English »Legal Updates
The new Consumer Payment Account Act
The Consumer Payment Account Act (VZKG) came into force on 18.09.2016. The VZKG implements the requirements of the EU Directive on consumer payment accounts. In particular, these requirements address the comparability of payment account fees, the change of payment accounts and the access to payment accounts with basic features (basic payment account). The European Banking Authority (EBA) is currently consulting on the EU-wide standardised format for a statement of fees, for the fee information document and for the Union standardised terminology.
1. January 2017
The court commissioner has a right to know
The right to information of the court commissioner and the probate court against banks is based on a special legal provision in the Banking Act. This provision doesn’t differentiate between the secrets of a deceased client or of other persons. Banks are therefore not allowed to refer to their right to keep the bank secrecy against the court commissioner and the probate court. This also means in particular that banks are not allowed to refuse the right to information based on the grounds that rights of third parties or joint account holders would be violated.
25. November 2016
The Addressee of an administrative ruling stays the same
In a recent ruling, the Supreme Administrative Court clarified that the firm of an individual enterprise is merely a name and that it is not regarded as a legal entity. Therefore, the firm is only used for the identification of an enterprise whose legal entity is a natural person. An administrative ruling which was addressed to the meanwhile deleted firm is therefore directed to the individual entrepreneur. The obligations which derive from the ruling are fully binding and the deletion of the firm has basically no effect (Ra 2015/08/0127).
6. October 2016
Juristiction in cartel law matters
A bank customer sued an international bank for damages which were caused by the manipulation of the LIBOR. He claimed that because of this manipulation he had to pay higher interest for a loan which he took from an Austrian bank. The damage was caused in Austria. Case law of the ECJ allows companies to sue at their place of business in cases of infringements of cartel law. The infringement of cartel law had already been established by the European Commission. The Austrian Supreme Court for Civil Matters ruled that in this type of situation, bank customers shall also be allowed to sue at their place of residence. (4Ob120/16z)
20. September 2016
Personal Liability
The Supreme Court for Civil Matters recently stated his case law on the liability of managing directors of a GmbH more precisely: The managing director of a GmbH shall only be liable where the law specifically stipulates such liability and if he personally acted culpably and unlawfully. This restriction of liability shall also apply to damages caused by oral agreements and by acts or omissions of assisting persons. For such cases the GmbH itself is liable for the caused damage. (8Ob62/16z)
16. September 2016