Repealed 1958 Austrian Insurance Contract Act updated with transitional provisions and new EU-mandated rule on distance contracts from 1 October 2026
The archived 1958 Austrian Insurance Contract Act (Versicherungsvertragsgesetz, VersVG) has been updated in the official register to add a comprehensive transitional-provisions article (§ 191c) documenting commencement dates for all past amendments, an EU-directive mapping article (§ 191d), and one new substantive rule: § 5c paragraph 7, introduced by the Consumer Rights Amendment Act 2026 (VerbRÄG 2026, BGBl. I Nr. 59/2026), which takes effect on 1 October 2026 and applies to insurance contracts concluded after 30 September 2026. The update also refreshes metadata and keywords.
What changed
New § 191c collects all commencement-date rules for amendments made since 1996 (including insurance distribution, insolvency, and capital-insurance withdrawal provisions). New § 191d formally maps three groups of provisions to the EU directives they implement (IDD 2016/97, Solvency II 2009/138, and the new distance-financial-services directive 2023/2673). Article 7 records Austria's implementation of EU Directives 2023/2673 and 2024/825 (consumer rights for the green transition). Metadata such as the amendment note, keywords, and last-updated date have also been refreshed.
Who is affected
Legal practitioners, insurers, and courts working with the historical 1958 Act are directly affected by the new documentation. More broadly, consumers who conclude insurance contracts by distance means (e.g. online) after 30 September 2026 will be subject to the new § 5c paragraph 7 rule derived from EU Directive 2023/2673 on distance financial-services contracts.
What to look out for
Section 191c paragraph 25 makes clear that § 5c paragraph 7 applies only to contracts concluded after 30 September 2026; earlier contracts remain under the previous rules. Although the VersVG 1958 was formally repealed on 30 June 2012, certain of its provisions (including § 5c on withdrawal rights for capital-insurance contracts) continue to be referenced for transitional purposes.