SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION |
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| Chamber: | ||||||||
| Nationalrat | ||||||||
| 1. Procedure for start of the mandate: | ||||||||
| The Central Elections Board shall issue to each Member of the National Council, after his election or after his appointment as a substitute member, a letter of credentials which shall be deposited with the Parliamentary Administration. | ||||||||
| 2. Procedure for validation of mandates: | ||||||||
| The Constitutional Court shall decide on:
- challenges to elections to the popular representative bodies; - challenges, in so far as laws of the Bund or Länder governing elections provide for a loss of seat by the ruling of an administrative authority, and after all stages of legal remedy have been exhausted, to rulings whereby the loss of a seat in a popular representative body has been pronounced. The challenge (application) can be based on the alleged illegality of the electoral procedure or on a reason provided by law for the loss of membership in a popular representative body. The Court shall accept an electoral challenge if the alleged illegality has been proved and influenced the election result. In the proceedings before the administrative authorities, the popular representative body has litigant status. |
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| 3. Procedure for resignation: | ||||||||
| If a Member resigns his seat, the resignation shall take effect at the time of receipt by the President of the National Council of the Central Election Board's notification to that effect, unless the resigning Member has stipulated a later effective date. | ||||||||
| 4. Failure to take the oath, to take it in due form and without reservations: | ||||||||
| A Member of the National Council shall lose his seat if he fails to take the official oath, or fails to take the oath in the form required, or makes reservations or imposes conditions under which he is willing to take the oath.
The President shall, when notified of such a case, so inform the National Council, which shall decide by a simple majority on a motion concerning an application to the Constitutional Court for a loss of seat of that Member, which decision shall be prepared by the Main Committee. If the National Council takes a decision on such an application, the President shall make an application to the Federal Constitutional Court on behalf of the National Council. The Constitutional Court decides upon an application by a popular representative body for a loss of seat by one of its Members. After receipt of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the Member in question is declared to have lost his seat, the President of the National Council shall so inform the person so deprived of his seat. The loss of seat shall enter into force on the day following the receipt by the President of the National Council of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the seat is declared lost. The President shall inform Members of the court decision at the next sitting of the National Council. |
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| 5. Loss of mandate for absence: | ||||||||
| If a Member is unable to attend sittings of the National Council for 30 days or more, he shall so inform the President in writing, stating the reasons for his absence. If the Member's absence is for any reason other than illness, the President shall inform the National Council of the reason. If the validity of the reason is challenged, the National Council shall decide without debate whether the Member be required to resume without further delay his attendance at the sittings of the National Council.
A Member of the National Council shall lose his seat if he delays taking his seat for 30 days or remains absent from the sittings of the National Council for 30 days without valid reason recognised as such by the National Council and has failed to obey the President's order addressed to him publicly and before the National Council to appear or justify his absence within a further period of 30 days. The President shall, when notified of such a case, so inform the National Council, which shall decide by a simple majority on a motion concerning an application to the Constitutional Court for a loss of seat of that Member, which decision shall be prepared by the Main Committee. If the National Council takes a decision on such an application, the President shall make an application to the Federal Constitutional Court on behalf of the National Council. The Constitutional Court decides upon an application by a popular representative body for a loss of seat by one of its Members. After receipt of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the Member in question is declared to have lost his seat, the President of the National Council shall so inform the person so deprived of his seat. The loss of seat shall enter into force on the day following the receipt by the President of the National Council of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the seat is declared lost. The President shall inform Members of the court decision at the next sitting of the National Council. |
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| 6. Loss of eligibility: | ||||||||
| A Member of the National Council shall lose his seat if he ceases to be eligible after having been elected (for eligibility, see Art. 26 (4) of the Federal Constitutional Law).
Exclusion from eligibility can only ensue from a sentence by the courts. The President shall, when notified of such a case, so inform the National Council, which shall decide by a simple majority on a motion concerning an application to the Constitutional Court for a loss of seat of that Member, which decision shall be prepared by the Main Committee. If the National Council takes a decision on such an application, the President shall make an application to the Federal Constitutional Court on behalf of the National Council. The Constitutional Court decides upon an application by a popular representative body for a loss of seat by one of its Members. After receipt of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the Member in question is declared to have lost his seat, the President of the National Council shall so inform the person so deprived of his seat. The loss of seat shall enter into force on the day following the receipt by the President of the National Council of the decision of the Constitutional Court by which the seat is declared lost. The President shall inform Members of the court decision at the next sitting of the National Council. This also applies to cases in which the Constitutional Court has accepted an application contesting an election result on grounds of an ineligible person having been declared elected or an eligible person having been unlawfully declared ineligible (see Loss of mandate through election petition). |
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| 7. Loss of mandate for incompatibilities/procedure for violation of rules of conduct: | ||||||||
| A Member of the National Council may lose his seat if he abuses the position as a Member of Parliament with the object of gain, or if the Committee for Incompatibility of the National Council proposes a motion for loss of mandate to the Constitutional Court because the Member of the National Council exercises a profession contrary to the decision of the Committee.
The Member concerned has to be informed about the facts put forward against him before an application is made to the Constitutional Court. He is entitled to rebuttal. The Constitutional Court decides upon an application by a popular representative body for a loss of seat by one of its Members for incompatibilities. |
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| 8. Loss of mandate through election petition: | ||||||||
| If a challenge to the elections to the popular representative bodies is accepted and thus entails a new election or by-election, the representative body's members concerned lose their seat until the ballot which has to be held within a hundred days after delivery of the Constitutional Court's decision.
The Members concerned shall only lose their seats at the time the letters of credentials of the Members elected in the repeated election are deposited with the Parliamentary Administration. |
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| 9. General procedure for loss of mandate: | ||||||||
| A challenge (application) can be based on the alleged illegality of the electoral procedure or on a reason provided by law for the loss of membership in a popular representative body. The Court shall accept an electoral challenge if the alleged illegality has been proved and influenced the election result. In the proceedings before the administrative authorities, the popular representative body has litigant status. | ||||||||
| 10. Pension scheme: | ||||||||
| There are three categories (see the new Bundesbezügegesetz):
- Those Members of the National Council who have held office for ten years on 31 July 1997 receive a so-called "pension of a politician" following the previous system. - If they have not held office for ten years by the mentioned date, they either change to the new system automatically or can decide to stay in the previous system; and thus receive a partial pension in relation to the already paid contributions. - Members of the National Council normally pay their pension contributions of 11,75 % of their salary, and thus receive the right to claim a pension according to their position (S. 12 Bundesbezügegesetz). |
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| 11. Assistants: | ||||||||
| MPs receive remuneration for the expenses for an assistant (ATS 29,725 14 times a year). | ||||||||
| 12. Travel and transport: | ||||||||
| Costs for travel expenses, lodging, stationery, etc., are reimbursed up to ATS 6,000 per month. If the journey from the residence to the Parliament takes more than 30 minutes, MPs receive an extra allowance of ATS 3,000 for every additional half hour. | ||||||||
| 13. Procedure for declaration of assets: | ||||||||
| The President of the National Council keeps an official list with the declaration of all Members containing those institutions from which they receive an income of more than ATS 14,000 a year. | ||||||||
| 14. Cases of flagrante delicto/procedure for suspension of the prosecution and/or detention of an MP: | ||||||||
| In the event of a Member's arrest in the act of committing a crime, the authority concerned must immediately notify the President of the National Council of the occurrence of the arrest. If the National Council or, when it is not in session, the Standing Committee entrusted with these matters so demands, the arrest must be suspended or the legal process as a whole be dropped. | ||||||||
| 15. Legal action manifestly not connected with the political activity of the MP: | ||||||||
| Legal action on the ground of a criminal offence may, without the National Council's consent, be taken against Members of the National Council only if it is manifestly not connected with the political activity of the Member in question. The authority concerned must however seek a decision by the National Council on the existence of such a connection if the Member in question or a third of the Members belonging to the Standing Committee entrusted with these matters so request. Every act of legal process shall in the case of such a demand immediately cease or be discontinued.
If the National Council determines that there is a connection between the alleged offence and the Member's political activity, it shall at the same time decide on whether or not it approves the prosecution of the Member in question (see Waiver of immunity). |
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| 16. Procedure for waiver of immunity: | ||||||||
| The consent of the National Council counts as granted if, within eight weeks, it has not given a ruling on an appropriate request by the authority competent for the institution of legal action; the President, with a view to the National Council's adoption of a resolution in good time, shall at the latest put such a request to the vote on the day but one before expiry of the deadline. The latter does not include the period when the National Council is not in session.
Parliamentary inviolability is lifted especially in cases of defamation and slander. |
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| 17. Procedure for disciplinary measures: | ||||||||
| If a Member digresses from a question before the National Council, the President may require him to speak to the point. After the third admonition, the President may withdraw a Member's right to speak.
If a person who is entitled to participate in the deliberations of the National Council violates the decorum or dignity of the National Council, uses abusive language or does not comply with the President's orders, the President shall call him to order. The President shall in such a case interrupt the speaker or withdraw his right to speak. If a Member has been called to order repeatedly at short intervals, the President may at the same time rule that he will not be recognised for the rest of the sitting. Persons entitled to participate in the deliberations of the National Council may request the President to require a Member to speak to the question or to call him to order. The President shall rule on this request without recourse to the National Council. If a person entitled to participate in the proceedings of the National Council has behaved in a way that would have made him liable to a call to order, the President may call him to order ex post facto at the end of the sitting or at the beginning of the next sitting, and any person entitled to participate in the deliberations may request the President to do so. If a speaker is interrupted by the President, he shall cease to speak immediately, failing which the President may withdraw his right to speak. The President may at any time, and especially in case of any disturbance or interference, suspend the sitting for a definite or indefinite period. |
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