Austria/ 5.3 Sector specific legislation  

5.3.3 Cultural heritage

The Federal Museums Act of 1998 grants full legal capacity to museums and has transformed them into scientific institutions under public law – an important step towards more autonomy. The federal museums are still under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture and receive annual subsidies from the Ministry. The rest of the budget must be financed by the museums themselves. 2008 the Minister for Education, Arts and Culture launched a museum-policy initiative, which, in cooperation with international and national experts, museum directors and representatives of the ministry, defined museum-policy objectives and developed a multi-year action plan as well as new framework target agreements for individual museums (see also chapter 4.2.2).

Under an amendment to the Federal Arts Promotion Act in 2000, selected federal, provincial and municipal museums can receive an annual supplement in order to acquire art from the holdings of Austrian galleries. In addition, support is granted (since 2002) for the participation of Austrian artists (galleries) at international arts festivals.

Under an amendment to the Monument Preservation Act in 1999, the federal monument office (under the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture) can issue a decree provisionally placing monuments owned by public bodies under monument preservation. These monuments are to be registered in a list of monuments (http://www.bda.at/downloads/2032/Denkmalverzeichnis). Further, in the framework of the amendment, the export ban on cultural goods has been brought in line with the corresponding EU guideline.

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