AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Patrizia Netal, Katrin Hanschitz and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL
KNOETZL Herrengasse 1 1010 Vienna Austria
Tel: +43 1 34 34 000 212 Email: office@knoetzl.com Web: www.knoetzl.com
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position Introduction to Enforcement Under Austrian Law Austrian courts are known for their efficiency. This also applies to the enforcement of (foreign and domestic) judgments. The relevant provisions of domestic law pertaining to enforcement proceedings are contained in the Aus - trian Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) ( Zivilprozessor- dnung ) and the Austrian Enforcement Act (EA) ( Exe- kutionsordnung ). Moreover, as Austria is a member state of the EU, the relevant regulations apply, such as Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. In addition, Austria is party to a number of multilateral and bilateral treaties that deal with the recognition and enforcement of judgments, including: • the Lugano Convention on jurisdiction and the rec - ognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (2007); • the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agree - ments (2005); • the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019); and • the bilateral treaty with the UK providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judg - ments in civil and commercial matters (1961), which has once more become relevant in view of Brexit.
To respond to the COVID-19 crisis, the Austrian government implemented a number of measures to cushion the negative impact. The measures, inter alia, provide for the possibility of oral hearings to be con - ducted remotely; the Austrian law-maker subsequent - ly adopted the option of remote hearings permanently. Identifying the Assets of Another Party Publicly available information In Austria, there are several public registers that may prove useful in identifying the assets of another party. The most relevant of these are as follows. • The Land Register ( Grundbuch ) – with regard to immovable assets, the Land Register can be con - sulted. It is kept by the courts of the federal states and includes information on ownership, mortgages and the more recent underlying documents, such as purchase and mortgage agreements. While all persons may enquire regarding ownership of a property, only certain registered persons (such as notaries, lawyers or other public bodies) or persons who have a proven legal interest may search for a specific legal or natural person and can obtain a list of property owned by that person or access underlying documents. • The Company Register ( Firmenbuch ) – when identi - fying the asset position of a company, the first step is to check the Austrian Company Register, which is kept by the courts of the federal states and by the Commercial Court of Vienna. Depending on the type of company, the Company Register may include information on the managing directors and shareholders (including addresses), the company’s equity and (abbreviated) annual accounts. The Company Register is open for public inspection
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