Registration of a data altruism organisation in the Austrian register

General information

Data altruism organisations are not-for-profit entities that enable individuals and companies to provide their data voluntarily and free of charge for objectives of general interest, for example for research, healthcare or environmental protection purposes.

The following requirements apply for registration in the Austrian public register of recognised data altruism organisations:

To qualify for registration, an entity must:

• carry out data altruism activities;
• be a legal person established pursuant to Austrian law to meet objectives of general interest as provided for in Austrian law, where applicable;
• operate on a not-for-profit basis and be legally independent from any entity that operates on a for-profit basis;
• carry out its data altruism activities through a structure that is functionally separate from its other activities;
• comply with the rulebook referred to in article 22 paragraph 1 of the Data Governance Act, at the latest 18 months after the date of entry into force of the delegated acts referred to in that paragraph.

Requirements

• ID Austria or another European eID
• Main establishment or legal representative in Austria
• Registering with the Austrian Business Service Portal (Unternehmensserviceportal – USP): Detailed information on registering with the Austrian Business Service Portal is also available at USP.gv.at.

Main establishment outside the EU

If an entity carries out data altruism activities in Austria but does not have an establishment in the EU, the data altruism organisation can be registered through a legal representative in Austria that is itself registered with the USP (article 19 paragraph 3 of the Data Governance Act).

To ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, the legal representative must be mandated by the data altruism organisation to be addressed in addition to or instead of it by the competent authority or data subjects and data holders.

The legal representative must cooperate with and comprehensively demonstrate to the competent authority, upon request, the actions taken and provisions put in place by the entity to ensure compliance with the legal regulations (article 19 paragraph 3 of the Data Governance Act).

Competent authority

Competent authority for data intermediation services and data altruism organisations

Bundeskanzleramt Österreich (Federal Chancellery)
Abteilung VII/1

Postal address:
Ballhausplatz 2
1010 Vienna

Email: data-policy(at)bka.gv.at

Procedure

1. Authorised persons at the data altruism organisation register with the Austrian Business Service Portal (USP) using ID Austria or another European eID (this step is only necessary if the entity has not already registered with the USP).
2. The data altruism organisation submits an application for registration in the national register to the competent authority using the following online form.
3. Within 12 weeks, once the relevant checks have been completed, the competent authority enters the notification into the Austrian register and passes the information on to the European Commission for entry into the European register.
4. The entity starts carrying out the activity following successful registration, displaying a common EU logo.

The following information is required for registration:

• the name of the entity
• the data altruism organisation’s legal status, legal form and, where applicable, its statutes
• information on the ownership structure and any secondary branches
• information on the entity’s sources of income
• the address of the main establishment and/or the legal representative, and of any secondary branches in other EU Member States
• a public website with complete and up-to-date information, in particular on the entity and its activities
• contact persons and contact details
• the objectives of general interest that the entity intends to promote when collecting data
• a description of the nature of the data that the entity intends to control or process, and, in the case of personal data, an indication of the categories of personal data
• any other documents

Estimated duration of the online registration process

Online registration is a one-stage process that generally takes around 15 minutes to complete. As the process is linked to the USP, the online form includes some fields that are populated automatically. If you prepare thoroughly using the information provided above, and ensure that you have text descriptions to hand, the amount of time required to complete the process can be significantly reduced. The system will confirm that the registration process has been concluded successfully upon completion.

The competent authority will check the application for registration immediately upon receipt. The time taken to process the application depends on the individual case, and is usually shorter if complete information regarding the provider has been provided during the registration process.

Confirmation

Following completion of the application for registration, automated confirmation of receipt is provided to confirm that the application has been successfully submitted.

Registration

Once all the information required has been provided and the competent authority has assessed the application for registration and concluded that all requirements are met in accordance with the EU Data Governance Act and the Austrian Datenzugangsgesetz (DZG), the competent authority enters the entity into the Austrian public register of recognised data altruism organisations within 12 weeks following receipt of the application. The registration is valid in all EU Member States. The competent authority notifies the European Commission of every registration. The European Commission includes this registration in the public EU register of recognised data altruism organisations (article 19 paragraph 5 of the Data Governance Act).

Area of activity

Once confirmed by the competent authority, the data altruism organisation is deemed to be recognised and may carry out the corresponding activities using the common EU logo, in accordance with articles 20 and 21 of the Data Governance Act in particular.

Label and common logo

If an entity is included in the Austrian public register of recognised data altruism organisations, the entity must use the label "Data altruism organisation recognised in the Union" and a common logo in its written and spoken communication.

Costs and fees

There is no cost to register with the competent authority.

Further information

Further links

• EU register of recognised data altruism organisations (→ EU)
• European strategy for data (→ EU)
• Bundeskanzleramt (→ BKA)^{German text}
• → digitalaustria.gv.at^{German text}
• → oesterreich.gv.at

Legal bases

• Regulation (EU) 2022/868 on European data governance and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (Data Governance Act)
• Datenzugangsgesetz (DZG)
• Public register of recognised data altruism organisations (including common logo):
  • Datenzugangsgesetz (DZG)
  • Article 17 of the Data Governance Act
• General requirements for registration: article 18 of the Data Governance Act
• Registration of recognised data altruism organisations: article 19 of the Data Governance Act
• Transparency requirements: article 20 of the Data Governance Act
• Specific requirements to safeguard rights and interests of data subjects and data holders with regard to their data: article 21 of the Data Governance Act
• Monitoring of compliance: article 24 of the Data Governance Act
• European data altruism consent form: article 25 of the Data Governance Act

Link to form

The following online form must be used for registration:

Data governance – Registration, amendment of existing information and termination of activity by data intermediation services (DVD) and data altruism organisations (DAO)

Means of redress or appeal

In accordance with article 28 of the Data Governance Act, notwithstanding any administrative or other non-judicial remedies, any affected natural and legal persons have the right to an effective judicial remedy with regard to legally binding decisions taken by the competent authority. In particular, under article 130 paragraph 1 (1) of the Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz (B‑VG), a complaint may be lodged against any decision issued by the competent authority.