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NOTES
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AUSTRIA
1. The High Court ruled recently that the Federal authorities have to provide for asylum seekers who cannot
maintain themselves.
2. In October 2001, the Constitutional Court quashed the case of an airline, which carried 12 irregular
passengers and was fined EUR 36,000 under the original provision laid down in the amendment FGL I
No. 108/2001. The Court found that the provision did not specify sufficiently the carrier’s obligation to
provide information and was unconstitutional. As a result of this ruling, Article 103, which detailed the
procedure for fines was suspended and had to be amended. Later in the year, the respective amendment
FGL I No. 142/2001 “repaired” Article 103 of the Aliens Act and came into force on 1 January 2002.
3. ECRE – Legal and Social Conditions for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe, 2003, p.15.
4. World Refugee Survey 2002 at http://www.worldrefugee.org.
5. Recent rulings of Austria’s High Court with regard to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well
as cases where the Independent Federal Asylum Review Board turned down decisions by the Federal
Asylum Office have undermined the assumption that Austria’s neighbours can be deemed as safe
countries, ECRE – Legal and Social Conditions for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe, 2003
6. ECRE – Legal and Social Conditions for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe, 2003, p.6
7. Schubhaft in Österreich, Michael Berger, Schubhaft-Sozialdienst, Wien/Caritas AusländerInnenhilfe
und Volkshilfe Österreich, April 2002.
8. Primarily to Kosovo.
* UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols:
Austria signed the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime on 12 December 2000, but has
not yet ratified the Convention. It signed the Trafficking Protocol on 12 December 2000, but has not yet
ratified the Protocol. Austria also signed the Smuggling Protocol on 12 December 2000, although it has
not yet ratified this Protocol.