Under the E-Commerce Directive and the e-commerce Act, the country of origin principle states that the rules apply where the provider has its main place of activity. As a result, a supplier based in Austria must comply with Austrian trade law and related rules regarding the supply and distribution of goods and services. However, once the Austrian requirements have been met, the supplier will be able to operate in other EU Member States without any additional requirements. On the other hand, any provider with an establishment in another EU Member State can operate in Austria if it complies with the provisions of their country of origin. At the international level, dispute resolution through arbitration has the considerable advantage that comes from international treaties; Austrian arbitration awards are enforceable in almost all jurisdictions. Austria has signed all major bilateral and multilateral treaties, including the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Awards. An arbitration agreement must be concluded in writing to be valid and legally binding, while a compromise clause through the exchange of faxes or e-mail messages would be sufficient to satisfy this legal requirement. It is strongly recommended that a compromise clause be included in contracts that have an international context. Dispute resolution through arbitration procedures allows for relatively rapid proceedings and a judgment on benefits, which is also fully recognised and enforced by the Austrian federal courts.
The Vienna International Court of Arbitration (VIAC) of the Austrian Economic Chamber in Vienna is a renowned arbitration organization that is increasingly chosen for the settlement of multi-judicial disputes and has helped establish Austria`s reputation as a place of international arbitration. The reserve of ownership is the exception to the rule that the effectiveness of a title requires public publicity. The property reserve implies an agreement (explicit or implied) which means that ownership of the delivered goods will only be transferred from the seller to the buyer after full payment. If the buyer is late in payment, the seller has the right to recover the goods sold to the buyer. In the event of the buyer`s bankruptcy, the seller has the right to recover the goods on which he has retained the property. The property reserve in commercial transactions generally provides that the buyer has the right to process and resell the merchandise, even if he is not the rightful owner (due to the seller`s property reserve). In order to protect the seller`s security interests, the buyer usually cedes his claims related to a sale (extended property reserve; extended property reserve) to the seller. Contractual freedom is the fundamental principle of Austrian contract law.
Contracting parties are therefore free to choose the appropriate terms for a transaction, unless a contractual clause or contract renders the agreement unacceptable or illegal in another way. A contract is defined as a declaration of an offer subject to authorisation and a corresponding acceptance and, in general, neither the offer nor the adoption of a specific form are necessary under Austrian law.