Verwaltungsgerichtshof#

Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof), one of the 3 High Courts, established in 1876, located in Vienna (in the former Bohemian Hofkanzlei building), monitors the legality of administrative acts. It is limited to controlling the legal justification of individual decisions, while appeals regarding violation of rights guaranteed by constitutional law or the application of unlawful general norms have to be addressed to the Constitutional Court. Appeals to the Administrative Court are of the following types: "appeal against a notice of an order or a decision" ("Bescheidbeschwerde"): open to all persons who claim that their subjective right has been injured by an official notice ("Parteibeschwerde" - "party appeal") and to certain state organs in specific cases determined by law in order to maintain control of the objective legality of the administration ("Amtsbeschwerde" - appeal on the part of an administrative authority); a "default appeal" ("Saeumnisbeschwerde") can be lodged by any party to administrative proceedings to claim that an authority has failed to meet its obligation to deliver a decision within the legally stipulated time; another type of appeal is the "appeal against an official instruction" ("Weisungsbeschwerde").

The Administrative Court´s action is limited to setting aside decisions by lower authorities and only in default appeals can it give a ruling itself. Its decisions are final. There are several areas which are excluded from review by the Administrative Court, such as matters of patent law, matters in which appeals lie to a quasi-judicial collegiate authority, disciplinary matters regarding civil servants, and review of electoral votes. The legal basis is the 1983 Administrative Court Act; members are regular judges who sit in panels.

Literature#