Usancen Blog
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...
DE: Temporary Weakness of Will May Result in Impropriety of Gifting
Civil LawThe German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) held that an individual’s temporary condition of being easily influenced or having a weak will may well be of importance in the assessment of the propriety of a gift. The case at hand invol...
VwGH: Complaints But No Appeals for Chamber of Labour
Administrative LawThe Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichthof, VwGH) has clarified that the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK) does have the right to file a complaint against decisions involving the revocation of business licenses for personnel leasin...
OGH Requests ECJ Interpretation of Consumer Rights Directive
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has requested the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to rule on whether the automatic renewal of a distance contract should give rise to a new right of withdrawal. The starting point was a case pend...
Austrian Supreme Court: Right to Copy of Rulings for Interveners
Procedural LawIf an intervener declares their intervention within the appeal deadline applicable to the main party, the intervener shall be entitled to the issuing of a copy of the ruling. Also, the intervening party shall be entitled to a separate deadline for ap...
Wave of complaints about Use of Google Fonts on Corporate Websites
Data Privacy LawRecently, numerous Austrian companies received a letter from a lawyer requesting them to accept a claim for damages and representation costs in the amount of EUR 190.00 based on their use of Google Fonts on their company website and to settle the cla...
DE: Are Airlines Liable for Partner Carrier Delays?
Civil LawAccording to the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), if a trip consisting of several flights is booked with one airline, this trip is to be regarded as one single unit. If there is a delay, passengers can make a claim against th...
VwGH: EU Trade Mark Purchase as Concealed Distribution
Tax LawThe Austrian Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) has affirmed that the purchase of an EU trade mark is a covert distribution if the trade mark is identical to a company's previous name lettering. The appellant was a limited liability ...
OGH: Public Liability and Indirect Federal Administration
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has determined that any wrongful conduct by members of provincial administrative courts (Landesverwaltungsgericht, LVwG) is to be attributed to the federal government under public liability law o...
GERMANY: Rent increase after renovation – Informations for renters
Civil LawThe German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) recently had to rule on the formal criteria required in rent increase notices by landlords, following modernisation measures. Landlords must provide precise details of the costs required fo...
GERMANY: New German Corporate Governance Code
Civil LawThe new German Corporate Governance Code (Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, DCGK) 2022 came into force on 27 June 2022. In its current version, the code incorporates, among other things, the German Financial Market Integrity Strengthening Act (Ge...
Austrian Supreme Court: No Business License, No Competition
Labour LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that a violation of Section 7 of the Salaried Employees Act (Angestelltengesetz, AngG) can occur even if an employer does not have a license for the business line in question. The plain...
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