Legal Informatics and Help Government
by Friedrich Lachmayer and Ludwig Moser, Vienna

The access to legal texts and the representation of legal texts in a „user-friendly“ way is one important element of transparency in the relation between the citizens and the administration. The „traditional“ information is offered via legal database-systems, the more dynamic approach of legal informatics is realized by the „Help-Government-System“. According to these two concepts of legal informatics this contribution tries to present an overview on the current developments.

I. The Austrian Legal Information System

On the basis of the past development of the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria (RIS), the question to be addressed next is the quantitative completion and/or qualitative improvement of the various databases comprised under the name of Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria). Both aspects are intensively dealt with and we are today able to point out new trends in terms of volume of information or ease of access to the law.

Documentation of Federal Law

The Documentation of Federal Law is nearly finished. At present, the database includes some 95% of current federal legislation and is continuously updated.

Completion of regional RIS databases

The integration of the regional (state) codes of law was an important task of the RIS project. All nine Austrian federal states are now integrated in the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria. As the development of the documentation systems in the various states has been quite inhomogenous, standardising the different regional databases was a rather difficult task.

The following list shows the chronological development of the nine state law documentation systems in RIS:

1990 Burgenland
1992 Salzburg
1993 Tirol
1995 Carinthia
1995 Vorarlberg
1996 Upper Austria
1997 Vienna
1997 Styria
1998 Lower Austria

Administrative decision databases in RIS

It has always been a very important concern for the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria to provide the legal texts of the federal and regional (state) governments as well as the decisions of the supreme courts. This is why the decisions issued by the Constitutional Court, the Administrative Court and the Judiciary have been included right from the start. However, it soon became clear that the databases containing administrative decisions constitute an important supplement for the understanding of the law. The following list gives an overview of the chronological development of the various administrative decision databases in RIS:

1992 Independent Administrative Tribunals (UVS)
1998 Independant Federal Asylum Tribunal
1998 Environmental Board
1998 Procurement Commission

Decree databases in RIS

Increasing interest in decree databases is observed both on the user and the content provider side. There is currently a trial operation in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Justice. Judicial decrees are currently only available on the Intranet.

Intranet - Internet

The Intranet is a network for use by the public administration. That is why only the territorial authorities have access to it. The advantage of the Intranet is its extremely stable network system. 

In addition to the information available on the Internet, the Intranet offers the following databases:

Chronological federal law database
Decisions of the judicial authorities
Community law (Celex)
Private law data base (RDB)
Decrees by the Federal Ministry of Justice

The Internet is also open to the general public but does not possess the stability of the Intranet.

The advantages of Web technology (Intranet, Internet) as compared to mainframe systems (3270) are essentially that user IDs and passwords are no longer necessary, that no printer needs to be defined, that downloading is facilitated, and that new applications are more quickly realised.

Free distribution on the Internet

In many countries, there is a lively discussion on whether the supply of information on the Internet should be with or without charges. In Austria, an amendment of the Federal Law Bulletin Act, BGBl. I No. 158/1998, has at least solved that question with regard to the field of federal norms. The new provision of s. 7 para. 2 of the Federal Act reads:

(2) The data established for the Federal Law Bulletin shall be made available to the Legal Information System (RIS) subject to the technical and documentational facilities. The consolidated version of the federal law documentation in the RIS and the content of the Federal Law Bulletin shall be made available on the Internet free of charge. In contrast to the printed version published in the Federal Law Bulletin, the RIS or the content of the Federal Law Bulletin available on the Internet does not contain any authentic data.

RIS is based on the understanding that every content-providing authority will decide autonomously whether its data should be made available on the Internet with or without charges. No regulations were therefore created with regard to the judicial and regional law documentations: In the field of case-law documentations, the decision lies within the autonomy of the tribunals or supreme courts. With the exception of the Supreme Court, however, all tribunals and supreme courts have opted for a free access to their documentations on the Internet. With regard to the documentations of regional (state) law, the Federal Government has no competence for regulating the documentations of the regional governments by law. However, all federal states have placed their documentations on the Internet without charges via the RIS.

It was explicitly pointed out in the wording of the law that neither the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria nor the content of the Federal Law Bulletin made available on the Internet contain any authentic data.

Limits of RIS

Not included in the present scope of development of the Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria are special semantic suppliments of documents, which are not generated automatically. This field of activity is intended as a challenge for private enterprises. Similarly, the processing of the pertinent literature and of special juridical comments will be left to private content providers.

Another area which is outside the scope of RIS is ‘help.gv’. This feature offers valuable situation-related service information for the public, such as help in connection with building projects, rentals or applying for a passport. While traditional databases like RIS offer text-based information, help.gv emphasises the importance of situative information.

II. The Austrian „Help-Government-System“

As mentioned above the Austrian „Help-Government-System“ realizes a different - more dynamic - strategic approacch of legal informatics.

Legal reality is one of the dominant paradigms of every day life. Citizens are confronted with organizations and administrative forms comparable to fronts of official buildings.

It is therefore a genuine claim of citizens to be able to have direct access to legal texts. For a long time it was mostly legal publishers who commented legal texts and made these complex informations available to lawyers and civil servants. This turned out to be very expensive.

With modern legal informatics this situation is going to change radically. Via Internet it will be possible that citicens may have direct access to legal texts without having to pay fees for it. It’s true that PC’s are not as widespread as TV sets, but convergence will make Internet accessible to nearly everybody. In modern information society citizens will have access to legal texts directly and for free. This should lead - at least as far as the access to legal texts is concerned - to a certain argumentative equilibrium between the citizen and the government.

One has to admit, that legal situation of citizen is not only determined
by his free access to a legal text. His reality isn’t textual but situational.

Every day life isn’t characterized ba paragraphes but by social roles and relations. Citizens are confronted with situations and demand themselves about the legal answers to these siutations. Citizens are therefore in search of responses to the legal challenges posed on them. Modern information society may provide instruments to face this challenges.

The development of Help-Government-Systems is an important step in the right direction. Both Help-Government-Systems and legal informatics are an outcome of modern information society but there is a major difference between them. Legal informatics provides texts while Help Government is designed to help citizens in their legal situations.

The next step will be - based on help-Government - to enter the wide field of legal virtual reality.

This system is not only to be seen as an abstract topic but - according to its aim - as a real project of Austrian administration. This project can be accessed via Internet at:

http://www.help.gv.at

The online version of „help.gv“ contains an overwiew on the system in English.

 Contents

 1. Foreword    
 2. HELP - the Project    
 2.1. Aims of the project    
 2.2. Consolidation stage 1 - @mtshelfer online     
 2.3. Consolidation stage 2 - @ntrag online     
 2.4. Consolidation stage 3 - @mtsweg online    
 2.5. Schedule    
 2.6. Advantages    
 3. Vision    
 3.1. Official channels yesterday    
 3.2. Official channels today    
 3.3. Official channels tomorrow    
 4. Providers    
 5. Citizens  
 6. Partners in carrying out the project    
 6.1. Federal Ministry of Finance/Federal Computing Centre Ltd  
 6.2. Cooperating authorities/departments     
 6.3. Telekom Austria Inc.    
 6.4. net@value    
 6.5. Software partners    
 7. Finance    
 8. Invitation to cooperate 
 9. Links to HELP
 10. Example of the system in practice    

The following descriptions are excerpts of this online-guide and and are based on the information available on 17 March 1999.

 1. Foreword

 New communications technologies, new media and the Internet are areas of life and work that will in future govern and change our everyday
 existence. Our attitude to these developments and the active role that we all adopt in them will contribute to determining our prosperity, our role in
 the international economy, our jobs and our quality of life.

 In these new markets, which are growing the fastest of all, strategic decisions are already being taken today on who will take part in shaping and
 influencing and who will merely follow after the developments created by others.

 Service society, information society, 24-hour society - how will Austria orient and assert itself in the midst of these international trends? And yet it
 is precisely here that even a relatively small country has a very good chance of being at the forefront if it exploits its opportunities creatively and
 with initiative.

 Already today the prerequisites can be seen in Austria. As an attractive location in Europe our country has at its disposal an efficient "Information
 Highway". It's now a matter of how we – the Republic and Austrian business – utilise the existing infrastructure for services. Services that are really
 needed and that are accessible on the Internet at any time and from everywhere: not only from the living-room or office, but also from booths in
 public places like post offices or official buildings.

 help.gv.at is therefore in the truest sense of the word a pioneering example of the linking of the service society with the information society. The
 project connects the opportunities of public administration to see and treat citizens as citizens with the example of an approach to tasks that is
 oriented not to image but to the benefit of all participants. A new, efficient solution for an unpopular but necessary area of existence, the "official
 channels", that even potentially disadvantaged groups, such as the disabled or infirm people who are limited in physical mobility, can equally,
 rapidly and comfortably use.
 For putting the project into practice we have decided, in line with the culture of the Internet medium, not to wait for the perfect solution. We will
 approach the task in a simple and unbureaucratic manner, test out what works, and then adapt our solutions rapidly to practical experience.

 At the first stage not everybody will find everything that they're looking for at help.gv.at - but it will nevertheless be an astonishing amount. The
 important thing is that government becomes more understandable, moves closer to the citizens and can always be reached.

 At the next stage the legal aspects must be reconciled with the technical opportunities for full official services on the Internet. How, for example,
 should authentication (identity card presentation) work in difficult matters; how binding can information derived automatically from the Internet be?
 Do we need new legal principles, or will an analogous interpretation of the existing laws suffice; on what basis can payment of fees also be
 achieved online?

 Much remains to be done. All those who already use help.gv.at today are requested to contribute their thoughts, wishes, ideas and criticism. This
 project is also – not least – a test case for our efforts to reform and simplify government.

 Dr. Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, Permanent Secretary

 2. HELP - the Project

 HELP is an initiative of the Federal Finance Ministry and of Telekom Austria Inc. in the area of developing government. The Federal Computing
 Centre Ltd. has been commissioned to implement the project.

 HELP creates a platform and a turntable on the Internet for Austrian authorities which supports the administrative or official channels for practically
 all life situations, such as birth, establishing families, financial assistance, driving licences, passports, identity cards etc. HELP is therefore a
 platform that supports 

      Austrian authorities - Federal, State, and local bodies -, 
      quasi official institutions and  
      bodies under public law, 

 throughout Austria and spanning all authorities, to present and make accessible their Internet pages in a way that is "customer-oriented" - from the
 point of view of the citizens.

 The citizens are to make use of the Internet and the procedures provided through HELP in dealing with administrative channels. It should be
 possible to use HELP on a private PC in a problem-free way and without outside assistance. Booths are to be installed at offices (e.g., municipal
 district offices) for citizens who have no Internet connection of their own. But HELP will also be accessible through new terminals such as WEB-TV
 or WEB-Phone.

 2.1. Aims of the project

 HELP is to facilitate working through official channels in Austria via the Internet around the clock (Internet address: www.help.gv.at).

 HELP is to provide a platform supporting the Austrian authorities (Ministries, States, local bodies, municipalities, quasi official institutions, bodies
 under public law), throughout Austria and spanning all authorities, to facilitate official dealings in a way that is "customer-oriented" from the point of
 view of the citizens. In this way the change from a regulated state to a service state is assisted.

 At first HELP is to provide a current overview over the most important official channels and then at a later consolidation stage facilitate direct
 working through official channels via the Internet. 

 2.2. Consolidation stage 1 - @mtshelfer online

 In the first stage only information on the official channels relating to selected life situations will be provided. This part of the project has the title
 @mtshelfer online. For individual situations users are directed to the requisite forms, documents to provide and necessary fees or Federal stamp
 duty. The first consolidation stage will be concluded once the required forms have been made available and can be accessed via the Internet. 

 At present the following areas of life are covered: birth, marriage, motor vehicle, driver's licence, passport, identity card, residence visa, entry to
 school, job, military service, community service, death, change of address und after divorce. 

 In addition, information about associations, elections, authorities and statutes is provided. Furthermore, forms can be "downloaded".

 There are plans to add further areas of life in 1998, e.g.: unemployment, divorce, university, buying land and residence.

 2.3. Consolidation stage 2 - @ntrag online

 In the second stage it should already be possible to work through individual requests to the responsible authorites via HELP; ie, to fill in accessed
 forms directly and send them off as electronic applications. HELP itself will not store any personal data, because it only enables the forwarding of
 data via an interface (Link) to the responsible authority. The second part of the project is entitled @ntrag online.

 2.4. Consolidation stage 3 - @mtsweg online

 The third stage of HELP consolidation is based on the idea of a composite working through of all official channels that relate to an area of life, in a
 single process. This part of the project is correspondingly termed @mtsweg online. @mtsweg online means not only a nation-wide networking of
 integrated authorities and other locations, but also electronic forwarding of the (intermediate) results to the next responsible location. At present it
 is still undecided whether this can be achieved in the form of a so-called electronic business transaction or whether other solutions will have to be
 pursued.

2.6. Advantages

 By means of HELP there will be positive effects for citizens, the authorities and business.

 2.6.1. Advantages for citizens 

 Preparing the official channels
 Information on official channels can be obtained without visiting an authority, either in the workplace, at one's own business, at public booths or in
 one's own home, where applicable documents are ready at hand. 

 Access around the clock  
 As is appropriate for the Internet, a service for citizens is available around the clock with HELP.

 Official channels can be mapped out     
 Presenting the official channels in HELP also reveals the connections between the official channels and the correct sequence for working through
 official channels. Citizens can map out the necessary official channels with the assistance of HELP.

 2.6.2. Advantages for the authorities

 Cooperation with citizens     
 The competence and flexibility of Austrian authorities in the new media sector results in cooperation between authorities and citizens of a kind that
 has not hitherto been possible.

 Relieving officials      
 Providing information takes up a lot of time and often interrupts the course of work in offices. Such routine tasks will become fewer with HELP, and
 HELP will in the medium term provide even more relief in working through official channels via the Internet. Officials will therefore be able to devote
 more time to giving professional advice in one-to-one interviews with prepared citizens.

 Reduction in printed material    
 Forms, handbooks and brochures must be prepared, printed, stored and distributed at great expense. Reprints or new versions of forms create
 problems of disposal. In any case, reduced print-runs and the easier availability of printed material can be achieved.

 Part-automation of procedures    
 In future citizens will be able to enter many details themselves on their Internet screens. When working through official channels later via the
 Internet there will therefore be savings in data capture. 

 Economical operation   
 Running HELP and also in part its development is to be funded by means of business sponsorship.

 2.6.3. Advantages for business

 Less downtime 
 Preparing for and working through official channels results in absences by employees. "Dealings with authorities" is a frequent entry in firms'
 absence lists. The costs accruing to the Austrian economy are estimated in billions. Just a single PC with Internet access in the business will
 enable information on transactions with authorities to be accessed on site - practically without downtime - and in the future will also enable such
 transactions to completed.

 Official channels and consumption   
 Official channels are usually triggered by changes in life situation that are also as a rule linked with consumption. For example, the birth of a child
 can make the fitting out of a nursery or the purchase of a child's seat for the car necessary. But in any case, daily requirements like baby food,
 nappies, children's clothing etc. are needed.

 Advertising with minimal wastage    
 For business sponsors who want to support the development and operation of HELP, HELP provides a means of advertising with minimal wastage
 because precisely the right target group can be addressed.

 3. Vision

 3.1. Official channels yesterday 

 Dealings with the authorities require preparation. In most offices information sheets on official channels, responsibilities, office hours, required
 documents etc. are available. Even acquiring information on official channels usually requires a special trip during office hours.

 Many matters will involve a series of several official channels governed by different responsibilities, that must be worked through at several offices in
 the right sequence and can only be done during office hours.

 Regional differences in forms and requirements make the overview for citizens more difficult. Many administrative requirements are not discernible.

 Citizens find themselves prompted by a life situation to deal with one or several official channels. Different areas of responsibility are a nuisance.
 Citizens want quick transactions.

 The circumstances described have brought about prejudices against offices and authorities in the population. This is expressed even in positive
 cases, when citizens are surprised that an official channel "was not so bad and the officials were more interested and friendly than expected".

 3.2. Official channels today

 HELP regards itself as a citizen service that is absolutely "customer-oriented" and is based on the current life situation of the inquirer.

 Citizens seeking information are asked for general details, such as marital status, post code or citizenship, in order to be able to give correct
 information. More precise details that would allow the identity of the person inquiring to be inferred (address, name, date of birth ...) are not
 requested. On the basis of answers linked to place of residence HELP provides the necessary official channels for the situation. The relevant
 opening times, addresses and telephone numbers for the relevant authorities are displayed and the documents to be provided and applicable fees
 (e.g., Federal stamp duty) listed.

 If those inquiring want to supply no details at all, it is also possible to call up a general - not individualised - "leaflet". Data protection and anonymity
 are always guaranteed. The latter is only removed when an actual administrative process (an "official channel") is instituted. In the end no-one can
 apply for a passport anonymously via the Internet.

 3.3. Official channels tomorrow

 In future it will be possible to work through several official channels in one HELP operation. It can be assumed that the technical and legal
 prerequisites will be resolved in the course of the next few years. The concept of a "virtual government" could be realised by means of HELP.

 HELP should also serve to demonstrate the legal and technical requirements for an integrated working through of complex official channels, in order
 to work out approaches to solutions at the right time or to embed the latter in the process of forming an informed political opinion and in legal
 reality.

If you are interested in cooperating, please contact:

Univ.Prof. Dr. Friedrich Lachmayer
Director for Legal Informatics
Austrian Federal Chancellery
Austria, A-1080 Vienna, Ballhausplatz 2
Tel.: 0043 - 1 - 53115 - 2203
E-mail: friedrich.lachmayer@bka.gv.at

Ludwig Moser
Bundesministerium für Finanzen (Federal Ministry of Finance) 
IT-Sektion
Hintere Zollamtsstraße 4
A-1033 Wien
Tel.: ++43/1/ 711 23/2185, Fax: ++43/1/ 711 23/2667
e-mail: ludwig.moser@bmf.gv.at