Chapter 2 Austria - CEP, the European Organisation for Probation

3 THE ORGANIZATION OF PROBATION SERVICES3.1 Main characteristicsIn 1994, the association NEUSTART was mandated to provide probation servicesnationwide under a General Contract with the Republic of Austria represented bythe Federal Ministry of Justice. In accordance with its organizational form as anon-profit association, its supreme body is the General Assembly(Generalversammlung)), which elects the Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) for aterm of three years. By majority resolution, the Supervisory Board appoints oneor more Chief Executive Officer/s (currently two), or CEO/s (Geschäftsführer) fora period of five years. The CEO(s) appoint(s) the top level executives for fiveyears. NEUSTART has its own internal audit unit department directly reportingto the CEO(s). The staff of the audit department is hired with the consent of theFederal Ministry of Justice. Moreover, NEUSTART has a 100% subsidiary calledNEUSTART gGmbH, which is active in the German Land of Baden-Württemberg. In 2007 NEUSTART gGmbH was entrusted with providingprobation services, trial support and mediation in penal matters for adults withinall parts of Baden-Württemberg.3.2 Internal organizationThe structural and procedural organization of NEUSTART conforms to theprinciples of a matrix organization and is based on regional responsibilities andthe business process model underlying these. On the one hand, the focus is onhaving one officer in charge whose central task it is to keep the outcome ofprocesses and the related operational principles geared to the needs of the servicerecipients and to optimise them; on the other hand, processes also have to bedesigned in such a way that the quality of services rendered is as required and thesame throughout Austria.