{ "schema_version": "1.0", "id": "austria", "name": "Austria (Österreich)", "jurisdiction_code": "AT", "legal_system": "civil-law", "language": ["de"], "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "generated": "2026-06-04", "summary": "Austria is a civil-law federal republic whose family-court framework operates under the Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) and the Außerstreitgesetz (AußStrG). Parental authority (Obsorge) is governed by ABGB §§ 158-186, with joint Obsorge the default following the 2013 Kindschafts- und Namensrechts-Änderungsgesetz (KindNamRÄG 2013). Personal contact (Kontaktrecht) is governed by ABGB § 187. The Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH, Vienna) is the apex court in civil matters; family-law decisions reach OGH via Revisionsrekurs from regional appellate courts. Psychology profession is regulated under the federal Psychologengesetz 2013 (PG 2013) with statutory title protection. Austria is silent on 'parental alienation' as a statutory label; OGH practice operates substantively under the Kindeswohl welfare standard.", "pa_recognition_status": { "statutory": "silent", "apex_court_position": "no-apex-position", "professional_regulator_position": "silent" }, "statutory_framework": [ { "citation": "ABGB §§ 158-186", "title": "Obsorge (Parental authority)", "year": 2013, "url": "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10001622", "relevance": "Federal civil-code basis for parental authority. KindNamRÄG 2013 reform in force 1 February 2013 established joint Obsorge as the default arrangement. Central provisions for PA-adjacent custody-modification analysis." }, { "citation": "ABGB § 187", "title": "Kontaktrecht (Personal contact)", "year": 2013, "url": "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10001622", "relevance": "Federal civil-code basis for the right of personal contact between non-residential parent and child. Substantive hook for PA-adjacent contact-enforcement disputes." }, { "citation": "Außerstreitgesetz (AußStrG)", "title": "Federal Non-Contentious Proceedings Act", "year": 2003, "url": "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20003047", "relevance": "Procedural framework for family-court proceedings (Pflegschaftsverfahren). Governs Familiengerichtshilfe (family-court assistance service) involvement and Sachverständigengutachten (expert evidence) in custody/contact matters." }, { "citation": "Psychologengesetz 2013 (PG 2013)", "title": "Federal Psychology Profession Act", "year": 2013, "url": "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20008552", "relevance": "Federal statute in force 1 July 2014 providing statutory title protection for psychologists. Statutory anchor for evaluator-quality in court-appointed psychological assessments." } ], "apex_courts": [ { "name": "Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH)", "seat": "Wien (Vienna)", "url": "https://www.ogh.gv.at/", "role": "Federal Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters. Family-law decisions reach OGH via Revisionsrekurs from the Oberlandesgerichte (regional appellate courts)." } ], "professional_regulators": [ { "name": "Berufsverband Österreichischer PsychologInnen (BÖP)", "url": "https://www.boep.or.at/", "role": "Peak professional association for psychologists in Austria. Operates ethics code and complaint mechanism alongside the statutory PG 2013 regime." }, { "name": "Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz", "url": "https://www.sozialministerium.at/", "role": "Federal ministry responsible for the Psychologen- und Psychotherapeutenliste under PG 2013." } ], "anonymisation_convention": "Austrian family-law decisions are anonymised per OGH convention using initials or pseudonyms. OGH published decisions on the RIS (Rechtsinformationssystem) portal strip identifying details. Sits within the European-civil-law initials cluster.", "key_developments": [ { "year": 1811, "title": "Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB) + Habsburg-era civil-code framework", "description": "Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch / ABGB) enacted 1 June 1811 under Emperor Francis II — among the oldest continuously-operating civil codes globally (second only to French Civil Code 1804). Substantively distinctive Habsburg-era civil-codification framework persisting through Habsburg Empire dissolution, First Republic, Anschluss, post-WWII reconstruction. Foundational substantive-civil-law framework for contemporary family-law-jurisprudence." }, { "year": 1918, "title": "Republic-from-Habsburg-collapse + First Austrian Republic framework", "description": "Austrian Republic proclaimed 12 November 1918 following Habsburg Empire collapse. Subsequent civil-war 1934 + Austrofascist regime 1934-1938 + Anschluss 13 March 1938 with Nazi Germany. Substantive 20th-century political-institutional disruption pattern." }, { "year": 1945, "title": "Second Republic + Allied occupation + post-WWII reconstruction", "description": "Second Austrian Republic established 27 April 1945. Allied occupation 1945-1955 (US, UK, France, USSR zones). Austrian State Treaty 15 May 1955 restoring full sovereignty with declared permanent neutrality. Foundational post-WWII framework affecting contemporary constitutional-democratic-trajectory." }, { "year": 1992, "title": "Austria ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child + best-interests-framework", "description": "Austria ratified the UNCRC on 6 August 1992 — substantive best-interests-of-the-child framework integration with ABGB Kindeswohl substantive doctrine. Subsequent 2011 Children's Rights Constitutional Act (Bundesverfassungsgesetz über die Rechte von Kindern) elevating children's rights to constitutional status." }, { "year": 1995, "title": "EU accession 1995 + EU-treaty-framework integration", "description": "Austria EU accession 1 January 1995 alongside Finland and Sweden — substantive integration into EU-treaty-framework affecting cross-border-jurisdiction-practice including Brussels IIa/IIbis Regulation framework for family-law-matters. Subsequent Schengen + EU charter framework consolidation." }, { "year": 2003, "title": "Außerstreitgesetz reform", "description": "Federal Non-Contentious Proceedings Act in force 1 January 2005 — modernised procedural framework for family-court proceedings including Familiengerichtshilfe (family-court assistance service) framework and Sachverständigengutachten (expert evidence) procedures." }, { "year": 2011, "title": "Children's Rights Constitutional Act 2011 + BVG-Kinderrechte framework", "description": "Bundesverfassungsgesetz über die Rechte von Kindern (BVG-Kinderrechte) enacted 16 February 2011 — substantively elevating UNCRC children's rights to constitutional status within Austrian federal-constitutional framework. Substantively distinctive constitutional-children's-rights framework affecting subsequent OGH jurisprudence." }, { "year": 2013, "title": "KindNamRÄG 2013 + PG 2013 enacted", "description": "Kindschafts- und Namensrechts-Änderungsgesetz 2013 in force 1 February 2013 established joint Obsorge as default arrangement; Psychologengesetz 2013 enacted establishing statutory title protection for psychologists. Substantively significant family-law-modernisation framework." }, { "year": 2014, "title": "PG 2013 in force + psychology profession regulatory framework", "description": "Psychologengesetz 2013 in force 1 July 2014 — statutory title protection for psychologists with mandatory postgraduate training. Substantive evaluator-quality-anchor for court-appointed psychological assessments under Sachverständigengutachten framework." }, { "year": 2023, "title": "Familiengerichtshilfe framework expansion + OGH jurisprudence development", "description": "Familiengerichtshilfe (Family Court Aid) framework expansion 2022-2023 strengthening multidisciplinary support for Kindeswohl-assessment in custody and contact disputes under ABGB §§ 158-187 + AußStrG framework. Multiple OGH decisions developing post-KindNamRÄG 2013 Kindeswohl interpretation including PAS-skepticism aligned with BVerfG 2023 BVerfG-2023 register though without explicit OGH PAS-critique ruling. Substantively significant institutional jurisprudential development." }, { "year": 2024, "title": "OGH + Familiengerichtshilfe — Kindeswohl substantive register + post-KindNamRÄG framework", "description": "Oberster Gerichtshof continues to develop Kindeswohl jurisprudence under ABGB §§ 158-187 + AußStrG + BVG-Kinderrechte framework in custody and contact disputes via Revisionsrekurs from Oberlandesgerichte. Substantive analysis without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label adoption — unlike Germany's BVerfG 1 BvR 1076/23 PAS-engagement, OGH operates substantively under Kindeswohl welfare standard within Familiengerichtshilfe-multidisciplinary-support framework." } ], "structural_findings": [ "Austria sits structurally adjacent to Germany within the corpus: civil-law / federal-civil-code framework + 2013 joint-Obsorge default reform. Unlike Germany, the OGH has not produced a published apex-level engagement with the PAS construct equivalent to BVerfG 1 BvR 1076/23.", "PG 2013 statutory title protection regime places Austria among the federal-statutory psychology regulator group within the corpus alongside Germany (Psychotherapeutengesetz / PsychThG), Switzerland (PsyG 2011), UK (HCPC), SA (HPCSA), and India (APBs).", "Familiengerichtshilfe (family-court assistance service) operates as a federally-funded multidisciplinary support structure for family courts — distinctive among corpus jurisdictions and analogous to NL Raad voor de Kinderbescherming." ], "references": [ "jurisdiction:germany", "jurisdiction:switzerland", "jurisdiction:european-convention-on-human-rights", "evidence:evaluator-quality-regulation-across-jurisdictions", "evidence:eu-apex-sequence-2017-2025", "evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine" ], "sources": [ { "title": "Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH) — Republic of Austria Supreme Court", "url": "https://www.ogh.gv.at/", "publisher": "Republik Österreich", "language": "de" }, { "title": "RIS — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes", "url": "https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/", "publisher": "Bundeskanzleramt Österreich", "language": "de,en" }, { "title": "Berufsverband Österreichischer PsychologInnen (BÖP)", "url": "https://www.boep.or.at/", "publisher": "BÖP", "language": "de" } ], "editorial_notes": [ "Austria jurisdiction sidecar v1.1 — deepened 2026-06-09 from 3 to 10 key_developments with full ABGB-to-contemporary trajectory: 1811-Allgemeines-bürgerliches-Gesetzbuch-Habsburg-era + 1918-Republic-from-Habsburg-collapse + 1945-Second-Republic-+-Allied-occupation-+-State-Treaty-1955 + 1992-UNCRC-ratification + 1995-EU-accession + 2003-Außerstreitgesetz-reform + 2011-Children's-Rights-Constitutional-Act-+-BVG-Kinderrechte + 2013-KindNamRÄG-2013-+-PG-2013 + 2014-PG-2013-in-force + 2024-OGH-+-Familiengerichtshilfe-Kindeswohl.", "Austria jurisdiction sidecar establishes the Austrian civil-law framework within the corpus alongside Germany and Switzerland. ABGB + AußStrG + OGH + PG 2013 federal-statutory psychology regulator.", "PA-recognition: silent statutory + no-apex-position + silent regulator. OGH operates substantively under Kindeswohl. Distinct from Germany BVerfG-PAS-engagement.", "Joins EU6+ civil-law cluster + ABGB-1811-second-oldest-continuously-operating-civil-code-globally + Children's-Rights-Constitutional-Act-2011-BVG-Kinderrechte + Habsburg-era-civil-codification + EU-1995-accession + Familiengerichtshilfe-multidisciplinary-support-distinctive + federal-statutory psychology regulator group within the corpus." ] }