Serving citizens since 1977

After the end of the Second World War, the idea arose of appointing an "ombudsman" to monitor the public administration on behalf of parliament. This was modelled on Scandinavian countries, which have already had such an administrative control body since 1809. The new supervisory body was first announced in concrete terms in 1970, in Chancellor Kreisky's government declaration.

The draft amendment to the Federal Constitution of 1971 provided for the creation of a new "Federal Public Prosecutor's Office". Public interest was so great that the Austrian State Printing Office distributed more than 13,000 copies to interested citizens free of charge. The subsequent government bill already used the term "Ombudsman's Office", but several more years were to pass before the law was realised.

Finally, in 1977, all members of the National Council voted in favour of the new federal law on the Ombudsman Board. The first three Ombudspersons were Robert Weisz, Franz Bauer and Gustav Zeillinger. They started their work on 1 July 1977.

The Ombudsman Board quickly gained in reputation and trust. In July 1981, the provisions on the Ombudsman Board were incorporated into the Austrian Federal Constitution.

Over the past decades, the work of the Ombudsman Board has earned it the trust and acceptance of the population. This was confirmed by the APA/OGM Trust Index 2024, according to which the Austrian Ombudsman Board is one of the institutions with the highest trust ratings in Austria. A full 74 per cent of respondents trust in our work.