Usancen Blog
OGH: Official liability for costs of unnecessary proceedings
The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has decided that a claim for official liability exists if the court interprets legal provisions in an unwarranted manner and as a result takes or initiates evidently unnecessary procedural steps ...
OGH: Amtshaftung für Kosten eines unnötigen Verfahrens
ZivilrechtDer Oberste Gerichtshof (OGH) hat entschieden, dass ein Amtshaftungsanspruch besteht, wenn das Gericht Gesetzesbestimmungen in unvertretbarer Weise auslegt und daraufhin evident unnötige Verfahrensschritte unternimmt oder veranlasst, die zu vermeidba...
OGH: Advertising of a lawyer
A legal advisor's choice of words announcing a "forceful medial representation" (“schlagkräftige mediale Durchsetzung”) is not an insulting or credit-damaging approach and is justifiable in the sense of section 9 (1) of the Lawyers' Act (Rechtsanwalt...
Finance Committee: Blümel for global model of a digital tax
In the context of the Finance Committee (Finanzausschuss), Finance Minister Blümel advocated a global solution for a digital tax during the debate on the EU's 2021 annual budget. Globally active corporations, especially in the digital sector, should ...
European Commission opposes distortive effects of foreign subsidies
The European Commission proposes a new regulation on distortions in the Single Market caused by foreign subsidies. This regulation aims to close the existing regulatory gaps in the Single Market. The granting of subsidies by non-EU governments curren...
ECJ: Hard aircraft landing does not constitute an "accident"
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to decide in the course of damages proceedings on the request for a preliminary ruling by the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) whether a hard aircraft landing can constitute an accident within...
VwGH: Benefits granted to shareholders
In spring 2009, a limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH) sold its shareholding in a company for a purchase price of EUR 473,181.80. Of this amount, EUR 20,000 was paid to the selling limited liability company, the rem...
European Green Deal: Stricter CSR reporting requirements
Only a few years ago, with the so-called Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSR Directive), the EU Accounting Directive was supplemented by an obligation for larger companies to include a "non-financial statement" in their management report. ...
OGH: "lack of novelty" and "inventive step" (PatG)
In the Austrian Patent Act (Patentgesetz, PatG), opposition proceedings are characterised by the principle of disposition. In principle, unasserted grounds for opposition are not to be taken into account. However, a ground for opposition need not be ...
BFG: Revocation of legal aid in case of refusal to cooperate
In the present proceedings, the Austrian Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzgericht) addressed the question of legal aid (Verfahrenshilfe) within the meaning of Sec. 292 Federal Fiscal Code (Bundesabgabenordnung). On 4 November 2019, the account balan...
ECJ: Diversion to a nearby airport is not a cancellation
A passenger shall not be entitled to compensation for cancellation if his flight has been diverted and he lands at an airport which, although not the same as the destination airport provided for in the original booking, serves the same place, city or...
EU Commission proposes legal framework for AI
The European Commission introduced a proposal for a regulation on laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (Artifical Intelligence Act). This proposal represents the European Commission’s first ever legal framework for AI. Below, the c...
OGH: Exclusion of the public does not have to justify nullity
The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that exclusion of the public from oral hearings in civil proceedings is not a ground for nullity to be challenged by the courts if both parties waive their right to appeal against the e...
Drunk on the way home: OGH on the cancellation of insurance coverage
An employee sought the award of a disability pension from the General Accident Insurance Fund (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt, AUVA) after suffering an accident on the way home from his place of work. This was to no avail, as according to the ...
BCBS takes COVID-19 into focus
The Corona crisis has also presented the banking sector with great challenges. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision addresses these challenges in its work programme for 2020-2021 and will make COVID-19 a core part of its focus. In addition, the...
Germany: Federal Constitutional Court declares Berlin rent cap unconstitutional
The Berlin rent cap violates the German Constitution (Grundgesetz). The state of Berlin has no legislative competence to regulate rent levels. At the beginning of 2020, the Berlin State Law on the Reorganization of Legal Regulations to Limit Rents wa...
Draft for new consumer warranty law presented
The Federal Ministry of Justice (Bundesministerium für Justiz) has submitted a draft for a new consumer warranty law for review. In the course of this, the general warranty law will also be adapted. The reform is the implementation of two European di...
BVwG: Green light for construction project "Traisental Schnellstraße" S 34
The decision of 06.04.2021 of the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht, BVwG) confirmed that the infrastructure project "S34 Traisental Schnellstraße St. Pölten/Hafing (B1) - Knoten St. Pölten/West (A1) - Wilhelmsburg Nord ...
Salzburg Regional Court: Proportionate refund for purchasers of season tickets at ski resorts that were forced to close due to the Corona pandemic
The plaintiffs purchased "SuperSkiCards" from the defendant in autumn 2019, which entitled them to use several ski resorts from 12.10.2019 to 03.05.2020. After all ski resorts had to close in March 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, the ski season was ...
Antitrust law: Advocate General in favor of "descending" liability for damages of the cartelists' subsidiaries
In a case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the theory of economic unity in antitrust law could take on a new dimension: While up to now parent companies have been punished for cartel violations committed by their subsidiaries ("ascending" ...
OLG Vienna on COVID-19-related coverage denials
The Vienna Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht Wien, OLG Wien) confirmed the decision of the court of first instance that exceptional circumstances clauses in legal expenses insurance were unlawful. The background to the dispute was whether the ...
OGH: Non-professionals are obliged to refuse installation work
Civil LawThe Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) ruled that someone who takes on a job for which expertise is required without the appropriate expertise has acted culpably and in tort. In the present case, the defendant installed a new but unsu...
OGH to ECJ: Right to information: categories of recipients under GDPR
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) has referred a question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling regarding Art 15 (1) (c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The question is whether the data controller has the ri...
ECJ: Embedding content as communication to the public
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had to decide on the interpretation of Art 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the in...
Home office regulations continue
The recently adopted legal home office regulations could not completely convince the opposition parties SPÖ and NEOS. They criticize the lack of regulations in the areas of data security, data protection and mobile working and have tabled motions for...
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