Austria

Esther Happacher - University of Innsbruck, Institut für Italienisches Recht

Maria Bertel - University of Innsbruck, Institut für Öffentliches Recht, Staats- und Verwaltungslehre

Austrian Constitutional Court (1/2022)

AUTHOR (name and surname)	Maria Bertel
COUNTRY	Austria
YEAR	2021
Name of the act/s*	Constitutional Court, 15th December 2021, V425/2020 (V425/2020-9)
Subject area	Public International Law and National Law
Brief description of the contents of the act	The Constitutional Court had to examine an administrative regulation downsizing an area of natural protection issued by the government of the Land Vorarlberg. The Court found that the administrative regulation violated the law because § 26 Nature Protection Act of Vorarlberg stipulates that in such cases, the authority has to take into account different interests. In this balancing of interests, the Nature Conservation Protocol of the Convention on the Protection of the Alps (Alpine Convention) has to be taken into account, which the government in the case taken to the Court had not done.
Comment	In this decision, the Constitutional Court has repeated and reinforced, that the Alpine Convention and its Protocols are in principle directly applicable.
Secondary sources/ doctrinal works (if any)
*Act citation /year and number	Constitutional Court, 15th December 2021, V425/2020 (V425/2020-9)
Enacted by	Constitutional Court
Official link to the text of the act	https://ris.bka.gv.at/Dokument.wxe?Abfrage=Vfgh&Dokumentnummer=JFT_20211215_20V00425_00

Osservatorio sulle fonti / Observatory on Sources of Law
Section: Sources of Law in the EU member States

AUTHOR (name and surname)	Maria Bertel
COUNTRY	Austria
YEAR	2021
Name of the act/s*	VfGH 22.06.2021, E 2546/2020
Subject area	Asylum for EU citizens, Protocol (No 24) on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union
Brief description of the contents of the act	A Jewish Lithuanian national applied for asylum in Austria. His application was rejected by the competent authority as well as his appellation against it. He then called the Constitutional Court arguing that the authorities had neither investigated on the situation of jews in Lithuania nor on his persecution by the Lithuanian state authorities.
Comment	The Court rejected the appeal and accepted the argumentation of the Federal Administrative Court, which had argued, that the Lithuanian authorities and courts are – in the light of Protocol No 24 - in principle to be regarded as capable of and willing to provide protection.
Secondary sources/ doctrinal works (if any)
*Act citation /year and number	VfGH 22.06.2021, E 2546/2020 (decision)
Enacted by	Constitutional Court
Official link to the text of the act	https://www.vfgh.gv.at/downloads/VfGH-Erkenntnis_E_2546_2020_vom_22._Juni_2021.pdf

Name of the act/s*	Bundesgesetz, mit dem das Epidemiegesetz 1950, das Tuberkulosegesetz und das COVID-19-Maßnahmengesetz geändert werden
Subject area	Covid-19; free movement of individuals
Brief description of the contents of the act	The Federal law creates the legal basis for the Corona «Traffic light» system permitting a regional assessment of the epidemiological situation to avoid a nationwide lockdown and for the regulations restricting movements of people due to measures against the Coronavirus. Latter rules were necessary due to a ruling by the Constitutional Court in July 2020 declaring the existing regulations inconstitutional for lack of an appropriate legal basis. The law introduces a binding consultation by the Federal Government of the Hauptausschuss of the National Council on said regulations. Furthermore, their duration can not exceed 4 weeks in the case of prohibitions of entry into a certain area and 10 days if they regard the leaving of a private living area. In general, the duration of the COVID-19-Maßnahmengesetz is extended by one year until the end of 2021.
*Act citation /year and number	BGBl I Nr. 104/2020
Enacted by	Federation
Official link to the text of the act	https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2020/104/20200925

Name of the act/s*	Bundesgesetz, mit dem das Polizeiliche Staatsschutzgesetz geändert wird
Subject area	Domestic intelligence
Brief description of the contents of the act	The Federal law introduces an obligatory education for people working for the domestic intelligence service (Bundesamt für Verfassungschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung) and a thrusworthiness check for all persons working in the domestic intelligence sector.
*Act citation /year and number	BGBl. I Nr. 102/2020
Enacted by	Federation
Official link to the text of the act	https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2020/102/20200916

Name of the act/s*	Bundesgesetz, mit dem das Bundesgesetz über hochschulrechtliche und studienförderungsrechtliche Sondervorschriften an Universitäten, Pädagogischen Hochschulen, Einrichtungen zur Durchführung von Fachhochschul-Studiengängen und Fachhochschulen aufgrund von COVID-19 (COVID-19-Hochschulgesetz – C-HG) geändert wird
Subject area	Covid-19
Brief description of the contents of the act	The Federal law introduces among others the possibility to extend fixed-term employment contracts at Universities up to a maximum of 12 months if projects, publications and the like have been delayed due to Covid-19, this will be possible until September 30^th, 2021.
*Act citation /year and number	BGBl. I Nr. 79/2020
Enacted by	Federation
Official link to the text of the act	https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/eli/bgbl/I/2020/79/20200724

Pagina 2 di 9