Austria | www.non-discrimination.net

Introduction

The information contained on this page represents the situation as of 31 December 2009 and is a summary of the country report produced by the country expert from the network. The summary can be downloaded here as well.

Contact:
Dieter Schindlauer
E-mail: dieter.schindlauer@sinnfabrik.at

Country context

Austriais a wealthy modern welfare state with a population of about 8 million people. The majority of the population is white and German speaking. Autochthonous and recognised minorities are the Croats, Slovenes, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks and Roma. Starting in the late 1960s Austria became a country of immigration, predominantly attracting younger workers from former Yugoslavia and Turkey.

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Main principles and definitions

In general, all major principles of the Directives have been incorporated into the Austrian legal framework.

The definitions of direct and indirect discrimination have been quoted literally from the Directives.

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Enforcing the law

Despite the quite comprehensive legal framework, the enforcement of it is still deficient. There are a couple of reasons for this finding: Firstly, there is still an enormous lack of awareness in the overall population – even about the mere existence of the new legislation.

The government has launched quite impressive campaigns in regard to the new regulations on disability, including frequent spots in TV and cinema but kept rather silent on all the other “new grounds”.

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Main Legislation

The Republic of Austria is a federal state. According to the Austrian Constitution, first enacted in 1920, legal powers are exercised either by the Bund (Federation) or the Länder (provinces namely: Burgenland, Kärnten, Oberösterreich, Niederösterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg, and Wien). Legislative powers are divided between the federal parliament called Nationalrat (acting together with the Bundesrat (2^nd chamber) and provincial parliaments called Landtage.

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Material scope

The Austrian Federal legislator has implemented legislation covering the complete scope of the Directives. In the area of employment (public and private) all the grounds are protected while a broader scope of protection (access to goods and services, education, health and social protection/security) is only in place for the grounds of ethnic affiliation and disability (only employment and access to goods and services).

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Equality bodies

The Act on the Equal Treatment Commission and the National Equality Body establishes an Equal Treatment Commission and the National Equality Body. In transposing Art. 13 of the Race Equality Directive, Austria extended the functions of the existing Equal Treatment Commission and the National Equality Body to deal with discrimination on the ground of gender and on all other grounds mentioned in Art 13 ECT except disability.

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