium Act:

The focus of the latest amendment to the Condominium Act is to promote and enable structural changes to buildings to reduce energy consumption, increase thermal insulation, and install photo-voltaic and solar thermal systems. In order to achieve this, the majority requirements for a valid resolution of the community of condominium owners are newly regulated. In future, a positive resolution will not only be possible if a simple majority of all co-ownership shares is reached, but also if two thirds of the condominium owners who have cast their vote are in favour of the resolution and that two thirds represent at least one third of all co-ownership shares.

Condominium organisers must take the new legal regulations into account when building a new condominium and also when drafting the condominium contract. However, the amended legal regulations will also bring new opportunities for each individual condominium owner who wishes to make changes to the building and to his or her condominium property in accordance with the legal requirements.

Copyright Act:

At the end of last year, an amendment to the Copyright Act was published in the Austrian Federal Law Gazette. Because of this amendment, the European Union Directive 2019/790 of 17th April 2019 on Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market has now been implemented.

The extensive new legal provisions now allow freedom to work across the digital and cross-border environment, improving licensing practice and ensuring broader access to content and creating a functioning market for copyright protection. This Act will also promote the cross-border availability of European radio and radio broadcasts, therefore creating a modern copyright contract law that prevents unfair gagging contracts and strengthens artists vis-à-vis production and distribution companies. 

Conclusion:

This is only a brief overview of the initiatives as mentioned. The BMA LAW AND TAX team is at your disposal to offer more information on this and for help and advice on other legal and tax-related issues. In the first instance please contact  Dr Jürgen Brandstätter juergen.brandstaetter@bma-law.com

Further Reading:

An update on legal developments in Austria in light of the coronavirus crisis - March 2020

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