New Federal Electronic Announcement And Information Platform

• Published date: 19 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Contracts and Commercial Law
• Law Firm: Schoenherr Attorneys at Law
• Author: Mr Nikolaus Stepan

The mandatory fee-based publication in the print medium of the Official Journal of the Wiener Zeitung (Amtsblatt der Wiener Zeitung) ("Official Journal") is going to be replaced by free-of-charge publication on the new Electronic Announcement and Information Platform of the Federation ("EVI").

On 27 April 2023 the government passed the extremely controversial federal law on Wiener Zeitung GmbH and the establishment of an Electronic Announcement and Information Platform of the Federation (Wiener Zeitung GmbH und Einrichtung einer elektronischen Verlautbarungs- und Informationsplattform des Bundes Gesetz ' WZEVIG) in the National Council in the course of the government's media reform. As of 1 July 2023, EVI must be used instead of the previously obligatory publication of e.g., commercial register entries, in the print medium of the Official Journal. EVI is intended to provide Austrian citizens and companies with a simple, centralised access point to announcements that are required by federal law. The Wiener Zeitung is the world's oldest daily newspaper and will then only be published online and perhaps once a month in paper form, as the bulk of its revenue will be lost with the cessation of the mandatory publications.

Current legal situation

The Wiener Zeitung consists of an editorial section and the Official Journal. Pursuant to the Official Notices Act of 1985 (Verlautbarungsgesetz 1985), the Official Journal is the official publication medium of the Republic of Austria.

The information that must be published in the Official Journal includes:

1. registrations in the commercial register and further publications to be made by the commercial register court (Section 10 of the Austrian Commercial Code). For example, new registrations of companies, relocations of registered offices, deletions appointments of new managing directors, or changes in the shareholding. This excludes entries concerning sole proprietorships and partnerships;
2. annual financial statements (Section 277 of the Austrian Commercial Code);
3. information in case of reorganizations; and
4. notices of vacancies in the public service.

Law amendments and objectives

The act will be effective as of July 2023, and the required publications previously made in the Official Journal must then be published via EVI. This will be done in compliance with all provisions of data protection law. The essential change will be that the announcements ordered by federal law as well as their retrieval via EVI will be free...