Veterinary Directorate/ Public Veterinary Service
Dr. Hofrat Harald Fötschl
Friedrichgasse 9, 8010 Graz,06.Bez.:Jakomini
Phone: +43 (316) 877-4400
Fax: +43 (316) 877-3373
E-Mail: veterinaerwesen@stmk.gv.at
1. Submission of documents
Office of the Styrian Provincial Government
Department 8 Health and Care
Friedrichgasse 9, 8010 Graz,06.Bez.:Jakomini
Telefax: +43 (316) 877-3998
E-Mail: abteilung8@stmk.gv.at
2. Online forms
Land Steiermark offers online forms for the submission of various applications. For an overview of all forms, please see https://egov.stmk.gv.at/
3. Digital submissions
You can also contact us by electronic means (e-mail, fax or online form), but please note the technical requirements. Any matters submitted by electronic means outside our office hours will only be received and processed when our office staff resume work again. This means that the submission will be deemed to have been submitted and received only at that time.
Tasks and responsibilities
Following a decision of the Constitutional Court of 13 December 1950, veterinary service includes the measures required to maintain the state of health of animals and to combat the diseases affecting them, and also to avert the dangers indirectly threatening human health from animal husbandry and from the utilisation of animal carcasses and animal products. Another task of the veterinary service is to ensure that, through appropriate control measures, animals are protected from unnecessary pain, harm and suffering during their keeping, transport, slaughter and killing. Together with the official veterinarians working for the district administrative authorities, the Veterinary Directorate/ Public Veterinary Service provides the following core services:
- Monitoring and control of animal diseases
- Monitoring and control of zoonoses (= diseases transmissible from animals to humans)
- Monitoring national, intra-community and third-country trade in animals, semen, ova, embryos, animal products (e.g. meat, milk, eggs) and animal by-products (e.g. hides and skins, slaughterhouse waste, blood, fat, meat-and-bone meal)
- Monitoring the compliance with animal welfare regulations in the keeping, transport, slaughter and killing of animals
- Organisation and control of ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection
- Control of compliance with hygiene regulations during the production of food of animal origin
- Control of the disposal of animal carcasses and the disposal or utilisation of other animal by-products
- Control of compliance with feed law regulations on agricultural holdings
- Monitoring the proper use of veterinary medicinal products
To effectively fulfil these tasks and responsibilities, the Veterinary Directorate runs a laboratory for parasitological, microbiological and serological examinations and manages an animal disease fund, a transport inspection fund and a meat inspection fund.
Through the comprehensive information, instruction, further education and training of the official veterinarians, the Veterinary Directorate seeks to ensure sound official veterinary expertise and, by exercising professional supervision over this group of professionals, guarantee uniform implementation of the veterinary regulations throughout the State.
The office of the Styrian Animal Health Service is also located in the Veterinary Directorate. The aim of this association is to minimise husbandry-related impairments and the use of veterinary medicines in animal production and to promote the quality and safety of foods of animal origin.