GISA: Austrian Business Licence Information System

The "Gewerbeinformationssystem Austria" (Austrian Business Licence Information System, GISA), which applies throughout Austria and which replaced the 14 decentralised business registers in March 2015, cuts down on the input of time and costs required for entrepreneurs and founders because it enables them to electronically deal with registrations, changes in location, the opening of new operating facilities and the appointment of managers simply and directly through GISA.

GISA stores the key data of all businesses established in Austria. Users can quickly and simply obtain information on the name, location and wording of the business licence. When it comes to data from sole proprietors which are not included in the Company Register, GISA is currently the only authentic source of information.

A groundbreaking project on a European scale

GISA is the first of its kind in Europe with regard to business administration because Austria is the first European country in which the registration of new businesses and other business procedures can be carried out online on the basis of central standards. GISA is an IT cooperation run by the federal and state government levels and the charter cities/towns.

Current information and online forms for GISA queries and other procedures can be found here:

• GISA-queries
• GISA-procedures
• GISA interface

All information concerning business administration handled by your competent authority can be found here:

• Burgenland
• Carinthia
• Lower Austria
• Upper Austria
• Salzburg
• Styria
• Tyrol
• Vorarlberg
• Vienna

Further information and services for founders are provided at Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), an internet platform for entrepreneurs and e-government. Once registered in USP you can draw on E-government applications at the federal level through a single sign-on function.

How GISA came into being

Following a study on a new centralised business register ("Zentrales Gewerberegister Neu (PDF, 1 MB)") performed by a-consult and commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (Anlage zu Studie Zentrales Gewerberegister NEU (PDF, 1 MB)) its implementation was begun in June 2012.

The prototype of the new central register was completed in the summer of 2013 and accompanied by a quality assurance process. Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Municipality of Vienna used this milestone to organise a name-giving competition, inviting all persons involved in business administration in Austria to contribute ideas. A jury made up of the members of the steering committee of GewInN examined the numerous proposals and chose GISA, an abbreviation of GewerbeInformationsSystem Austria, as the winner. The name was proposed by Ms Anja Hagenauer from the District Commissioner’s Office of Hallein.

The previous 14 decentralised business registers kept by the federal states were replaced by the Austria-wide GISA system as of 30 March 2015. Automated data reconciliation with other registers makes it possible for business administration authorities to forego individual collection of data and confirmations (such as excerpts from Company Registers or certificates of registration) and to obtain the requisite data instantly.

Contact

Division for Trade Law: gewerbe@bmaw.gv.at