Image: VOLKER Weihbold
After the final subcommittee meeting in the state parliament on Wednesday, that will probably be finally fixed. The amendment to the Youth Protection Act, which is likely to be passed in the plenary session in autumn, also includes a ban on tobacco-free nicotine pouches and smokable CBD products for under-18s. The law will continue to have an expiration date.
Harmonization rejected by majority
Youth protection councilor Michael Lindner (SPÖ) wanted to adjust the going-out times to those of the other federal states, and the Greens and Neos would have been in favor of it. The FPÖ was always strictly against it, and the ÖVP also didn’t want to go out longer. In the subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, harmonization was therefore rejected by a majority. This means that Upper Austria will continue to deviate. While in all other federal states young people up to the age of 14 are allowed to go out until 11 p.m. and between the ages of 14 and 16 until 1 a.m., in Upper Austria they have to be home one hour earlier.
“Irresponsible and sending the wrong signal”
“Our young people would have deserved an adjustment in their going-out times, because they are no more irresponsible than in other federal states and Upper Austria is no more dangerous than other federal states”, SPÖ youth spokesman Mario Haas was disappointed. The parents would always have the last word anyway. For FPÖ youth spokeswoman Stefanie Hofmann, on the other hand, it is clear: “It would be irresponsible and send the wrong signal to extend the curfew for school-age children and minors without a supervisor to 11 p.m. The current regulation is just right for a functioning protection of minors in Upper Austria.”
A law with an expiry date
In a press release, the ÖVP did not even address the question of going out, but welcomed the fact that the so-called sunset clause remains, i.e. the law has an expiry date and the state parliament has to deal with it again in five years. The framework conditions are constantly changing, for example 20 years ago there were neither nicotine pouches and vapes nor social media, said ÖVP club boss Christian Dörfel and youth spokeswoman Astrid Zehetmair.
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Source: Nachrichten
