Legal notice & data protection for a psychotherapy practice in Austria

Legal notice for psychotherapists under § 5 ECG

Even a simple practice website is an information society service. The E-Commerce-Gesetz (ECG, E-Commerce Act) therefore requires certain details to be easily, directly and permanently accessible, in practice an “Impressum” link in the footer of every page. For health professions, § 5 Abs 1 Z 6 ECG matters most: anyone subject to professional regulations names the chamber, the professional association “or a similar institution” they belong to, the professional title together with the member state that awarded it, and a reference to the professional law and where it can be accessed.

Professional title, cluster and Berufsliste

The Psychotherapiegesetz 2024 has been in force since 1 January 2025. The mandatory title is “Psychotherapeutin”, “Psychotherapeut” or “Psychotherapeut:in”. The cluster learned in training may follow in brackets: humanistic therapy, psychoanalytic-psychodynamic therapy, systemic therapy or behaviour therapy; after a slash, the specific method as well. At your Berufssitz, the cluster is even mandatory: the practice sign shows at least your name and your professional title including the cluster (§ 38 Abs 5 PThG 2024). Use the same spelling on your website, and your Impressum, sign and Berufsliste entry will all match.

Berufsliste: The Berufsliste (Psychotherapie) is publicly accessible and shows, among other things, the registration number, name, academic degrees, professional title with method and Berufssitz (§ 23 Abs 3 PThG 2024). Including the registration number in your Impressum is not an explicit requirement, but it makes your details verifiable with a single click.

Supervisory authority and professional association: Under § 5 Abs 1 Z 5 ECG, you only name a supervisory authority “insofar as the activity is subject to official supervision”. Many psychotherapists list the Ministry of Health here, as it keeps the register; that does no harm. Membership of the ÖBVP (Österreichischer Bundesverband für Psychotherapie, the Austrian federal association for psychotherapy) or a regional association is voluntary. You can mention it as well; it does not replace the Berufsliste.

The Offenlegung under § 25 Mediengesetz

Every website is a medium within the meaning of the Mediengesetz (Media Act). If it only presents you and what you offer, the small Offenlegung (disclosure) under § 25 Abs 5 MedienG is enough: name, purpose of the business (such as “psychotherapeutische Praxis”, psychotherapy practice) and place of residence or registered office. It can sit on the same page as the Impressum.

If you regularly write articles, for example on anxiety disorders, grief or relationship conflicts, that go beyond presenting your practice and could influence public opinion, the full Offenlegung including the Blattlinie (editorial line) may be required. A newsletter published at least four times a year also needs its own Impressum under § 24 MedienG.

Confidentiality and data protection: what your website gives away

Under § 45 PThG 2024, you are bound to confidentiality about all secrets entrusted to you or that have become known to you in the course of your profession, even beyond the death of your patients. That includes the very fact that someone comes to you at all. At the same time, information about mental health is health data under Art. 9 GDPR and therefore specially protected. For your website, this means every channel through which people reach you has to uphold that confidentiality.

Video therapy: § 39 PThG 2024 allows psychotherapy with sound and picture if it is justified on professional or geographical grounds and takes place in agreement with the patient. Confidentiality and the best possible accessibility in the digital space must be ensured, and you document the reason (§ 39 Abs 2). On your website, “video sessions by arrangement” therefore fits better than “therapy from the comfort of your home”. Describe in your privacy policy which provider you use and which data it generates.

The privacy policy informs visitors under Art. 13 GDPR who processes which data, for what purpose, on which legal basis and for how long. Professional law also requires you to inform patients about data processing and transfers to third parties (§ 42 PThG 2024). A copied template that lists tracking services you don’t use but leaves out your video tool is a common mistake. A solo practice usually doesn’t need a data protection officer, because it does not carry out “large-scale” processing within the meaning of Art. 37 GDPR; for larger centres, it is worth checking.

No patient testimonials, no promises of cure

In other industries, reviews and thank-you letters are the strongest sales argument. In your practice, they are off limits: publishing one already confirms that someone was in treatment with you. Even with consent it remains delicate, because the dependency within a therapeutic relationship calls into question whether that consent is truly voluntary. Then there is § 48 PThG 2024: you must refrain from any unobjective and untrue information in connection with your profession and may not prompt third parties to advertise in a prohibited way. The ministry’s Werberichtlinie (advertising guideline) explicitly names loud self-promotion and raising expectations that cannot be met as unobjective.

Build trust with facts instead: training, cluster and method, settings (individual, couple, group), languages, fees and health insurance reimbursement, how accessible your practice is and a photo of yourself. Find out more in the post Advertising rules for psychotherapists in Austria.

Cookies, maps and embedded content

Under § 165 Abs 3 TKG 2021 (Telecommunications Act), information may only be stored on or read from visitors’ devices with active consent, unless it is strictly necessary for the service they requested. On a psychotherapy website, restraint makes double sense, because even visiting a page about eating disorders can reveal a lot about a person.

• Analytics: cookieless, data-minimising solutions that share nothing with ad networks, instead of classic tracking.
• Maps: directions as an image with a link to the route, or a map that only loads after a click.
• Fonts: load them locally from your own server instead of from Google Fonts.
• Booking and video widgets: link to them rather than embedding them; then data only flows when someone deliberately clicks.

Accessibility Act: does it affect your practice?

The Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG, Accessibility Act) has applied since 28 June 2025. Among other things, it covers e-commerce services for consumers, such as online booking or online payment. Microenterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million are exempt for services, which applies to most solo practices. An accessible website with good contrast, alt texts and keyboard navigation is still worth it: many of your patients depend on simple, clear pages, especially in a crisis. For video therapy, § 39 PThG 2024 requires the best possible digital accessibility anyway.

Checklist for your website

How to structure the rest of your website is covered in the post What belongs on a practice website. If you are just starting out, the guide Opening a psychotherapy practice in Austria will help. Doctors have their own post on the Impressum of a medical practice, and physiotherapists on the Impressum of a physiotherapy practice.