Skiing accidents constitute about a third of all sports accidents in the Alpine countries where up to 30 million winter sportsmen are on the move on skis. In Austria that amounts to about 65.000 skiers per year considering about 9 million skiers. Approximately 40 people die in skiing accidents per year in Austria.
According to a survey of the Austrian Road Safety Board about 80% of all accidents result from perception and maneuvering errors, with serious injuries in particular often being caused by collision accidents.
With regard to partial or predominant third party fault, the question of liability concerning not only personal damages but also losses of property, plays a major role. In many cases the question of fault has to be resolved by a Court.
If EU- foreign nationals are involved in the accident, according to the EU-regulation (Rome II) Austrian Law shall apply if the event or the indirect damage consequences have occurred in Austria. Competent for the treatise of the damage shall be the Court in whose judicial district the accident has occurred. These regulations shall by the way apply to Non-EU-foreign nationals equally.
Therefore the question of fault has to be assessed according to Austrian Law. Because no principal specific skiing rules exist, the Courts in Austria (as in many other States) apply the so-called FIS, resp. POE-rules (general codes of conduct of the international ski federation, draft of piste rules of the Austrian Board for Alpine security). Although these rules are no valid legal norms, they are of considerable importance according to jurisdiction as a summary of duties of care which have to be observed in the interest of all parties when exercising the skiing sport of today.
Our partner Dr. Stefan Müller is a certified ski instructor and ski guide and represents parties involved in skiing accidents for many years. As a member of the SKILEX International association (an association of jurists who in their jobs repeatedly deal with legal questions from the sports area and in particular with skiing law) he practices an interchange of legal ideas on a national as well as an international level with jurists from the typical Alpine countries such as France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria.