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VfGH: OPEC Headquarters Agreement in Part Unconstitutional
Constitutional LawFor the first time, the Austrian Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof, VfGH) has found sections of an international treaty to be unconstitutional. Two provisions of the Agreement between the Republic of Austria and OPEC (Organisation of Petro...
GE: E-Signatures – “Attorney-at-Law” Is Not Sufficient
Civil LawThe requirement of a ‘simple signature’ means the simple rendering of a name at the end of a document. According to the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), this can be a name printed in typewritten form or a scanned signature at th...
ECJ: Compensation for Flight Delays
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that national bodies responsible for enforcing Air Passenger Rights Regulation (EC) 261/2004 may be authorised by a Member State to require airlines to compensate passengers for delayed flights. However, ...
GE: Limitation Period in Tenancy Law Begins with Handover
Civil LawAny claims for damages on the part of a landlord become time-barred only when the rented property is returned. This is true even if more than 30 years have passed since an incident caused damage in the current tenancy. According to the German Federal...
OGH: Sharing Maintenance of a Serviceable Property
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has clarified that the granter of a servitude must also compensate for expenditures on the servient estate if, prior to the creation of the servitude, there was a public-law obligation to, e.g. w...
OGH: Mayor’s Interview on Vacancy Tax Is a Personal Matter
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that an interview by a mayor on the issue of vacancy taxes does not open the scope of application of the Amtshaftungsgesetz (Liability of Public Bodies Act, hereafter referred to as AHG...
ECJ Strengthens Right to Paid Annual Leave
Labour LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) is boosting the rights of employees with regard to the expiry of employee leave entitlement. If an annual leave entitlement is acquired during a year in which work is carried out before an employee’s continuous inc...
OGH: Compulsory Portion Reduction under Amended Inheritance Law
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has clarified the requirements for the exclusion of a reduction of compulsory portions under the amended Austrian inheritance law. In the original case, the deceased had disinherited her granddau...
OGH: No Dismissal for One-Time Negligence
Labour LawIn the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) dealt with dismissal under Section 27 (1), last case, of the Salaried Employees Act (Angestelltengesetz, AngG) after an incorrect administration of adrenaline. The plaintiff ...
OGH on Dismissals after Warning
Labour LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has made it clear that a dismissal is still in due time if the human resources department issues the dismissal only after the end of a night shift. In the original case, the plaintiff was employe...
GE: eBay — How Far May a Negative Review Go?
Civil Law“Usurious shipping costs!!!” can still be considered a permissible evaluation on eBay, according to the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH). This does not constitute abusive criticism and the seller is therefore not legally entit...
Turning on Ignition to Close Car Windows is not starting the vehicle
Administrative LawIn the case at hand, the Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) dealt with the question of whether turning on a vehicle’s ignition without starting the engine in order to close the car windows constitutes ‘putting a vehicle into...
ECJ: Lawyers’ Pension Scheme Partly Contrary to EU Law
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has declared the requirements for early retirement pensions for lawyers to be partly contrary to EU law. The original litigation concerned a German-Polish lawyer who worked in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. In ...
Austrian Supreme Court on Residential Property Accessories
Civil LawFor an accessory to be legally connected to a property, according to Section 2 (3) of the Austrian Residential Property Act (Wohnungseigentumsgesetz, WEG), the property accessory may not be structurally connected to the residential property and it mu...
OGH: Keep No Secondary Residence Use out of Land Register
ZivilrechtTolerations or prohibitions to which the owner of a servient property is subject must be related to property utilisation and not simply to the owner’s economic activities. Therefore, servitudes that only concern the obligatory use of a property may n...
ECJ: Data Retention vs. Quick Freeze – What Is Legal?
European Law“I talked to Lisa on the phone for 30 minutes yesterday and was logged into the Munich-Pasing radio cell.” According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), such suspicion-independent storage of network data (so-called data retention) by the state is...
OGH: Disclaiming Farm Inheritance Does Not Affect Heirs
Civil LawIn case a legal heir disclaims their inheritance without effect for their descendants, the legal heirs shall participate as representatives in the selection of the heir to be made pursuant to Section 3 of the Austrian Anerbengesetz (AnerbenG)[1]. Whe...
New EU Directive for Adequate Minimum Wages
European LawThe European Union is striving to improve working and living conditions for workers by creating a framework to ensure adequate minimum wages in the future without establishing a standard European minimum wage. In June 2022, the European Parliament an...
Cold Progression Soon to Be (Mostly) Austrian History
Tax LawThe draft of an Austrian Government bill to abolish cold progression (which is the Austrian tax term for bracket creep) is now on the table. Tax brackets and deductibles are to be automatically adjusted annually — mostly. New 2023 tax brackets For 20...
Germany: Virtual General Meetings Are Here to Stay
Corporate LawAt the beginning of July this year, the German Bundestag adopted a bill on virtual general meetings of public limited companies. Online general meetings were initially introduced for a limited term due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but are now to become ...
OGH: Provider Obligations in the Case of Domain Name Abuse
Civil LawIn the case at hand, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) ruled that if the injured party, after having presented relevant information to the domain registry, demands intervention, the domain name provider can be held liable for any...
Germany: Corona-related Travel Cancellations vs Cancellation Fees
Civil LawIn three cases brought before the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), travellers had claimed against their tour operators for reimbursement of their deposit fee for travel arrangements which they had booked but cancelled due to the...
Google Ignores ECJ: Complaint Filed with French Data Protection Authority
Data Privacy Lawnoyb.eu has filed a complaint against Google with the French data protection authority (CNIL). Google has repeatedly used its email platform Gmail to send unsolicited advertising emails without valid consent of the users. noyb (None of Your Business)...
OGH: No Liability after FMA's Failed Banking Supervision
Civil LawThe Republic of Austria is not liable for any financial losses sustained by bank customers as a result of faulty banking supervision by Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA). Any such losses are not covered by the protection afforded through Sec...
OGH: Physicians' Rating Portal is Permissible
Data Privacy LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has declared the processing of personal data of physicians by a rating platform to be permissible. A Vienna ophthalmologist and the Vienna Medical Association sued a physicians' rating platform w...
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