The administration refers to the area of activity of a state which is carried out by administrative bodies and the administrative courts that supervise them. The law primarily applied by the administrative authorities and the supervising courts is called administrative law.
Administrative procedure law is the sum of legal norms that determine which administrative authorities enforce the statutory regulations (organizational law) and how they proceed in doing so (administrative procedure law in the narrower sense). Together with substantive law, administrative procedure law constitutes administrative law.
Authorities are state organs empowered to issue binding legal acts or orders and to enforce them with coercive measures. In Austria, these are, on the one hand, the courts, and on the other hand, the administrative authorities. A third type of authority is not provided for in constitutional law. Administrative authorities are those authorities that are not courts—i.e., they are not independent, irremovable, or untransferable. If an authority lacks even one of these elements, it is considered an administrative authority.
