Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Wirtschaftskammer Österreich or WKÖ) coordinates and represents the interests of the Austrian business community on a national and international level. Within the Austrian Economic Chambers’ system it functions as the national umbrella organization for the 9 regional Chambers (one in each of Austria's federal regions) and 110 trade associations for different industries. Regional Chambers and associations have local offices to provide services in close proximity to members.
Membership is compulsory and includes all Austrian companies in operation. The resultant membership, some 300,000 businesses draws from a diverse selection of business areas such as trade and craft, commerce, industry, transportation, tourism, services industries, finance and insurance.
Main tasks and activities:
Representation of membership interests at all levels of government. By law governments are obliged to consult with Chambers on legislative projects and important regulation. In many laws a provision is made to involve Chambers in decision-making and administrative procedures.
Information and advisory service to members: Typical issues include taxation, labour law, vocational training, industry-specific legislation, industry-wide advertising and market research.
Collective bargaining with unions: Trade associations engage in negotiations with their respective sectoral countrywide union.
Economic Promotion and Development as well as training and consulting are mainly organised by a specialised department in each region (WIFI, Wirtschaftsfoerderungsinstitut).
Austrian Trade - Business Support and Promotion of International Trade is provided by a specialised department at a national level (AWO - AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT ÖSTERREICH), 70 field offices around the world and a network of specialised experts within all regional Chambers.
Public law (Wirtschaftskammergesetz) provides a legal foundation for the Austrian Federal Economic Chambers) supplying the legal framework for all Chambers, their co-operation, mandatory membership, and rules for setting membership fees. Although established by public law the Federal Economic Chambers are exclusively business driven.
Every 5 years entrepreneurs elect officers and representatives for the trade associations and the Chamber (amounting to a total of more than 10.000 officers)from their own ranks. In these elections free associations of entrepreneurs field their candidates to compete for the leadership of the Chambers and individual trade associations. Some of these entrepreneurial associations are affiliated with political parties while others are independent platforms.
The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber is financially self-sufficient with around 85% of expenditure covered by member contributions and a further 15% by revenues from marketable sales. This factor, combined with organisational management through democratic self-government, makes us fully independent from public authorities.
Austrian Trade
In Austria the promotion of foreign trade constitutes, by law, one major part of the activities of the Economic Chamber. The immense importance of export trade to Austria is reflected in the extraordinary range of services provided by Austrian Trade (AWO - AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT ÖSTERREICH) with an international network of 70 Austrian Trade Offices worldwide.
Furthermore, Austrian Trade offers Austrian businesses a wide range of complementary services including: specialist services related to Austria's EU membership, information and advice. The primary aim is to help create and sustain successful sales and promotion of Austrian goods and services in international markets.
The Austrian Trade is also responsible for the organization of trade missions and official participation in international trade fairs and provides advice and assistance to in-bound buying missions.
The heads of each Austrian Trade Offices, the Austrian Trade Commissioners or Delegates, help Austrian companies to find new contacts and develop existing business. Trade Commissioners put buyers in contact with potential agents, importers and co-operation partners. They also obtain credit ratings and assist with trade name and patent registration.