Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : Austria [2023]

The Austrian legal system follows the civil law tradition, meaning that primary legal sources are generally codified. Decisions by courts and administrative bodies do not count as authoritative legal sources per se (no official adherence to precedent). Nonetheless, such decisions - especially by high courts - can develop a certain authority, since their interpretation of black-letter law is usually followed by lower courts and administrative bodies. It should be noted, however, that courts are not legally bound by case law; if a case presents grounds for a differing interpretation of the relevant legislation, courts may argue for a dissenting view. Apart from this, academic consensus (herrschende Lehre) is also relied upon when establishing the exact meaning and scope of legal sources. The anti-discrimination and gender equality provisions of the relevant EU directives have been implemented by federal or state legislation. The legislator has mostly used the German language version of the relevant EU directives as national legal provisions. This approach has left room for interpretation of the relevant laws by the courts.