🇦🇹 Austria — Know the Law

Monument Protection Act · Denkmalschutzgesetz (DMSG), BGBl. Nr. 533/1923 idF BGBl. I Nr. 41/2024

Facts verified 2026-08-31

This guide is informational, not legal advice. Laws change and individual cases differ — when in doubt, contact BDA or read the official law text.

What the law says

§Searching for archaeological monuments on the spot — whether by disturbing the ground, by USING METAL DETECTORS, by systematic measurements or by other archaeological prospection methods — is prohibited without a permit from the Bundesdenkmalamt (Art. 10 para. 1).
§On plots where protected archaeological monuments are located, ANY use of a metal detector without a permit is prohibited — the purpose of your search makes no difference there (Art. 10 para. 2).
§Use of a metal detector alone on land without a protected archaeological monument is, according to the BDA, generally permitted only when the purpose is not to discover archaeological objects or monuments. This does not amount to a general permission to metal detect: landowner consent and other local restrictions still apply.
§A permit is granted only if the research is led by a person who has completed a relevant university degree and is carried out and documented to current archaeological standards (Art. 10 para. 5). This is not an ordinary hobby licence.
§Archaeological monuments are as a rule to be left undisturbed in the ground; excavations are permitted only in narrow cases such as an overriding scientific interest or unavoidable construction works (Art. 10 para. 4).
§The Bundesdenkmalamt publishes a digital list of protected immovable and archaeological monuments, compiled annually as at 31 December (Art. 3 para. 3) — check it before you search.
§Objects from a search made without the required permit can be declared forfeited (Art. 37 para. 3); a find whose owner is unknown and which was apparently the object of an offence under this Act passes into federal ownership the moment it is found (Art. 34 para. 1).

Found something old? Five steps

1Stop and leave the find site unchanged — from the moment of discovery its preservation is in the public interest (Art. 9 para. 1).
2Report the find to the Bundesdenkmalamt WITHOUT DELAY (Art. 8 para. 1). The report may instead go to the district administrative authority, the nearest federal police station, the mayor or a publicly accessible museum, which must forward it (Art. 8 para. 2).
3Record the context without moving anything — in DetectMap: GPS pin, photos in situ, depth, notes. Objects that could go missing from the site must be kept safe by the finder (Art. 9 para. 1).
4Leave the site untouched until the end of the FIFTH WORKING DAY after your report reaches the Bundesdenkmalamt; if within that time the office declares the significance at least probable, the protection continues for a further EIGHT WEEKS (Art. 9 paras. 1 and 2).
5On request, make the finds available to the Bundesdenkmalamt for up to two years for scientific evaluation and documentation (Art. 9 para. 3).

Do

✓ Check the published list of protected immovable and archaeological monuments (Art. 3 para. 3) BEFORE you search a plot — on such plots any detector use without a permit is prohibited.
✓ Get the landowner permission before you search — a separate civil-law requirement that no official permit replaces. Track it in DetectMap Properties.
✓ Report an archaeological find without delay, even when you came across it by chance (Art. 8).
✓ Log GPS, depth and photos for every find; context is what makes a find scientifically valuable — and it is what the office will ask about.

Don’t

✗ Never search with the aim of finding archaeological remains without a permit — that is punishable by a fine of up to EUR 25,400 and the objects found can be declared forfeited (Art. 37 para. 3).
✗ Never switch on a detector on a plot with protected archaeological monuments — fine up to EUR 5,000, whatever you were looking for (Art. 37 para. 4).
✗ Never leave a find unreported, and never alter the find site or fail to secure the objects — each is punishable by a fine of up to EUR 5,000 (Art. 37 para. 4).
✗ Never count on time passing: the limitation period only starts once the office learns of the act and identifies the person responsible, and it runs for five years from the end of the act (Art. 37 para. 9).

Official sources

Denkmalschutzgesetz (DMSG), BGBl. Nr. 533/1923 idF BGBl. I Nr. 41/2024 — full text Bundesdenkmalamt (BDA) — regional offices & contacts

More countries are on the way — the guide you see follows where you detect.