Second Report by the Republic of Austria pursuant to Art. 15, paragraph 1 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages Status: December 2007 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................8 1. General Situation and Framework Conditions................................................... 9 2. The Minority Languages Spoken in Austria:.....................................................11 2.1. The Croatian National Minority:...........................................................................12 2.2. The Slovene National Minority: ...........................................................................13 2.3. The Hungarian National Minority:........................................................................17 2.4. The Czech National Minority ...............................................................................18 2.5. The Slovak National Minority:..............................................................................20 2.6. The National Minority of the Roma:.....................................................................21 3. The Numerical Strength of the National Minorities: .........................................22 I. PART ONE:.........................................................................................25 I.1. The Legal Basis: ................................................................................................25 I.1.1. Constitutional Provisions: ............................................................................ 25 Article 8 (1) and (2) of the Federal Constitution Act: ..................................................25 Articles 66 to 68 of the State Treaty of Saint-German-en-Laye .................................25 Article 7 of the State Treaty for the Restoration of an Independent and Democratic Austria (State Treaty of Vienna).................................................................................26 Article I of the Minorities’ School Act for Carinthia .....................................................26 § 1 of the Minorities’ School Act for Burgenland ........................................................27 Article 14 of the ECHR ...............................................................................................27 I.1.2. Simple-Law Provisions and Ordinances ..................................................... 27 National Minorities Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 396/1976 in the version of Federal Law Gazette I No. 35/2002:........................................................................................28 Ordinances issued on the basis of the National Minorities Act: .................................28 I.1.3. Case Law ........................................................................................................ 30 I.2. Statutory Organizations of the National Minorities: .......................................33 I.3. Measures in accordance with Article 6 of the Charter: ..................................33 I.4. Measures pursuant to the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 19 January 2005:.......................................................34 II. PART TWO: OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES PURSUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 2, PARAGRAPH 1............................38 II.1. Recognition of Regional or Minority Languages (Article 7, paragraph 1(a)): ..................................................................................................................................38 II.2. Respect of the Geographical Area (Article 7, paragraph 1 (b)): ...................38 II.3. Resolute Action to Promote Regional and Minority Languages (Article 7, paragraph 1 (c)): ......................................................................................................38 II.3.1. Development of Funding by the Federal Chancellery for the Promotion of the National Minorities:.......................................................................................... 39 II.3.2. Criteria for the Distribution of Promotional Funding................................. 41 II.3.3. Statutory Basis for Providing the National Minorities with Promotional Funding ................................................................................................................... 43 II.3.4. Process of Awarding Promotional Funding ............................................... 44 - 2 - II.3.5. Guidelines for Special Promotional Grants................................................ 46 II.4. Facilitating the Use of the Minority Languages (Article 7, paragraph 1 (d)): ..................................................................................................................................46 II.5. Maintenance and Development of Links (Article 7, paragraph 1 (e)):..........47 II.6. Teaching and Learning of Minority Languages (Article 7, paragraphs 1 (f), 1 (g), 1 (h)):..................................................................................................................47 II.7. Transnational Exchanges (Article 7, paragraph 1(i)):....................................49 II.8. Elimination of Discrimination (Article 7, paragraph 2):.................................49 Article 7 (1) of the Federal Constitution Act................................................................49 Article 14 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms......49 Article 1 (1) of the Constitutional Law Implementing the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination .................................................49 Articles 66 and 67 of the State Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye..................................50 Article 7, item 1 (State Treaty of Vienna) ...................................................................50 Anti-Discrimination Directives and EU Equal Treatment Directive .............................50 Case Law of the Constitutional Court:........................................................................53 Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution Act:...............................................................53 Article 8 (2) of the Federal Constitution Act reads as follows:....................................53 Code of Ethics for Austria’s Press..............................................................................54 Article IX (1), item 3, of the Introductory Law to the Laws on Administrative Procedure ...................................................................................................................................54 II.9. Promotion of the Understanding between all Linguistic Groups of the Country (Article 7, paragraph 3):............................................................................54 II.10. Taking into Consideration the Needs Expressed and the Establishment of Specific Bodies (Article 7, paragraph 4):...............................................................54 II.11. Non-Territorial Languages (Article 7, paragraph 5):....................................55 III. PART THREE: ..................................................................................56 III.1. Burgenland-Croatian in the Burgenland-Croatian Language Region of the Federal Province of Burgenland: ...........................................................................56 Article 8 (Education):..................................................................................................56 Paragraph 1................................................................................................................56 Paragraph 2:...............................................................................................................65 Article 9 (Judicial Authorities):....................................................................................65 Paragraph 1:...............................................................................................................65 Paragraph 2:...............................................................................................................68 Article 10 (Administrative authorities and public services): ........................................69 Paragraph 1................................................................................................................69 Paragraph 2................................................................................................................70 Paragraph 4................................................................................................................70 Paragraph 5:...............................................................................................................71 Article 11 (Media): ......................................................................................................72 Paragraph 1................................................................................................................72 Paragraph 2:...............................................................................................................77 Article 12 (Cultural activities and facilities):................................................................77 Paragraph 1:...............................................................................................................77 Paragraph 2:...............................................................................................................83 Paragraph 3:...............................................................................................................84 - 3 - Article