Federal Legal Information System (RIS)

The Federal Legal Information System (Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes, RIS), which has been provided free of charge on the Internet by the Federal Ministry of Finance since June 1997 at ris.bka.gv.at, is one of the oldest online public administration projects. Not only members of the legal profession, but any citizen can use this database to view current and historic versions of legislation, or search for court rulings.

As the legal portal for the republic of Austria, the RIS includes, for example, legally binding versions of Federal and Provincial Law Gazettes, consolidated federal and provincial law, and case law from the highest courts, the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof, VfGH), the Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof, VwGH) and the Supreme Court of Justice (Oberste Gerichtshof, OGH).

What does the RIS offer? 

Since 2004 legally binding versions of the Federal Law Gazettes, and since 2015 also the Provincial Law Gazettes for all the federal provinces, have been published exclusively on the Federal Legal Information System (RIS). Over subsequent years, further applications have been added for which legally binding documentation is available in the RIS.

At present (summer 2023) , and in compliance with federal and provincial regulations, officially signed, legally binding PDF documents for the following RIS applications are available:

Federal Law Gazettes, authentic from 2004
Provincial Law Gazettes, authentic
Ordinances Gazettes, authentic (currently only Tyrol)
Announcements from district administrative authorities
Municipality law, authentic (currently only for municipalities/municipal associations in Vorarlberg)
Regulations for professional competence exams in compliance with the Trade Act (Gewerbeordnung, GeWO)
Official announcements relating to social security matters, authentic from 2002
Plans for health care infrastructure (Austrian Structural Plan for Health Care, Österreichischer Strukturplan Gesundheit, ÖSG) and Regional Plans for Health Care (Regionale Strukturpläne Gesundheit, RSG)
Official Veterinary Bulletins (Amtliche Veterinärnachrichten, AVN) from 15.09.2004
Court announcements

In addition to the legally binding versions of legal texts, the RIS also includes consolidated federal and provincial law, draft bills and government bills.

Selected case law from Austria's three highest courts, the Constitutional Court (VfGH), the Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) and the Supreme Court of Justice (OGH), as well as the Administrative Courts (all nine provincial administrative courts and the Federal Administrative Court), is published on the RIS. The RIS also contains selected decrees from federal ministries, decisions of the independent Party Transparency Board and records of meetings of the Council of Ministers.

For every RIS service, there is a barrier-free and easy-to-use search template which will find the relevant legal regulations or court rulings for a particular keyword within seconds.

Since May 2012, RIS data has been made available as part of the Open Government Data project (www.data.gv.at). The RIS system already contains over 2 million documents and every month individual documents are accessed about 500 million times.

The Federal Legal Information System (RIS) is used, among other things, for the legally binding publication of Federal Law Gazettes (since 2004), Provincial Law Gazettes (since 2014/2015), the regulations of regional administrative authorities (some) and, since July 2023, the regulations of the municipalities in Vorarlberg. Finally, the service includes, for example, consolidated federal and provincial law and case law from the highest courts and administrative courts (excluding the Federal Financial Court).