Collective Redress in Austria

• DOI: 10.1177/0002716208328281
• Published date: 01 March 2009
• Author: Georg E. Kodek
• Date: 01 March 2009
• Subject Matter: Articles

86 ANNALS, AAPSS, 622, March 2009

The Austrian Code of Civil Procedure does not contain

special rules for collective redress, so traditional tools

of multiparty practice such as joinder, consolidation, or,

in certain cases, assignment or the appointment of a

curator, had to be adapted for mass cases. In response

to an increase in mass litigation, a draft of a group pro-

cedure was prepared by the Austrian Ministry of Justice

in 2007, which provided for a new group proceeding for

cases involving three or more claimants and a large

number (probably more than fifty) claims and similar

questions of law and fact. Any questions not resolved in

the group proceeding have to be determined in indi-

vidual lawsuits.

Keywords: group actions; multiparty proceedings;

Austrian civil procedure

1. Introduction—General

Information about the Austrian

Justice System

Austria is a civil law country. The Austrian

Judicature Act (Jurisdiktionsnorm) and the

Austrian Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozess-

ordnung) date back to 1895. The drafters of the

Code did not foresee the problem of mass litiga-

tion. Consequently, the Code does not contain spe-

cific provisions on group actions. Traditional tools

of multiparty practice such as joinder and consoli-

dation therefore had to be adapted to mass cases.

All cases are normally decided by professional

judges. Depending on the amount in contro-

versy, the case starts at the district court

(Bezirksgericht), which generally has jurisdiction

up to EUR 10,000, or the superior court

(Landesgericht) which has jurisdiction in all

other cases. Civil cases are normally tried by a

Collective

Redress in

Austria

By

GEORG E. KODEK

Georg E. Kodek is a judge on the Austrian Supreme

Court and a professor of civil and commercial law at

Vienna University of Economics and Business

Administration.

DOI: 10.1177/0002716208328281