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As previously reported, during summer 2005 the Land of Lower Austria enacted a law under which transmitters for mobile phone networks on private property were to be taxed (see IRIS 2005-10:7). The law was meant to enter into force on 1 January 2006. Mobile phone operators filed a petition with the Constitutional Court concerning the tax, which was also controversial in political terms. In October 2005, before the Constitutional Court had ruled on their complaints, the mobile phone operators reached an agreement with the Land of Lower Austria on a reduction of the number of masts in the region concerned....

On 1 January 2006, a new Kartellgesetz (Cartel Act - KartG) and an amendment to the Wettbewerbsgesetz (Competition Act) entered into force in Austria. The new rules were introduced in response to European Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 (OJ 2003 L 1/1), which came into force on 1 May 2004. In line with the EC Regulation, Austria has adopted the principle of a ban on cartels, together with a legal exception system. Special provisions for vertical competition restrictions have been abolished. In order to facilitate the exposure of cartels, a leniency programme has been introduced. Responsibility...

In a judgment of 27 October 2005, the European Court of Human Rights has come to the conclusion that the Austrian authorities violated freedom of expression by convicting Wirtschafts-Trend Zeitschriften-Verlags GmbH, a limited liability company based in Vienna which owns and publishes the weekly magazine Profil. In November 1998, Profil published a review of a book written by a Member of the European Parliament and member of the Austrian Freedom Party. Profil's article criticised the author of the book for his treatment of Jörg Haider, the former leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ),...

In its ruling of 6 September 2005 the Federal Communications Court (BKS) issued two decisions on unauthorised advertising on the Austrian Broadcasting channel (ORF), the public service broadcaster. In one instance the ORF had broadcast two CD adverts without distinguishing them from the preceding or subsequent programme content being shown. In the opinion of the BKS, this constituted an infringement of § 13 paragraph 3 of the Austrian Broadcasting Act, whereby advertising must be clearly recognisable as such, and by using visual and acoustic effects must be clearly distinguishable from other parts...

During the summer of 2005, the Land of Lower Austria enacted a law according to which transmitters for mobile phone networks on private property are to be taxed. The law will enter into force on 1 January 2006. The tax will be levied for every transmitter and will be lower the more transmitters there are on a mast. The Land has justified the tax in terms of health, locality and countryside protection. According to its own estimates, it expects to make around EUR 45 million per year. The tax is, in political terms, extremely controversial. The Federal Minister for Traffic, Innovation and Technology...