Usancen Blog
BFG: COVID-19 no justification for unpaid parking ticket
The plaintiff was accused of having negligently shortened the Vienna parking meter fee several times, as she had parked a multi-lane motor vehicle in a short-stay parking zone for which a fee had to be paid on several days, but without marking it wit...
OGH: general meeting minutes are no proof of power of representation
In several general meetings held by the plaintiff limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH) as general meetings without a chairman, one of the two managing directors with collective representation authority (second manag...
OGH: Statistically derived probability data constitute personal data
Data calculated via statistical probabilities and merely "attributed" to a person are also personal data within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Upon the plaintiff's request, the defendant provided him with information ab...
ECJ on the essential facilities doctrine
Competition LawAccording to the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), under certain circumstances a company abuses its dominant position if it denies competing companies access to its infrastructure. In a dispute in the telecommunications sector, the ECJ...
FCA does not like Facebook's takeover of GIPHY
Competition LawThe Austrian Federal Competition Authority (FCA) is currently investigating the takeover of the US GIF and sticker platform GIPHY by the US Facebook group. The merger had not been notified - possibly unjustly, according to the FCA. In May 2020, Faceb...
ECJ on the minimum rest period
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the minimum daily rest period applies to all of a worker's employment contracts with the same employer taken together and not to each contract separately. In the case at hand, experts were employed a...
ECJ: passenger compensation in case of unionized pilots' strike
European LawIn the case at hand, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made a decision diametrically opposed to the Advocate General's opinion in a relatively rare case. This was triggered by a passenger's claim for compensation under the European Air Passenger Re...
Presentation of secretly recorded videos in guardianship proceedings
If an injunction is issued to stop the disclosure or dissemination of secretly recorded video material, this does not preclude the presentation of the recordings in court proceedings. In the case at hand, the defendant secretly recorded several video...
VfGH: Pharmacy proviso is not unconstitutional
Constitutional LawThe Austrian Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof, VfGH) has ruled in a procedure at the request of a drugstore chain that the ban on the purchase and sale of non-prescription medicines (Apothekenvorbehalt) pursuant to Sec. 57 (1) of the Medi...
OGH: admissibility of hypothetical merger notifications in cartel law
In the course of the notification of a merger to the Federal Competition Authority (Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde, BWB), the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) had to address the question of whether such merger notifications are possible w...
BUAG amendment on the way
The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the Greens and the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) submitted a joint motion to the Social Affairs Committee to amend the Construction Workers' Leave and Severance Pay Act (Bauarbeiter-Urlaubs- und Abfertigungsgesetz, ...
ECJ on the classification of on-call time as working time
European LawThe European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the assessment of whether on-call time is working time or rest time requires a consideration of the individual case. It thus followed the Advocate General's opinion in the case. In the present case, ...
OGH: Only business shutdowns due to Epidemic Act are insured
Civil LawInsurers of epidemic business interruption insurance are generally only obliged to provide cover if the business was closed due to the Epidemic Act (Epidemiegesetz, EpiG). Closures under the COVID-19 Measures Act (COVID-19-Maßnahmengesetz) are not co...
Report on vignette exemption for freeway sections near the border
Public LawThe amendment to the Federal Road Toll Act 2002 (Bundesstraßen-Mautgesetz, BStMG) passed by the National Council on 13 November 2019 was supposed to solve the problem: Due to the existing toll obligation in Austria, there was "almost continuous evasi...
GDPR: major case of video surveillance at the workplace
The State Data Protection Commissioner (Landesbeauftrage für den Datenschutz, LfD) of Lower Saxony (Germany) imposed a fine of 10.4 million EUR because the company (notebooksbilliger.de) unlawfully monitored its employees by video over a period of at...
Still no obligation to inquire about insolvency for non-entrepreneurs
The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) has ruled that even easily accessible information in the edict file via the internet does not change the fact that non-entrepreneurs are not obliged to inquire about possible insolvencies of thei...
Extensive changes in bank supervision and settlement
In order to implement EU requirements, a number of provisions under capital market law are to be amended. The core points concern new licensing obligations, capital requirements, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism measures as well as the windin...
Germany - Modernization of the law on partnerships adopted
Corporate LawThe German Federal Cabinet recently approved a submitted bill for a modernized partnership law. The impetus for the bill was that parts of the law on partnerships no longer meet today's practical needs. These include, in particular, the regulations o...
BFG examines alleged violation of procedural regulations
The basis for the violations of procedural regulations alleged by the plaintiff was formed by several decisions issued by the tax authority. The plaintiff alleged in these proceedings: The procedural reopening decisions were not substantiated or were...
EU: Raising capital on public markets to be facilitated
A short prospectus for well-known issuers has been introduced at EU level. The aim is to help companies recapitalize in light of the economic impact of COVID-19. The EU Recovery prospectus aims to provide a simplified prospectus for issuers and inves...
Amended COVID-19 regulation has entered into force
Public LawAs of 15 March 2021, COVID-19 measures will be scaled back in many areas in the province of Vorarlberg. The amended Protective Measures Regulation (Schutzmaßnahmenverordnung) also stipulates that companies with more than 51 employees implement a COVI...
Interference with the legal succession renders ineligible to inherit
The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) ruled that with the new law of succession, the interference with the legal succession, e.g. by falsification or subversion of a will, also results in ineligibility to inherit according to Sec. 54...
BMJ: Draft for a restructuring regulation presented
As part of the reform of insolvency law, the Federal Ministry of Justice (Bundesministerium für Justiz, BMJ) has sent a draft law on the restructuring of companies (Restructuring Regulation – Restrukturierungsordnung, ReO) for review. The aim of the ...
VwGH: Personal hunting right is no right equivalent to real property
Tax LawSeveral plots of land of the agricultural and forestry business assets co-owned by partners were sold. The external auditor then determined that the total purchase price of the property included a share for the transfer of the personal hunting right ...
COVID-19: Support for businesses and citizens to be expanded
The "loss of earnings bonus" (Ausfallsbonus) (Regulation on the Loss of Earnings Bonus (Verordnung Ausfallsbonus), BGBl. II No. 74/2021), the turnover compensation (Umsatzersatz) for indirectly affected persons (Regulation on the Lockdown Compensatio...
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