In its final session before the general election, Parliament passed a bill which serves as a first step in harmonising the different legal regimes covering blue-collar and white-collar employees.

Parliament recently transposed parts of EU Directive 2015/2436 into national law. Most important is the introduction of certification marks, which did not previously exist under Austrian law.

As of May 1 2018 smoking in restaurants and bars will be prohibited. The restrictions on smoking in the workplace will also be tightened as of this date.

The General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) takes effect in May 2018 and will change existing European data protection laws significantly. In the light of this the Data Protection Team of Graf Isola (f.k.a. Graf & Pitkowitz) has published the bilingual Ecolex Special Edition as a guide for corporations on how to comply with the Regulation.

Ferdinand Graf is co-author and co-editor of the publication "Changes in the European Data Protection law for companies", published with MANZ Publishers recently.

In some cases of insolvency, it may be necessary to take special measures which affect the debtor or third parties in order to prevent the insolvent assets from diminishing. These cases are governed by Section 78 of the Insolvency Code, which offers the possibility of ordering individual protective measures with regard to the debtor and third parties. In particular, recent case law has extended the scope of application of these protective measures.

New legislation recently came into effect that aims to ease the process of reintegration into the workplace for employees who have been on extended sick leave and who would benefit from a reduced workload in order to aid rehabilitation and reconnect with the workplace. Although it is a well-meant initiative to curb the increase in long-term sickness, the legal framework reveals some major flaws.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the producer of a digital photograph who marks his or her name in the photograph´s metadata must be credited as the producer on copies of the photograph made by other persons and intended for distribution. The judgement is good news for producers of digital photographs who wish to safeguard their copyright. Persons reproducing and distributing digital photographs therefore should routinely check the metadata to ensure that the producer´s name is listed on any reproduction. Failing to do so could be a costly mistake.

Our attorneys-at-law, David Seidl and Stefan Weileder, report on stricter liability for a delay in filing for insolvency. The article was published in the newspaper "Der Standard" on June 12, 2017

One of the objectives of the Bankruptcy Code is to allow trustworthy debtors a right to be discharged from debts remaining unpaid after insolvency proceedings. In practice, however, low-income debtors…