Austria creates its own criminal offenses against organ trafficking and the exploitation of victims of human trafficking

Austria is introducing its own criminal offenses against organ trafficking. The Criminal Law Amendment Act 2026 was published in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) for the Republic of Austria, Part I, as No. 92/2026 on October 29, 2026, and inserts a new Section 3a, “Organ Trafficking and Related Criminal Acts,” into the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch). The new provisions come into force on November 1, 2026.

The amendment was passed by the National Council (NR: GP XXVIII RV 624 AB 637 S. 101), and the Federal Council has given its consent (BR: AB 11882 S. 997). The law was signed by Federal President Van der Bellen and Federal Chancellor Stocker. The law serves to implement Directive (EU) 2024/1712 amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (OJ No. L 2024/1712 of June 24, 2024); the CELEX No. 32024L1712 is listed in the header of the announcement sheet.

A new section with up to five years of imprisonment

The new Section 3a regulates an independent catalog of offenses for the first time in §§ 110a to 110c of the Criminal Code. It applies to human organs within the meaning of § 3 Z 6 of the Organ Transplantation Act (OTPG, BGBl. I No. 108/2012); the organ donor themselves is not to be punished under these provisions (§ 110a). An overview of the penalties:

• § 110b Para. 1: Removal of an organ from a living or deceased person for which a financial advantage was offered, promised, or granted to the donor or a third party – imprisonment for up to three years.
• § 110b Para. 2: Recruiting a donor or recipient with the intent of enrichment – up to two years.
• § 110b Para. 4 and 5: Commission as a member of a criminal organization – six months to five years (Para. 1) or up to three years (Para. 2).
• § 110c Para. 1 and 2: Transplanting or otherwise using an organ obtained without the consent of the living donor or through a criminal act, as well as its preparation, preservation, storage, transport, import and export, acceptance, or transfer – up to three years.
• § 110c Para. 3: The same acts as a member of a criminal organization – six months to five years.

According to § 110b Para. 3, compensation for loss of earnings and other legitimate expenses of living donors, as well as payments upon the occurrence of damage that is not inevitably associated with the organ removal, are explicitly not considered financial advantages. Thus, expense allowances remain exempt from criminality, while the commercial trade in organs does not.

Services by victims and protection of minors

Alongside this, the law tightens the rules against human trafficking. The new § 104b criminalizes the use of a service provided by a person who is exploited in its provision, if the perpetrator knows that the person is a victim of human trafficking according to § 104a; a prison sentence of up to two years is threatened. In § 104a Para. 3, the term exploitation is extended to forced marriage, surrogacy, and abusive adoption; the removal of tissue, cells, blood, or blood components is now also covered.

To protect children and adolescents, a Para. 4 is added to § 90: consent cannot be given for the removal of an organ from a person who has not yet completed their 18th year of age. Additionally, § 190 Para. 1a is new – the removal of an organ from a deceased person despite an express declaration of refusal by the deceased or their legal representative is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, and up to three years if committed as a member of a criminal organization (§ 190 Para. 1b).

Global Scope and Entry into Force

Investigative authorities are provided with further instruments. In § 278 Para. 2, §§ 110b, 110c, and 190 Para. 1a are included in the catalog of offenses that can be committed as a criminal association or criminal organization. § 64 Para. 1 No. 4a extends Austrian jurisdiction to acts committed abroad: to organ removals without the consent of the living donor, to financially motivated organ removals and mediation activities according to § 110b, as well as to trade in or use of illegally removed organs according to § 110c. In the same offense, the word “slave trade” is replaced by the word “slavery”.

The same law renames the twenty-fifth section of the Special Part and the heading of § 52b from “Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes” to “International Crimes” and supplements § 321f Para. 1 to include weapons whose fragments cannot be detected in the body by X-rays, as well as laser weapons specifically designed to cause permanent blindness. The entry-into-force rule of the new § 325 sets November 1, 2026, for all these provisions – two days after publication.

For hospitals and transplantation centers, this means a more stringent documentation and verification obligation along the entire chain from donor notification to transplantation, because the mere storage or transport of an illegally removed organ is already a criminal offense. For transplantation medicine and investigative authorities, the new legal situation applies from November 2026.

Source: Federal Law Gazette for the Republic of Austria, BGBl. I No. 92/2026 of October 29, 2026, Part I, p. 1 (official reference: BGBl. I No. 92/2026).