After successful completion of the course, students are able to describe and explain the basic structures of Austrian administrative procedural law and Austrian administrative jurisdiction (including ECJ and ECHR). 

In a democratic society, decisions by the executive require a legal framework that not only contains the substantive rules to be applied (material provisions), but also precisely defines the parameters and procedural principles according to which such decisions are to be made. This essential necessity is ensured by the norms of administrative procedural law, which establishes fundamental rules for the actions of public authorities - be it in the course of a building permit or the approval of far-reaching infrastructure projects. If these principles are violated by administrative action, the legal protection system of public law guarantees that these deficiencies are made available for review and, if necessary, corrected.  

During the course, the students are introduced to the essential characteristics and general principles of official proceedings and decision-making processes within public administration by means of concrete case studies. The case studies are from the legal fied of planning and environmental law. The aim of the course is to enable students to recognize problematic aspects of administrative procedure law in practice and to classify them correctly. They should be provided with the necessary knowledge to be able to enter into a well-founded discussion with specialized lawyers.  

The focus of the course is on various legal issues with regard to the general and constitutionally relevant principles of public action, questions of competence (competence of authorities), the investigation procedure, the legal protection system of public law and the supreme courts of public law (incl. CJEU and ECHR). Communication with authorities as well as legal possibilities of participation are dealt with. In addition to the central role of party rights, current developments in public law with regard to public participation in environmental matters will be given special attention. These result from EU and international legal requirements (Aarhus Convention) and are intended to ensure that the interests of civil society are adequately taken into account in executive decision-making processes. To this end, the relevant CJEU case law and its influence on the Austrian legal system is presented and analysed.

The procedural aspects are dealt with on the basis of the following fields of law: spatial planning law, building law; regulation of industrial facilities; strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment; nature conservation, forestry and water law.

Based on case studies and corresponding legal questions, students prepare the course material. In the lecture, the case solution will be worked out and discussed in detail with the help of online research tools and by applying the relevant legal texts.

Participation during the lessons (40%) & written homework (60%)