As an expert in the field of administrative criminal law, I deal with all its facets in detail. In the past, I have received several inquiries from desperate clients who have taken action against penalty orders or sentencing decisions in administrative criminal proceedings without legal representation:
Why were these clients desperate?
Because some proceedings before the Provincial Administrative Court of Lower Austria were discontinued on the grounds that the appeal previously lodged against the contested decision of the district authority was “not effective”. Specifically, this concerned the use of the contact address strafen.bhXY@noel.gv.at – stated at the top right of the respective decisions of the district administrative authorities – instead of the authority’s e-mail address post.bhXY@noel.gv.at (allegedly) published on the Internet.
Is this legally permissible?
On 21.02.2024, the Administrative Court ruled in Ra 2023/05/0204:
If, at the time the appeal was lodged, there was no organizational restriction within the meaning of Section 13 (2) AVG regarding an e-mail address to be used exclusively in electronic correspondence with the authority concerned (according to its clear wording, the present announcement does not contain any restrictive wording with regard to the e-mail address stated therein, for example in such a way that submissions sent to an e-mail address other than the one stated should be deemed not to have been submitted with legal effect), the appellant could also address his appeal with legal effect to the e-mail address stated on the penalty notice (“Straferkenntnis”).
The Administrative Court has not yet ruled on how to proceed in the event of an objection to a penalty order (“Strafverfügung”) lodged in this way. I have appealed to the Administrative Court in such a case by means of an extraordinary appeal – the decision is pending.
I will keep you up to date on this!
UPDATE:
The Administrative Court has now ruled: The objection to the penalty order could also be sent to the e-mail address stated on the penalty order with legal effect. The decision of the Administrative Court of Lower Austria was annulled due to the illegality of its content (Ra 2024/02/0108, https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokument.wxe?Abfrage=Vwgh&Entscheidungsart=Undefined&Sammlungsnummer=&Index=&SucheNachRechtssatz=True&SucheNachText=True&GZ=Ra+2024%2f02%2f0108&VonDatum=&BisDatum=04.07.2024&Norm=&ImRisSeitVonDatum=&ImRisSeitBisDatum=&ImRisSeit=Undefined&ResultPageSize=100&Suchworte=&Position=1&SkipToDocumentPage=true&ResultFunctionToken=5d430e3f-f7d7-4832-8891-be904c099a5c&Dokumentnummer=JWT_2024020108_20240606L00).
Do you need help in administrative criminal matters? Please feel free to contact me!
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