The Austrian AVG: an Underestimated Archetype with Deep Roots and External Factors

This chapter presents an outline and reconstruction of the essential elements and characteristics of the Austrian procedural model followed by an in-depth examination of some comparative scenarios together with a number of reflections of an institutional nature aiming to resolve some apparent contradictions. The analysis shows that the roots of the Austrian Administrative Procedure Act of 1925 are embedded in the solid foundations of administrative case law from the imperial era. Indeed, the AVG simply transposed into positive law many aspects of the principles that emerged in the fifty years of activity of the Verwaltungsgerichtshof. However, it should not be forgotten that codification was primarily adopted in order to fulfil an international treaty and allow loans to Austria in order to restore its economic and financial situation – an external imposition for economic reasons. A genesis so contextualised also allows a complete understanding of the AVG’s structural and functional aspects. The objectives of uniformity, simplification, and efficiency contribute to creating a minimal and adaptable model that at the same time affords protection to the rights of the parties involved. Moreover, the fundamental and distinctive features of the Austrian procedural model thus reconstructed constitute a guideline for interpreting its paths of entry into other legal systems, both in terms of positive law and the history of ideas. These paths of entry showed precisely how the AVG of 1925 dominated the scene of administrative law and its dogmatics in Central Europe for at least fifty years