Land reform in Austria
Land reform matters , “in particular agricultural operations and resettlement”, are a matter for the federal government in accordance with Article 12 Paragraph 1 Number 3 of the Austrian Federal Constitutional Act (B-VG) in the basic legislation. The states are responsible for implementing legislation and enforcement.
The Austrian Constitutional Court has consistently defined the term since 1931 as "actions in the field of regional culture through which the given land ownership, use and management conditions are subjected to the changed social or economic needs according to a planned reorganization or regulation".
The term land reform in Austria therefore includes a whole series of measures, mainly
- Basic amalgamation procedure (in the two versions " amalgamation " as a larger and " land consolidation " as a smaller procedure)
- Bringing right procedure (for the development of land used for agriculture or forestry)
- Servitute replacement and regulation procedure
- Division and regulation of ownership of agricultural communities
Land reform matters in the Austrian federal states are carried out by the agricultural authorities set up specifically for this purpose - i.e. not by the authorities of general state administration.
The "resettlement" also mentioned in Article 12, Paragraph 1, Item 3 B-VG concerned the restoration of rural structures after the First World War (see Resettlement Act ) and is currently practically irrelevant.
