Given that the CSCE does not have legal personality and that, from the point of view of public international law, it does not enjoy the status of an international organisation, Austria is not able to define the legal status of the CSCE institutions on its territory by means of a Headquarters Agreement and does so, instead, through a Federal Act of 1993.

In a note dated 30 September 1993, the Austrian Foreign Minister draws up a list of the CSCE institutions which have their seat in Austria and which, according to the Act of 30 July 1993, enjoy legal personality in Austria.

In a note dated 3 March 1994, following the institutional changes resulting from the decisions taken by the CSCE Ministerial Council in 1993, the Austrian Foreign Minister draws up a new list of the CSCE institutions which have their seat in Austria and which, according to the Act of 30 July 1993, enjoy legal personality in Austria.

In a note dated 12 March 1998, following the institutional changes resulting from the decisions taken at the 1994 Review Conference and by the CSCE Permanent Council in 1997, the Austrian Foreign Minister draws up a new list of the CSCE institutions which have their seats in Austria and which, according to the Act of 30 July 1993, enjoy legal personality in Austria.

Given that the OSCE does not have legal personality and that, from the point of view of public international law, it does not enjoy the status of an international organisation, Austria is not able to define the legal status of the OSCE institutions on its territory by means of a Headquarters Agreement and does so, instead, through a Federal Act of 1993, as last amended on 5 October 2002.

View of the Congress Centre at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna where the weekly meetings of the OSCE Permanent Council are held.

The OSCE premises, where the Permanent Council convenes once a week, are located in Vienna’s imperial winter palace, the Hofburg.

Close-up of the imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna, seat of the OSCE Permanent Council.

The Economic Forum, a specialist configuration of the OSCE Senior Council, holds its annual session in the Czernin Palace in Prague.

From 1998 to 2006, the Kärntnerringhof, a building located on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, is home to the offices of the OSCE Secretariat.

On 21 November 2007, the new headquarters of the OSCE Secretariat and Representative for the Freedom of the Media are inaugurated in Vienna in the historic Palais Palffy-Erdödy (on the left), renovated to meet the needs of the organisation. The new building is located in Wallnerstrasse, in the historical centre of the Austrian capital.

On 21 November 2007, the new headquarters of the OSCE Secretariat and Representative for the Freedom of the Media are inaugurated in Vienna in the historic Palais Palffy-Erdödy, renovated to meet the needs of the organisation.

View of the inner courtyard of the Palais Palffy-Erdödy, headquarters of the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna since 21 November 2007.

This article, published in 2008 in OSCE Magazine, looks back at the transfer of the Secretariat of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to number 6, Wallnerstrasse, in the centre of Vienna, and reviews the reactions to the plan to renovate Palais Pálffy.

The Prague Office of the OSCE Secretariat houses the organisation’s archives and documentation repository.

View of the building in Warsaw which houses the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Building which houses the Secretariat of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen.

Building of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in Geneva.