ISSN 2037-6677

DPCE online 2016-1

Austrian Literature in Administrative Law 2014/15 – An Overview di Maria Bertel

1. – In the reporting period 2014-15 the introduction of administrative courts in 2014 still has a strong impact on the literature in administrative law. Moreover, as already in the past, the implementation and the effects of EU law were stimulating publishing activities in Austria. This is also reflected in the amount and variety of publications combining an analysis of Austrian and EU law. Beside the fields of general administrative law and administrative procedural law the emphasis of publishing activities concerned special administrative law. This report can only give a (very small and selective) summary on the literature of the reporting period. This is mainly due to two facts: On the one hand the field of administrative law covers a wide range of different topics; on the other hand, due to the federal structure of Austria, legislation is divided between the federal level and the Länder. Still the number of publishing houses, journals and series is rising: Beside the traditional publishing houses such as facultas.wuv, Manz, Springer, Linde Verlag and Verlag Östereich, especially the Jan Sramek Verlag and NWV (Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag) can be considered as the main publishing houses in the field of administrative law. www.dpce.it

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2. – Regarding textbooks publishing activities mainly resulted in new editions of already successful books: A compact but comprehensive introduction into general administrative law is given by A. Kahl/K. Weber, Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht, Wien, facultas.wuv, 5th ed., 2015, pp. 351. This edition includes the changes resulting from the introduction of administrative courts and the newest literature and jurisprudence in the field. The authors are not only providing students with basic definitions and the constitutional and European background of administrative law, but are also describing organisational aspects of administrative law, administrative action, the relation between citizens and state, administrative control and legal protection. The whole textbook is not only concerning the Austrian system of administration, but always includes the influence and impact of EU law. Other established textbooks available in new editions in the reporting period include

C.

Grabenwarter/M.

Holoubek,

Verfassungsrecht.

Allgemeines

Verwaltungsrecht, Wien, facultas.wuv, 2nd ed., 2014, pp. 457 and B. Wieser, Einführung in das Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2nd ed., 2014, pp. 257, S. Griller, Grundlagen und Methoden des Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrechts, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 3rd ed., 2014, pp. 201, and K. Weber/Th. Müller, Einführung in das öffentliche Recht und Europarecht, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2nd ed., 2014, pp. 102. Those textbooks are also reflecting the strong connection between (general) administrative law on the one hand and constitutional and European Union law on the other hand. Moreover three textbooks by A. Hauer, each covering part of the general administrative law can be recommended in this context: A. Hauer, Staats- und Verwaltungsorganisation, Linz, Pedell, 2014, pp. 151 deals with the organisational aspect of administration and A. Hauer, Staats- und Verwaltungshandeln, Linz, Pedell, 2014, pp. 215 encompasses administrative action. Finally, A. Hauer, Gerichtsbarkeit des öffentlichen Rechts, Linz, Pedell, 2014, pp. 356 deals amongst others with the system of administrative courts including the Administrative High Court. Due to the variety of materia, textbooks in the area of special administrative law can only encompass selected fields. A very rich selection is provided by S. Bachmann, G. Baumgartner, R. Feik, K. Giese, D. Jahnel, G. Lienbacher (eds.), Besonderes Verwaltungsrecht, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 10th ed., 2014, pp. 646, www.dpce.it

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encompassing fields of special administrative law which are part of the competence of the federal legislator (police law, law of associations, law on assemblies, aliens legislation, law of registration, legislation on citizenship, industrial law, water law, forest law, legislation on roads, waste management laws, environmental impact assessment, data protection laws, heritage protection law, procurement law). Additionally, subject matters the Land legislators are competent for (regional planning and development laws, construction law, real estate law, nature protection laws and event law) are included. This textbook is of peculiar interest as it combines all nine Land legislations and gives a comprehensive overview of the different Land legislations in the matters mentioned. Similarly, but in a more compact way and besides the federal legislation, with an emphasis on the Upper Austrian legislation, B. Leitl-Staudinger, Besonderes Verwaltungsrecht, 4th ed., Linz, Pedell, 2014, pp. 267 provides an overview of different materia of the Austrian special administrative law. Publishing activities in the field of administrative procedure is characterized by a relatively high amount of new editions of established textbooks on the one hand, and newly introduced textbooks on the other hand. Most of them were published in 2014 and are the result of the introduction of administrative courts. As the detailed code on procedure of the administrative courts was only published in the Official Gazette BGBl I 2013/33 most textbooks would be adapted only after this fundamental reform entered into force. New editions of textbooks include the very detailed textbooks of J. Hengstschläger/D.

Leeb,

Verwaltungsverfahrensrecht.

Verfahren

vor

den

Verwaltungsbehörden und Verwaltungsgerichten, 5th ed., Wien, facultas.wuv, 2014, pp. 658 and

D.

Kolonovits/G.

Muzak/K.

Stöger,

Grundriss

des

österreichischen

Verwaltungsverfahrensrechts: einschließlich der Verfahren vor den Verwaltungsgerichten und vor dem VwGH, 10th ed., Wien, Manz, 2014, pp. 820. Shorter textbooks are provided by G. Wielinger, Einführung in das österreichische Verwaltungsverfahrensrecht und in das Recht der österreichischen Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, Graz, Leykam, 2014, pp. 333 (new textbook), W. Fasching/W. Schwartz, Verwaltungsverfahrensrecht im Überblick, 5th ed., Wien,

facultas.wuv,

www.dpce.it

2014,

pp.

149

and

C.

Grabenwarter/M.

Fister,

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Verwaltungsverfahrensrecht und Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, 4th ed., Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2014, pp. 349. In the field of economic law the textbook C. Bezemek/Eberhard/C. Grabenwarter/M. Holoubek/G. Lienbacher/M. Potacs/E. Vranes, Europäisches und öffentliches Wirtschaftsrecht I, 10th ed., Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2014, pp. 303 was released in a new edition. The textbook provides the reader with a profound and systematic introduction into economic law: It starts with some legal basics (such as the question of what law is, of legal interpretation and of the system of economic law) and the organisational aspects of Austrian and EU Law. In the following, specific contents regarding economic law are presented, such as basic guarantees in economic law, European single market law, European competition law, access to industrial and business activities, production plants and law of construction, and administrative procedure and forms of national legal protection. This textbook is highly useful for students, as in the end of each chapter questions for testing the knowledge of the student are attached. In addition to textbooks, (new) books on how to draft pleadings in administrative (and more generally public) law were released, e.g. A. Hauer/M. Metzler, Schriftsatzmuster Öffentliches Recht 2014, Linz, Pedell, 2014, pp. 114 or G. Holzinger/M. Hiesel, Verfahren vor den Gerichtshöfen des öffentlichen Rechts, 4th ed., Wien, Manz, 2015, pp. 557. Both books are not only directed to students, but mainly to practitioners. A similar book is D. Altenburger/B. Kneihs, Schriftsätze an VwG, VfGH und VwGH, 5th ed., Wien, LexisNexis Verlag, pp. 184. Lastly, the third edition of the casebook Th. Müller/K. Wallnöfer/A. Wimmer (eds.), Fallbuch. Verwaltungs-, Verwaltungsstraf- und Verwaltungsverfahrensrecht, 3rd ed., Wien, Jan Sramek, 2015, pp. 378 has to be mentioned. It is directed to students and equipped with QR codes providing additional information on the cases.

3. – One of the most discussed topics in the period of report is still the reform regarding the introduction of administrative courts in Austria. Published in the Offical Gazette already in 2012 (BGBl I 51/2012) the reform entered into force 1st of January 2014. Therefore, in the reporting period we can observe that new editions, incorporating the new legislation are availale. Moreover, the first www.dpce.it

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publications in reaction to the entry into force of the reform and the first experiences with the newly established administrative courts can be found. The conference volume P. Bußjäger/A. Gamper/C. Ranacher/N. Sonntag (eds.), Die neuen Landesverwaltungsgerichte, Wien, new academic press, 2014, pp. 240 is a collection of different contributions to one of the first conferences on the topic and was published in the beginning of 2014. One of the most comprehensive books in the field of the newly established administrative courts is J. Fischer/K. Pabel/N. Raschauer (eds.), Handbuch der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, Wien, Jan Sramek, 2014, pp. 704. It includes articles on the history of the administrative courts (Th. Olechowski, Historische Entwicklung der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Österreich, p. 3 ff.) followed by a systematic macroperspective of the administrative courts in the Austrian (Th. Öhlinger, Die Verwaltungsgerichte im System der österreichischen Bundesverfassung, p. 37 ff.) and European (S. Storr, Die österreichische Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit im europäischen Kontext, p. 71 ff.) context and a micro-perspective of the system itself (W. Steiner, Systemüberblick zum Modell “9 + 2”, p. 105 ff.). Moreover, systematic aspects are also coverend by a chapter rather at the end of the book, G. Kofler/W. Summersberger, Das Bundesgericht für Finanzen im System der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, p. 623 ff., which shall be mentioned here because of the systematic context. Furthermore the organization, the requirements for judges and the competences of the different administrative courts is explained in three chapters (J. Fischer/M.

Zeinhofer,

Organisation,

Besetzung

und

Zuständigkeit

der

Landesverwaltungsgerichte, p. 147 ff., V. Madner, Organisation, Besetzung und Zuständigkeit des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts, p. 203 ff., D. Ennöckl, Organisation, Besetzung und Zuständigkeiten des VwGH, p. 239 ff.). M. Brandstetter/A. Lukas, Das Dienstrecht der Verwaltungsgerichte, p. 259 ff. explain the rules on employment of judges of the administrative courts. After this organizational part, the following chapters regard the legitimation of filing a complaint before the administrative courts (B. Leitl-Staudinger, Die Beschwerdelegitimation vor den Landesverwaltungsgerichten, dem Bundesverwaltungsgericht und dem VwGH, p. 317 ff.), the subject of the lawsuit (A. Hauer, Der Beschwerdegegenstand im Verfahren vor den Landesverwaltungsgerichten, dem Bundesverwaltungsgericht und dem www.dpce.it

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VwGH, p. 353 ff.), procedural law itself (K. Pabel, Das Verfahren vor den Verwaltungsgerichten, p. 379 ff., M. Mayrhofer/M. Metzler, Das Verfahrensrecht des VwGH, p. 453 ff.) and legal protection (A. Kahl, Rechtsschutz gegen Entscheidungen der Verwaltungsgerichte erster Instanz beim VwGH, p. 433 ff., E. Schulev-Steindl, Einstweiliger Rechtsschutz, p. 563 ff.). The relation between municipalities and administrative courts is analyzed by H. Eberhard, Verwaltungsgerichte und Gemeinden, p. 601 ff. Finally, N. Raschauer, Die Auflösung (fast) aller Sonderbehörden, pp. 653 ff. is dealing with the dissolution of a variety of special administrative instances that lost their fields of action with the introduction of administrative courts. Similarly, but in a more practitioners oriented way, the conference proceedings of the Österreichische Juristenkommission, Österreichische Juristenkommission (ed.), Justizstaat: Chance oder Risiko? Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit neu, Wien, Linde Verlag, 2014, pp. 387 are dealing with questions regarding the basic configuration of the administrative courts, but also provide articles analyzing the impact of the administrative courts on administration (e.g. B. Raschauer, Auswirkungen der Reform auf die Verwaltung, p. 233 ff.). The relation between municipalities and the reform is the topic of a publication of the Kommunalwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, KWG (ed.), Verwaltungsreform – Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, Wien, Manz Verlag, 2014, pp. 78. Apart from an overview on the organization of the administrative courts (H. Stolzlechner/C. Aufreiter/M. Lütte, Die Organisation der Verwaltungsgerichte, p. 1 ff.), the procedure of the administrative courts from the point of view of municipalities (D. Leeb, Das Verfahrensrecht der Verwaltungsgerichte aus gemeindespezifischer Sicht, p. 27 ff.), the impact of the reform on citizens and municipalities (H. Eberhard, Der Einfluss der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeitsreform auf Gemeinden und Bürger, p. 43 ff.) and the supervision of municipalities (A. Hauer, Die neue Funktion der Gemeindeaufsicht, p. 61 ff.). Of the literature published in connection with the newly established administrative courts only a very small selection can be presented in the following. A big part of publications is dealing with the new procedural law of administrative courts and also with changes in the procedural law of the www.dpce.it

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Administrative High Court. The contributions in the conference proceedings M. Holoubek/M. Lang (eds.), Das Verfahren vor dem Bundesverwaltungsgericht und dem Bundesfinanzgericht, Wien, Linde Verlag, 2014, pp. 360 and M. Holoubek/M. Lang (eds.), Das Verfahren vor dem Verwaltungsgerichtshof, Wien, Linde Verlag, 2015, pp. 385 deal with various aspects of the administrative procedure before the courts. Other publications discuss the role of the authority e.g. regarding its competence to issue so-called „Beschwerdevorentscheidungen“ (G. Schmidlechner, Die Beschwerdevorentscheidung im verwaltungsgerichtlichen Vorverfahren, Wien, Jan Sramek, 2015, pp. 131) or the role of administration in proceedings of administrative courts (e.g. T. Ehrke-Rabel/F. Merli [eds.], Die belangte Behörde in der neuen Finanz- und Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2014, pp. 232; with contributions of

R.

Jantscher,

Das

verwaltungsgerichtliche

Verfahren

zwischen

Partei-

und

Inquisitionsprozess, p. 1 ff., E. Maier, Die belangte Behörde als Partei im Verfahren vor den allgemeinen Verwaltungsgerichten, p. 17 ff, F. Raab, Die Rolle der belangten Abgabenbehörde im finanzgerichtlichen Verfahren, p. 39, B. Gunacker-Slawitsch, Einigung im finanzgerichtlichen Verfahren?, p. 61 ff, M. Scharfe, Klaglosstellung durch die belangte Behörde im Verfahren vor den allgemeinen Verwaltungsgerichten, p. 117 ff, T. Ehrke-Rabel, Das Instrument der Klaglosstellung im Abgabenverfahren, p. 147 ff., F. Merli/T. Ehrke-Rabel, Die belangte Behörde in der Verwaltungs- und Finanzgerichtsbarkeit – Vergleich und Bewertung, p. 167 ff). The ZfV, Zeitschrift für Verwaltung, is one of the most important journals in the field of administrative law. The last two years were of course characterized by questions regarding the introduction of the administrative courts. Amongst others, the topic of coming into force of decisions of authorities and its implications were discussed in literature as large; C. Ranacher, Amtswegige Aufhebung und Abänderung von Bescheiden neben und nach dem verwaltungsgerichtlichen Beschwerdeverfahren, ZfV 2015/3, p. 15 ff, e.g., discussed the possibility of revocations of such decisions ex officio. Of high interest, especially for practitioners, is the newly introduced – periodically included - review on decisions of the different administrative courts by H. Eberhard/E. Pürgy/C. Ranacher (e.g. Rechtsprechungsbericht: Landesverwaltungsgerichte, Bundesverwaltungsgericht und Verwaltungsgerichtshof. Administrativrechtlich relevante Judikatur,

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ZfV 2015/52, p. 395 ff) which allows to quickly get an overview of the most important decisions and trends in administrative jurisprudence. With (special) regard to the decisions of the administrative courts, the newly established journal Zeitschrift der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit has to be mentioned. This journal is dedicated exlusively to topics linked to the administrative courts. Apart from scientific articles, it provides an exhaustive overview of the administrative courts jurisprudence focusing especially on a systematic and well-structured presentation of the cases.

4. – The field of environmental law is a very dynamic field of law not least due to the strong influence of European Union and International Law. This is also reflected in the amount and variety of publications in environmental law. The most important Austrian Journal in this field is Recht der Umwelt (RdU), but articles on environmental law can be found of course in any Austrian journal. An important topic in the field of environmental law has been the question to which extent the public can participate in the decision on projects. P. Bußjäger/S. Lampert, Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung im UVP-Feststellungsverfahren, ecolex 2015, p. 910 ff write on the possibilites of participation of the public within the framework of environmental impact assessments. W. Bergthaler, Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung bei Großprojekten - aktuelle Herausforderungen im Lichte der Aarhus-Konvention, RdU-U&T 2015/20, p. 86 ff. is focusing on the participation of the public in large projects and the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. B. Bachl, Die (betroffene) Öffentlichkeit im UVP-Verfahren, Wien, Manz Verlag, 2015, pp. 490, provides a comprehensive analysis of the public concerned within the framwork of an environmental impact assessment and addresses questions such as who pertains to the public concerned, how this group gets to know about an environmental impact assessment and what possibilities of participation exist during and after an environmental impact assessment. Questions arising in connection with the so-called state-of-the-art and environmental law are answered by A. Forster, Der „Stand der Technik“ als Instrument des Umweltrechts, Wien, Jan Sramek, 2015, pp. 364, who also puts an emphasis on the role of the public. Finally, T. Weber, Umweltschutz durch Rechtsschutz? Internationale und www.dpce.it

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Europäische Vorgaben für den Rechtsschutz im Umweltrecht und ihre Umsetzung in Österreich analysiert am Beispiel des Wasserrechts, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2015, pp. 281 is also dealing with the role of the public, but putting more emphasis on legal protection. Again, European and International Law (especially the Aarhus Convention) and its influence on the national law are incorporated. This text also shows the second big topic in the literature on environmental law in the reporting period. This is the question on mechanisms of legal protection in the field of environmental law. The publication of the Institut für Umweltrecht, (eds.), Jahrbuch des österreichischen und europäischen Umweltrechts 2015, Wien, Manz Verlag, 2015, pp. 219 unites a variety of articles on that same topic.

5. – Another example for a topic of special administrative law characterized by a big amount of publications is procurement law. Specialized Austrian journals in this field are e.g. the journals Zeitschrift für Vergaberecht und Bauvertragsrecht, RPA Zeitschrift für Vergaberecht and VIL Vergabe Infoletter. In 2014 the well-established handbook M. Holoubek/C. Fuchs/K. Holzinger, Vergaberecht, 4th ed., Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2014, pp. 267 was released in an edition adapted to the changes necessary due to the introduction of the administrative courts and implementing a reform of the procurement law entering into force 1st of January 2014. Other handbooks published in the reporting period are M. Sachs/K. Trettnak-Hahnl, Das neue Bundesvergaberecht. Leitfaden für Länder und Gemeinden, 4th ed., Wien, Manz Verlag, 2014, pp. 122 and A. Kahl/S. Rosenkranz, Vergaberecht, 2nd ed., Wien, Jan Sramek Verlag, 2014, pp. 205. An introduction to procurement law directed mainly to students is provided by K. Gruber-Hirschbrich, Vergaberecht, 5th ed., LexisNexis, Wien, 2014, pp. 204. With K. Gruber-Hirschbrich, Vergaberecht graphisch dargestellt, 4h ed., LexisNexis, Wien, 2014, the same author provides graphic overviews on complex situations in procurement law, addressed especially to students.

6. – In the field of health law the journal Recht der Medizin (RdM) can be considered the leading journal in Austria. In the reporting period e.g. T. Steiner, Rückblick zur Einführung der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit neu in Angelegenheiten des www.dpce.it

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Erstattungskodex, RdM-Ö&G 2015/4, p. 6 ff., M. Kind/K. Retter, Psychologische Beratung durch Lebens- und Sozialberater. Gewerbe der Lebens- und Sozialberatung und Psychologenberuf, RdM 2015/69, p. 96 ff. and K. Stöger, Föderalistischer Wildwuchs im medizinrechtlichen “Normendschungel”, RdM 2014/197, p. 299 ff. might be of interest in the context of administrative law.

7. – The (maybe) most established Austrian journal regarding university law is the zfhr, Zeitschrift für Hochschulrecht. One emphasis of the journal in this reporting period were questions of cross-border teaching and studying in the context of University law. Contributions in that context encompass (amongst others) A. Gamper,

Grundlagen

grenzüberschreitender

interuniversitärer

Zusammenarbeit

nach

österreichischem Universitätsrecht, zfhr 2015, p. 2 ff., E. Happacher, Voraussetzungen und Schranken grenzüberschreitender Lehre nach italienischem Studienrecht, zfhr 2015, p. 77 ff., and I. Rath-Kathrein, Voraussetzungen und Schranken grenzüberschreitender Studien nach österreichischem Studienrecht, zfhr 2015, p. 23 ff. Moreover, the monograph on Austrian University Law of M. Novak, M. Novak, Universitätsrecht, 2nd ed., Wien-Graz, NWV, 2015, pp. 173 is available in its second edition.

8. – A very broad field of administrative law is municipal law. A very important topic of municipal law in 2014/2015 was the restructuring of municipalities in Styria. This is also reflected in the publication activities. RFG, Recht und Finanzen für Gemeinden, a journal exclusively dealing with questions of municipal law and topics affecting municipalities, included several contributions on the topic, e.g. M. Schlögl, Die Anfechtung des Stmk Gemeindestrukturreformgesetzes: eine formale Betrachtung, RFG 2015/35, p. 166 ff and M. Bertel, Gemeindezusammenlegungen und Sachlichkeitsgebot, RFG 2015/6, p. 22 ff. Additionally, the contribution of H. Stolzlechner/Th. Müller, Überlegungen zur Rechtsprechung des VfGH zur Stmk Gemeindestrukturreform 2014, in Baumgartner (ed.), Öffentliches Recht. Jahrbuch 2015, Wien-Graz, NWV, 2015, p. 147 ff. can be recommended in that context.

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9. – An example for a matter the Land legislators are competent for is construction law. Due to nine different laws, literature is diverse. It is striking that the biggest part of the literature concerns the eastern Länder of Austria, and in particular Lower Austria and Vienna, such as G. Kienastberger/A. Stellner-Bichler, NÖ Baurecht, Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2015, pp. 1036, W. Pallitsch/Ph. Pallitsch/W. Kleewein, Niederösterreichisches Baurecht. Kommentar, 9th ed., Wien, Linde Verlag, 2015, pp. 1816, L. Riegler/W. Koizar, NÖ BauO. NÖ Bauordnung 2014 NÖ Raumordnungsgesetz 2014, 3rd ed., Wien, Manz Verlag, 2015, pp. 740, L. Riegler/W. Steinbauer, Bauordnung für Wien. Praxiskommentar, 3rd ed., Linz, Pedell, 2015, pp. 596 and W. Kirchmayer, Wiener Baurecht. Kommentar, 4th ed., Wien, Verlag Österreich, 2014, pp. 1242. This is most probably not only due to reforms in the reporting period, but is also explained by the size and importance of this Länder. Recommendations for commentaries on the construction laws of Tyrol and Carinthia include D. Wolf, Tiroler Baurecht. Mit Erläuterungen nach dem Stande 1.10.2014, 4th ed., Wien, Linde Verlag, 2014, pp. 344 and W. Pallitsch/Ph. Pallitsch/W. Kleewein, Kärntner Baurecht. Kommentar, 5th ed., Wien, Linde Verlag, 2014, pp. 1512.

10. – Information and data protection law was – not least due to the dynamic jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice – again a very discussed topic. Therefore, publishing activities are not only reflected in specialized journals such as ZIIR, Zeitschrift für Informationsrecht and articles, but also in other (broader oriented) journals.

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