Federal Administrative Court (Austria)

Federal Administrative Court - BVwG -
State level	Federation
position	Administrative court
Supervisory body (s)	Federal Ministry of Justice (in matters of administration of justice)
Consist	since January 1, 2014
Headquarters	Vienna 3 , Erdbergstrasse 192–196
president	Harald Perl
Employee	220 judges and around 370 non-judicial employees
Website	bvwg.gv.at

Seat of the Federal Administrative Court in the Federal Office building in Erdberg

The Federal Administrative Court is the administrative court in Austria primarily responsible for direct federal administration . It is headquartered in Vienna, in the Erdberg Federal Office building , with branch offices in Graz, Innsbruck and Linz.

As an administrative court of first instance, it is on the same level as the state administrative courts and the Federal Finance Court . It replaces the Asylum Court , the Federal Procurement Office and a number of other independent federal authorities, which were dissolved on January 1, 2014 in the course of the 2012 amendment to administrative jurisdiction .

In the formation of the Federal Administrative Court, the Asylum Court and the Federal Procurement Office had a prominent position, as the full-time members of the Federal Procurement Office and the judges of the Asylum Court have the right to be taken over by the Administrative Court. Previous top officials were also given a chance to fill management positions. Harald Perl, President of the Asylum Court until December 31, 2013, was appointed President of the Federal Administrative Court. Vice-President is Michael Sachs, who was Chairman of the Federal Procurement Office until December 31, 2013.

Jurisdiction in Austria since January 1, 2014

Legal basis and external organization

Articles 129 to 136 of the Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) form the constitutional basis of the Federal Administrative Court . Further details of its organization are regulated in the Federal Administrative Court Act (BVwGG). The General Administrative Procedure Act (AVG) and the Administrative Court Procedure Act (VwGVG) apply to proceedings before the BVwG.

The principles of the external organization of the administrative courts are contained in Art. 134 B-VG. Accordingly, the Federal Administrative Court consists of a president, a vice-president and other judges. The President, the Vice-President and the other judges are appointed by the Federal President on the proposal of the Federal Government. With regard to the judges (but not the President and Vice-President), the Federal Government has to obtain a three-party proposal from the Personnel Senate to be formed by the General Assembly. This self-sufficiency is intended to strengthen judicial independence. For the appointment of the President and the Vice-President, Section 2 (3) of the Federal Administrative Court Act provides for the applications to be assessed by a commission.

As a rule, the Federal Administrative Court ( Article 135, Paragraph 1, first sentence B-VG) performs its judicial activity through single judges. The substantive laws can provide for decisions by senates composed of professional judges or with lay participation. These knowledgeable laypeople are appointed by the Federal Chancellor in accordance with Section 12 of the Federal Administrative Court Act for a period of six years and exercise their office on a part-time basis. They have the same position as the professional judges in the respective proceedings.

Responsibilities and authority

According to Art. 130 B-VG, the administrative courts decide in particular on

• Complaints because of illegality against the decision of an administrative authority ( notification complaint ) and because of violation of the decision-making obligation of an administrative authority, i.e. if the administrative authority has not issued a decision within the statutory period ( default complaint ) and
• Complaints about illegal exercise of direct administrative authority and coercive power (complaint for measures ).

With the creation of the two-tier administrative jurisdiction, the administrative instance, i.e. the right to appeal against a decision from an administrative authority to the respective superordinate authority, was fundamentally abolished. Only in some federal states are there exceptions for matters within the municipalities' own sphere of activity.

In addition to the powers mentioned above, the administrative courts can make a decision by law

• on complaints about the illegality of acts of sovereign administration other than notices and acts of direct authority and coercion,
• on complaints due to violation of the procurement law, in particular the Federal Procurement Act ,
• on disputes in employment law matters of public employees

be transmitted.

The delimitation of jurisdiction between the Federal Administrative Court and the other administrative courts is based on Art. 131 B-VG. The Federal Administrative Court is fundamentally responsible for all federal administration tasks that are carried out directly by federal authorities and do not concern public charges. Thus, the business of the indirect federal administration and the security administration do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Federal Administrative Court. The jurisdiction of the Federal Administrative Court, however, is not conclusively regulated by the Federal Constitution, since the competences according to Art. 131 Para. 4 B-VG can also be regulated differently by law. Such laws can only be enacted by the federal government with the consent of the states and by the states only with the consent of the federal government.

The decisions of the Federal Administrative Court (findings and decisions), the appeal of the ordinary and extraordinary are revision to the Administrative Court and the appeal to the Constitutional Court open. According to Art. 133 Para. 4 B-VG, an appeal is permissible if it depends on the solution of a legal question that is of fundamental importance, in particular because

• the knowledge deviates from the case law of the Administrative Court,
• there is no such jurisprudence or
• the legal question to be resolved is not answered uniformly in the previous case law of the Administrative Court.

If the administrative court pronounces that the appeal is permissible, an ordinary appeal can be made to the administrative court. If the administrative court pronounces that the appeal is not admissible, an extraordinary appeal can be brought to the administrative court. In this extraordinary revision, the auditor must first explain why, in his opinion, the requirements of Art. 133 Para. 4 B-VG (in contrast to the opinion of the administrative court) actually exist.

Art. 133 para. 4 B-VG makes it clear that the Administrative Court is primarily responsible for maintaining the uniformity of case law.

In addition, there is the possibility to lodge a complaint against decisions of the Federal Administrative Court with the Constitutional Court according to Art. 144 B-VG for violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights or for violation of rights through the application of illegal or unconstitutional general norms.

Web links

Commons : Federal Administrative Court  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the Federal Administrative Court
• Federal Administrative Court Act (BVwGG)
• Administrative Court Procedure Act (VwGVG)
• Parliamentary materials on the 2012 amendment to administrative jurisdiction
• Administrative Judges Association (VRV)
• Case law of the BVwG (RIS)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Federal Administrative Court: [1] , accessed on April 11, 2017
2. ↑ § 1 of the Federal Administrative Court Act - BVwGG ( Federal Law Gazette I No. 10/2013 )
3. ↑ Federal Chancellery Austria; Ordering of top functions within the framework of the amended administrative jurisdiction takes place  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Press release from July 20, 2012)