Legal updates: Austrian court rulings on data access and German juvenile justice errors

In Austria, the Administrative Court (VwGH) dismissed an appeal by the University of Vienna regarding access to information. The court upheld a previous decision requiring the university to provide a student representative with statistics on grades, exam results, and course evaluations. The data requested covers various metrics, including participant numbers, average grades, and dropout rates, for courses involving at least five students since the winter semester of 2023.

In Germany, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) addressed a procedural error in a criminal case involving a 14-year-old defendant convicted of aggravated robbery and dangerous bodily harm. The court ruled that the regional court failed to grant the defendant's mother her legal right to have the last word during the main trial. While this error led to the reversal of the sentence, the court maintained the verdict of guilt, noting that the defendant had largely confessed and the evidence was sufficient to establish responsibility regardless of the mother's final statement.