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Austria. Comprehensive data protection. Act

DSGFederal Act on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Datenschutzgesetz – DSG)

In force
Partly verifiedMedium confidence. Complaint competence is split between the DSB and the Parlamentarisches Datenschutzkomitee for parliamentary bodies.

§1Summary

Synopsis

Austria's DSG supplements the GDPR, sets up the Datenschutzbehörde and keeps a constitutional-level fundamental right to data protection. It adds national rules on image recording (CCTV), research and archiving, and transposes the Law Enforcement Directive.

Key themes
  • national GDPR derogations
  • age of consent
  • DPO
  • employee data
  • criminal offences
  • supervisory authority powers
Unique features

Age of digital consent (GDPR Art 8): 14. Section 1 is a constitutional fundamental right that historically also protected legal persons; detailed rules on image processing (video surveillance); DSB has favoured warnings for first-time minor breaches.

SaaS relevance

Applies alongside the GDPR to any SaaS provider established in, or targeting users in, this country; national rules on age of consent, employee data and offences shape onboarding and HR-related features.

§2Obligations

Extraterritorial
Limited
Breach notification
Authority 72h; individuals without undue delay (GDPR Arts 33-34)
DPO
Conditional
Cross-border transfers
GDPR Chapter V (adequacy/SCCs/BCRs)
Maximum penalty
GDPR Art 83: €20m or 4% global turnover; national administrative fines up to €50,000 for certain DSG breaches

§3Dates

Key dates
  • Adopted
  • In force
  • Original DSG 2000; recast for GDPR by Datenschutz-Anpassungsgesetz 2018 (BGBl. I 120/2017) and Datenschutz-Deregulierungs-Gesetz 2018 (BGBl. I 24/2018)

§4Text and authority

Text
Authority
Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde (DSB)

§5Where it applies

Domestic law of
Austria

§6Sources and verification

Sources consulted
Verification

Medium confidence.

Partly verifiedMedium confidence. Complaint competence is split between the DSB and the Parlamentarisches Datenschutzkomitee for parliamentary bodies.