Employer representation

The political and economic interests of businesses, self-employed persons, certain groups of professions and industry vis-à-vis employees, the government and the political parties are represented by:

• the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber - WKO (compulsory membership by law);
• other chambers (established under public law to represent the interests of professional groups, compulsory membership by law), e.g. the Chamber of Pharmacists, the Chamber of Civil Engineers, Architects and Engineers;
• the Federation of Austrian Industries and other associations and organisations (voluntary membership).

Chambers of commerce

The chambers of commerce are comprised of the WKO and the nine regional chambers. Each of these is divided into seven sectors:

• Crafts and trade
• Industry
• Wholesale and retail trade
• Banking and insurance
• Transport
• Tourism and leisure
• Information and consulting

The WKO and the regional chambers are responsible for representing the interests of all persons entitled to independently run an undertaking in one of these sectors or to provide other services.

• Membership is compulsory, as laid down by law.
• The class 1 contribution to the chambers of commerce is essentially based on VAT. It is calculated by each of the members of the chamber themselves, and is payable to the tax office by the 15th day of the second calendar month following the end of each quarter. In addition, there is a class 2 contribution and a basic contribution.

The main tasks performed by the chambers of commerce include:

• negotiating collective agreements;
• ensuring participation under the Economic and Social Partnership;
• providing advice and legal services;
• offering legal representation before the Labour and Social Court.

You can obtain further information on the websites of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and its provincial organisations.

Further links

• Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (→ WKO)
• Brochure about the Kammerumlage contribution (→ WKO)^{German text}
• Federation of Austrian Industries (→ IV)
• Vienna Labour and Social Court (→ BMJ)^{German text}