We help you win your case!

Dr. Georg Rihs is your expert on administrative and public law, including immigration law, public commercial law, public procurement law, antitrust and environmental law.

Our reputation as one of Vienna’s leading boutique law firms is rooted in decades of experience, and numerous wins in front of Austria’s highest courts for our clients.

SKILLED.

We are one of Vienna’s leading firms in administrative and immigration law. Our team has produced cutting edge research and publications in the field.

Find more information on our skillset here.

EFFICIENT.

We take the necessary legal steps at the right time. Our work is transparent and cost saving. Our clients appreciate the results we deliver.

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CREATIVE.

We see legal work as a creative process. We set the highest standards for the perfection of our legal work and court filings.

Find out more on Publications and Successes.

We guarantee you quick and best-in-class legal advice!

Tobacco Monopoly: Federal Procurement Law Applicable!

Our office has achieved another groundbreaking victory for the rule of law in Austria: With its decision dated 20 July 2021, Ra 2019/04/0231, the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that the award of contracts for tobacco shops and tobacconists falls within the scope of the Federal Law on Public Procurement for Concessions. The award of contracts for tobacco shops in Austria has regularly been administered by the Monopoly Administration ltd, a state-hold body. In the past, the practice of this body has been intransparent. Austrian media also covered and criticized the administrative decisions of this body. Highly-frequented tobacco shops on public places generate seven-digit turnovers in the sale of cigarettes and tobacco alone. Additionally, the operation of a tobacco store allows for lucrative side-businesses like sales of lottery tickets etc. Presently, all tobacconists are awarded life-long. Consequently, traceability and transparency in the award of tobacco shops is crucial.

Supreme Court for Civil Matters: Discrimination against graduates of cross-border cooperation studies unlawful!

We are pleased to announce a positive decision in a lengthy civil case which we were able to obtain for our client, an employee of the Austrian National Bank (Oesterreichische Nationalbank, short: OeNB). We successfully enforced that the completion of an university degree abroad (in this case: cross-border cooperation course at the University of Mittweida in Germany) must be fully taken into account when classifying the employee in the internal salary scheme of the OeNB. The employer was obliged to pay the difference in salary for the last three years in arrears. The Supreme Court followed our reasoning. It thus strengthens the Bologna system and enables the crediting of degrees acquired by employees in the context of cross-border cooperation courses of European universities outside Austria.

Arabische Kultusgemeinde Österreich (AKÖ) – unlawful decision of the (governmental) department for religious affairs (Kultusamt) overturned by the Administrative Court Vienna

We have a great success to report in a legally demanding case of constitutional law, which is also explosive in the media: In a decision of 21 April 2021, the Administrative Court Vienna overturned the decision of the (governmental) department for religious affairs (Kultusamt) of 7 June 2018, with which it had withdrawn the legal personality of the Arabic Religious Community Austria (Arabische Kultusgemeinde Österreich, short AKÖ). The Administrative Court stated that all formal requirements (number of mosque facilities, worshippers) were fulfilled by the AKÖ. The Administrative Court based its findings on the confirmation of the Islamic Religious Community Austria (Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich, short IGGÖ), which examined and confirmed the formal requirements according to intra-religious community law. The decision of the Administrative Court marks the end of a lengthy procedure.