Upper Austria’s wolf ordinance becomes a case for the Constitutional Court

An environmental organization has filed a complaint with the Upper Austrian Provincial Administrative Court (LVwG), in which the regulation, which provides for temporary exceptions to the closed season for wolves, is “challenged as unlawful in its entirety,” according to the LVwG in a press release on Wednesday . The environmental organization requested that the LVwG “decide the matter itself”, alternatively “refer the matter back to the authority for a new decision”. The LVwG came to the conclusion that the complaint had to be forwarded to the Constitutional Court (VfGH) because of its jurisdiction, because the complaint is directed directly against the ordinance – and not against a decision – and the norm review monopoly for ordinances due to the Federal Constitutional Law lies with the Constitutional Court. Administrative courts are not responsible for this.

Essentially, the complaint alleges that, among other things, the wolf enjoys a high level of protection throughout Europe and that Austria has committed itself to a favorable conservation status through the Bern Convention, the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive (FFH-RL) and the Washington Species Protection Agreement restore and preserve. According to the environmental organization, the conditions for an exception to this protection do not exist.