As Austria is a member state of the EEA, EEA passporting rules apply into and out of Austria. An institution authorized to perform financial services in a member state under a local license may carry out regulated activities in other member states, including Austria. This enables the institution in question to provide cross-border services and establish a branch in the host member state.

An EEA financial institution intending to passport into Austria is required to file a notification and certain documentation with its home country regulator, which will forward the notification and documents to the FMA (being the competent regulatory authority within Austria). The institution may then be permitted to render their services in Austria through an Austrian branch (under the freedom of establishment passport) or cross-border into Austria (under the freedom of services passport) without being required to obtain an Austrian license.

Similarly, an institution authorized to perform financial services in Austria under an Austrian license may carry out business in other EEA member states by means of passporting. For this purpose, the institution must submit a notification together with any required documentation to the FMA, which will then be passed on to the regulatory authority of the respective host member state.