Rakouský federalismus na příkladu územního plánování
Austrian Federalism om Example of Spatial Planning

Summary/Abstract: Division of competences between the federation and the territorial units set out in the Constitution builds a necessary basis of every federal state and significantly influences the functioning of public administration. The Austrian division of competences between federation and federal lands (Bundesländer) was set up in the federal constitution already in 1925 and since that time it has been gradually elaborated and amended by the case-law of the Constitutional Court. Basically the Federal Constitution differentiates four categories of competence division depending on the area of competence: in areas listed in the Art. 10 of the Federal Constitution the Federation exercises both the legislative and executive power, in the areas listed in the Art. 11 the Federation legislates and the federal lands exercise the executive power, in the areas listed in the Art. 12 the Federation is responsible for adopting the general legislation and the federal lands adopt the implementing legislation while exercising the executive power at the same time. In other areas not listed in the Art. 10-12 of the Federal Constitution the federal lands exercise both the legislative and executive power. Whenever the problem arises who is competent in a particular area not listed in the above mentioned provisions the Constitutional Court rules and bases its decision on several principles and doctrines. The area of spatial planning is not explicitly listed in the constitutional provisions concerning the division of competences therefore it is considered to fall under the competence of federal land. However the case law of Constitutional Court indicates that many planning aspects are included within the areas explicitly listed in the Art. 10-12. From the constitutional point of view the spatial planning does not build a separate area of competence but rather forms a cross-sectional field where the Federation, the federal lands as well as the municipalities play their part. This article analyses the functioning of the Austrian spatial planning in the light of rather complicated system of competence division and drives conclusion that even if the system of competence authorities and their planning activities is complicated, the distribution of power in the area of spatial planning proves to be effective because it requires the coordination and cooperation which especially in this area is more than necessary.

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