The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) enjoys constitutional status in Austria. This is a special case, both in comparison with the integration of the ECHR in the legal systems of other contracting states and in comparison with the rank of other human rights treaties in Austria. However, the constitutional rank alone does not mean that the Austrian legal system is particularly friendly to international law, namely the ECHR. It does, however, lead to a self-evident reference to the guarantees of the Convention and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the everyday application of fundamental rights, which is more an expression of the function of the ECHR as a supplement to national constitutional law than of a special friendliness towards international law. Additional aspects, however, suggest that the Austrian legal system is friendly to international law with respect to the ECHR.
