Austria

[AT] Government E-Commerce Bill Before Parliament

IRIS 2001-10:1/24

Albrecht Haller

IFPI Austria

In order to transpose the EC's so-called E-Commerce Directive into Austrian law, a Federal Act is being drawn up, dealing with certain legal aspects of electronic commerce and the transmission of legal documents (E-Commerce Act - ECG) and amending the Signaturgesetz (Electronic Signature Act) and the Zivilprozessordnung (Code of Civil Procedure). The Government Bill was tabled in Parliament on 23 October 2001 and should be adopted in time for it to enter into force on 1 January 2002.

Essentially, the content of the Bill remains within the limits laid down in the Directive. However, a few of the proposed regulations extend beyond the Directive's minimum requirements. For example, the Bill contains certain provisions on the exclusion of liability for search engines and hyperlinks.


References

  • Regierungsvorlage vom 19. November 2001 betreffend Bundesgesetz, mit dem bestimmte rechtliche Aspekte des elektronischen Geschäfts- und Rechtsverkehrs geregelt (E-Commerce-Gesetz - ECG) und das Signaturgesetz sowie die Zivilprozessordnung geändert werden, 817 der Beilagen der Stenographischen Protokolle des Nationalrates (XXI. Gesetzgebungsperiode)
  • http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/pd/pm/XXI/I/his/008/I00817_.html
  • Government Bill of 19 November 2001 dealing with certain legal aspects of electronic commerce and the transmission of legal documents (E-Commerce Act ECG) and amending the Electronic Signature Act and the Code of Civil Procedure, Section 817 of the Nationalrat (National Assembly) Protocol (11th legislative period)

This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.