Selling into Austria through distributors

How the market buys

Austrian public procurement is governed by the Bundesvergabegesetz 2018 (BVergG 2018), and buyers publish on the procurement platforms they choose rather than on one national portal. What ties them together is open data. A buyer publishes notices and award announcements by providing metadata and a core-data source (Kerndaten) in an open, machine-readable format under a free licence; the metadata is registered on data.gv.at. The federal government's business service portal (USP) builds on this: its Ausschreibungssuche searches all notices published under the BVergG 2018, wherever the tender itself runs, free of charge and without registration.

The Bundesbeschaffung GmbH (BBG) is the central purchasing partner for the federal government and also works for the Länder, cities and municipalities, publicly owned companies and health and education institutions. It runs the procurement procedure on its customers' behalf, and authorised public buyers then order from the agreements it concludes.

For a manufacturer the consequence is that Austrian buyers deal with companies that can tender in German, invoice in Austria and deliver and service locally, or with suppliers that are party to a BBG agreement. In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (September 2026), 74% of the winners in the 1,391 notices from buyers in Austria were companies registered in the country (96% across the 30 EU and EEA countries); those local winners include distributors and dealers as well as manufacturers' own local subsidiaries — see our methodology.

Lawful first contact

Austria is strict on e-mail. Under § 174(3) TKG 2021, sending electronic mail, including SMS, for direct marketing without the recipient's prior consent is unlawful. The only exception, in § 174(4), covers existing customers: contact details obtained in a sale, marketing of your own similar products, a free and simple opt-out at collection and in every message, and no prior refusal by the recipient — for example by registering in the list kept by the regulator RTR under § 7 of the E-Commerce-Gesetz, which persons and companies can join free of charge. Cold calls for advertising also need prior consent (§ 174(1)).

The rule makes no exception for businesses. The Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) states that the rules on direct marketing apply equally to B2B and B2C and that electronic direct marketing to win new customers is not allowed without consent. It also counts as advertising an e-mail introducing your company to potential customers, a cooperation request to a potential business partner, and a request for permission to send material. An e-mail asking a distributor whether it would like to see your range is therefore covered. Complaints about advertising e-mail can be filed with the Fernmeldebüro, the telecoms enforcement office.

What works: a letter by post to the managing director or purchasing manager, in German (the WKO notes that postal direct marketing to prospective customers is in principle permissible on the basis of legitimate interest, with a privacy notice); the sector's trade fair; and an introduction through a partner, an association or an existing customer. Once a distributor has written to you, you can correspond by e-mail.

What local distributors expect

Before listing a new manufacturer, Austrian distributors will want:

• German-language documentation — technical sheets, instructions and commercial terms — ready for a tender response.
• Conformity evidence under EU rules — CE marking and declarations where the product is regulated, and test reports against the standards named in the tender documents.
• A clear territory — Austria on its own or with a neighbouring market — and an open discussion of exclusivity.
• Prices that hold for the length of a framework agreement, and dependable lead times.
• Service, spare parts and returns handled close to the customer, and references, ideally from public buyers.

How to enter, step by step

1. Find who already wins your category. In TED's advanced search, set the buyer country to Austria, the notice type to results and add your CPV codes; the companies named in the award notices are your shortlist. Cresques runs this search for the CPV categories you choose. Below the EU thresholds only federal buyers must announce awards, from EUR 50,000 and within 30 days (§ 66 BVergG 2018); buyers of the Länder and municipalities have no such duty. The USP Ausschreibungssuche covers the announcements that are made, free of charge and without registration.
2. Check whether the BBG buys it. The Bundesbeschaffung GmbH lists its planned and current tenders on its website, and suppliers can register free of charge to be told about tenders in their range. Its procedures are electronic and run on the ANKÖ portal, with offers signed by qualified electronic signature; where a distributor already holds a BBG agreement for your category, authorised public buyers order through it.
3. Prepare German documentation. Technical sheets, instructions and commercial terms in German, in a form a distributor can attach to a tender response.
4. Assemble conformity evidence. CE marking and declarations where the product is regulated, and test reports against the standards Austrian tender documents name.
5. Make the first contact by letter, at a fair or through an introduction. Write by post, in German, to the managing director or purchasing manager, with a privacy notice; or meet the distributor at the sector's trade fair, or ask a partner, an association or a customer to introduce you. Do not send a first e-mail or make a cold call: both need prior consent under § 174 TKG 2021.
6. Prepare the first meeting. Come with a territory proposal (Austria alone or with a neighbouring market), a position on exclusivity, prices you can hold for the length of a framework agreement, lead times you can keep, a plan for service, spare parts and returns close to the customer, and references, ideally from public buyers.
7. Follow up within the rules. Once the distributor has written to you, continue by e-mail. Until then, follow up by letter or at the next fair rather than by e-mail or phone.

Where the evidence comes from

Above the EU thresholds — EUR 140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government bodies and EUR 216,000 for other public authorities from 1 January 2026 — Austrian buyers must publish contract award notices, and those notices appear on TED, the online supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Each notice names the winning company and carries CPV codes. Austria adds a national layer: under § 62 BVergG 2018 the buyer must also announce each awarded contract (except call-offs under a framework agreement below EUR 50,000) within 30 days as open data and keep it available for at least five years, and the USP search covers those announcements (Bekanntgaben).

Cresques reads the award notices on TED for the CPV categories you choose and shows who already sells that category in Austria. It does not help you bid for the contracts; the notices are evidence of who the buyers already trust, and the lawful first contact above is how you reach them.