Vienna, 8 August 2024. By yesterday's principal decision the Vienna Administrative Court confirmed that the Vienna Health Fund may implement the planned bowel cancer screening programme and look for implementation partners in an EU-wide call for tenders. The Vienna Chamber of Medical Doctors had previously expressed concerns about the lawfulness of the screening programme and the call. Under the leadership of fwp partner Michael Hecht Fellner Wratzfeld & Partner (fwp) advised the Vienna Health Fund.

By its principal decision rendered yesterday lunchtime the Vienna Administrative Court confirmed the planned EU-wide call for tenders of the Vienna Health Fund for implementing the planned bowel cancer screening programme. The aim of this health initiative is the early detection of a risk of bowel cancer using home testing kits. This is to ensure that the chances of being cured in the case of developing the disease should be significantly higher in future.

Earlier the Vienna Chamber of Medical Doctors had expressed concerns about the admissibility of the bowel cancer screening programme and fought against the EU-wide call for tenders for implementation of the programme before the Vienna Administrative Court. The Chamber claimed that preventative checks for bowel cancer were part of the preventative care remit of the social security fund and that the screening programme could therefore only be handled via the social security funds. The Vienna Administrative Court did not follow the legal view of the Vienna Chamber of Medical Doctors, however, and confirmed that the bowel cancer screening programme and the call are admissible. As a result the implementation of the bowel cancer screening programme for the Viennese population can be proceeded with.

"We are pleased with the award of the Vienna Administrative Court and the resulting confirmation of the call for this sustainable and promising health project, as is the City of Vienna" says fwp partner Michael Hecht, who supports the client together with fwp attorney Bernhard Scherzer and fwp associates Armin Gamsjäger and Lukas Reichmann.