Reform Options for Competition Policy in Austria

The current Austrian antitrust law regime has been in force for six years. Experience so far has clearly brought to the fore the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional setup and procedures in place, from which a need for reform may be derived. The latter arises largely from the fact that the cartel law reform of 2002 has tried to stay in line with the previous system based on civil law. With the establishment of the Federal Competition Authority a mixed regime of civil law and public administration was created, by implanting an administrative authority as an "alien element" into a legal court-driven system. The principal incompatibility between judicial and administrative responsibilities and procedures causes frictions undermining the smooth and efficient execution of cartel law proceedings in court. The scope for improvement within the existing institutional setup is large, with many reform options requiring only straightforward adjustments.