The license to operate as a chartered engineering consultant (“Ziviltechnikerbefugnis”) is to be granted to Austrian citizens or citizens of a member state of the European Union or of a contracting state of the European Economic Area and their family members who enjoy the right of residence or permanent residence in a member state, to citizens of the Swiss Confederation or to persons equated to Austrian citizens by other intergovernmental agreements, if the professional qualification required for the exercise of the profession has been proven and there is no reason for exclusion.

Admission requirements:

1. Academic degree
2. Practical experience
3. Chartered engineering consultant (“Ziviltechniker:in”) examination
4. No grounds for exclusion

1. Academic degree

Completion of an engineering or natural science master's degree or diploma program in a technical or natural science or Montanist discipline or a study program in natural resources and life sciences at a domestic university or completion of a university of applied sciences master's degree program, a university of applied sciences master's degree program or university of applied sciences diploma program in the field of technology, the focus of which is on engineering or natural science studies.

2. Practical Experience

The practice must span over a minimum of three years, must be completed after graduation and must be suitable to provide the knowledge required for the exercise of the qualification. The practice shall be evidenced by credible credentials and a detailed account of the nature, duration and extent of employment.
Practice periods that fall short of the daily or weekly normal working hours by no more than half shall be credited proportionately.

The practice must have been completed

1. in an employment relationship, including freelance contracts, or
2. as a practicing entrepreneur of a regulated trade or
3. in public service

Periods of practice completed during a master's degree program are credited to the practice for up to 12 months.

Maternity leave also counts towards the practice period.

Practical periods completed during short-time work are credited proportionately.

Specialized Practice

For the disciplines of architecture (“Architektur”), Chartered engineering consulting for civil and environmental engineering sciences (“Bauwesen”), industrial engineering in chartered engineering (“Wirtschaftsingenieuwesen im Bauwesen”), and environmental engineering and water management (“Kulturtechnik und Wasserwirtschaft”), at least one year of practical experience on construction sites is required within the three-year period.

For the field of surveying (“Vermessungswesen”), at least one year of practical experience in the field of border surveying for all purposes of land-registered partitioning, as well as de- and attribution according to the Real Estate Partitioning Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 3/1930 (“Liegenschaftsteilungsgesetz BGBl. Nr. 3/1930”), is required within the three year period.

3. Chartered engineering consultant examination

Subjects of the chartered engineering consultant examination are:

1. Austrian administrative law,
2. business administration (general principles, accounting, company organization),
3. the legal and professional regulations applicable to the field,
4. professional law and code of ethics.

Applicants for the authorization of a chartered engineering consultant in surveying must also prove additional surveying-specific knowledge, which is regulated in § 7 para. 4 Ziviltechnikergesetz 2019.

4. Absence of grounds for exclusion

The following persons shall be excluded from the granting of a chartered engineering consultant's license:

1. those who do not have full capacity to act, or
2. over whose assets bankruptcy proceedings are pending or have been initiated within the last three years, unless the bankruptcy proceedings have been terminated by complete fulfilment of a restructuring plan or after confirmation of a payment plan, or
3. in respect of whose assets insolvency proceedings have not been instituted or have been terminated within the last three years for lack of assets sufficient to cover costs, or
4. those who have been deprived of their license pursuant to section 16(2)(2) ZTG 2019, or
5. those who are in the public service, unless exclusively as a teacher at a public or accredited teaching institution, or who have been dismissed from the public service on the basis of a disciplinary decision, or
6. those who have been convicted in accordance with section 16(1)(2) ZTG 2019, or
7. those who do not have the necessary reliability to exercise the profession.

State-authorized and sworn chartered engineering consultants are natural persons who work as freelance professionals in chartered engineering or scientific disciplines on the basis of the authorization granted by the Federal Minister for Labour and Economy. The designation of the authorization is generally based on the university degree completed. A change in the study designation by the respective university or university of applied sciences thus also leads to other competency designations.