New rules on access to sensitive personal data in Austria's transparency database (2026)
Austria's Finance Ministry has issued a new regulation governing who can access sensitive personal data categories (such as health, ethnicity, or biometric information) in the transparency database. The regulation links certain benefit applications that require knowledge of sensitive-data benefits, effective July 2026.
What changed
A new regulation (Transparenzdatenbank-Abfrageverordnung 2026) replaces the previous 2025 version. It sets out which benefit offerings are marked as containing "sensitive data" under EU privacy law (GDPR Article 9) and which benefit applications require access to that sensitive data in order to be processed. Two lists (Annex 1 and Annex 2) specify the affected benefits.
Who is affected
Government agencies, benefit administrators, and public authorities that process applications for social benefits, health support, or other state services will need to follow these access rules. Citizens applying for benefits may be affected if their application requires checking prior receipt of a sensitive-data benefit.
What to look out for
The regulation links benefit applications: if granting, stopping, or reclaiming a benefit requires knowledge of whether someone has already received a sensitive-data benefit, those two applications must be connected in the system. Check the two annexes (Annex 1: benefits requiring access; Annex 2: benefits marked as sensitive) to see which benefits your agency handles.