Австрия

In 2024, a new subcategory was included in the electronic recording and data collection mechanism and the internal police decree, which provides a monitoring definition of hate crime and quality management standards: “Trans” for transgender victims who may have been targeted because of their gender identity.

Between October 2023 and October 2025, the MoI conducted a quantitative and qualitative study of police work with the Austrian Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) on police reported and unreported cases, as well as on the analysis of possible preventive measures against hate crime and hate speech, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). Within this framework, a 2024 survey was conducted on reported cases, particularly concerning women, people with disability, and, more broadly, tenants of urban social housing.

In order to strengthen networking and cooperation between the federal ministries and other initiatives, the Federal Government set up the national "No Hate Speech" committee. This committee was founded to implement the Council of Europe's "No Hate Speech" youth initiative and to foster the exchange of information and knowledge between representatives of the federal ministries and civil society organizations. The committee aims to raise awareness of online hate speech and address its causes and contexts to counteract the acceptance of hate speech and thus fight racism, sexism, and discrimination online.

On 11 September 2024, the Federal Ministry of Justice published the Court Assistance Regulation Ordinance (PbRegVO) in the Federal Law Gazette (Federal Law Gazette II No. 245/2024). This ordinance, which comes into force on 1 October 2025, tightens the qualification standards for court assistance, reorganizes the classification of victim groups according to their special protection needs (Section 66a (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure) and updates training courses for psychosocial court assistants. The training begins with a general five-day training course, followed by a specialized four-day training course, and ends with an additional two-day specialized training course. The additional training is specifically for the psychosocial court assistance of adult female and male victims of hate crimes. This module also includes criminal and media law measures to combat online hate speech.