Litigation 2025

AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Katrin Hanschitz, Dr Kirstin McGoldrick and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL HAUGENEDER NETAL GmbH

Injunctions for Securing Monetary Claims Injunctions available for securing monetary claims include: • orders for the deposit of money at the court; • freeze orders regarding movable and immov- able assets; and • orders against third party debtors (ie, debtors of the debtor), enjoining them from paying the debtor. By an order against a debtor’s bank, bank accounts can also be frozen. Practice Courts are typically reluctant to assume that a party is likely to damage, destroy, hide or remove assets, and therefore require a showing of a strong and concrete likelihood in this regard. No Anti-suit Injunctions Austrian law does not provide for injunctions to prevent parallel proceedings in another juris- diction. If the same case is pending in different courts, the principle of priority applies – similar to the system in the Brussels Regulation. 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief is granted in accelerated prelimi- nary proceedings. Depending on the concrete circumstances, injunctive relief can sometimes be obtained within 24 hours. Sometimes, the applicant has to wait for 14 days, or even more. 6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis Upon request of an applicant, injunctive relief can be awarded ex parte. The respondent will not be heard, in order to avoid frustration of the intended – interim – enforcement act. If injunc- tive relief is granted ex parte, the respondent’s

use with respect to the third party and either party to the litigation.

6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief Timing The Austrian Enforcement Act provides for accelerated preliminary proceedings in which the court may order injunctive relief (preliminary injunctions) to prevent the frustration or signifi- cant obstruction of future enforcement. A credi- tor may apply for a preliminary injunction togeth- er with the claim initiating legal proceedings, prior to the actual initiation of legal proceedings, during legal proceedings and – if foreign courts have jurisdiction in the case – independently from legal proceedings in Austria. Prerequisites The Enforcement Act distinguishes between pre- liminary injunctions: • for securing monetary claims; • for securing other claims; and • for securing a right. For the purpose of securing monetary claims, injunctive relief may be granted if: • the creditor can credibly show its claim (com- pelling evidence is not necessary); • the debtor is likely to frustrate or significantly obstruct enforcement by damaging, destroy- ing, hiding or removing assets (“subjective endangering”); or • the judgment would have to be enforced in a state where enforcement is secured neither by international agreements nor by EU law (“objective endangering”).

CHAMBERS.COM