[1] [2] Under the Austrian Art Restitution Act of 1998, the Republic of Austria has the mandate to proactively research movable art and cultural assets that were seized from their owners during the National Socialist era (e.g. in the form of art theft, looted gold or the Aryanization of property carried out by the Nazi state) in the federally owned collection holdings and to transfer them to the former owners or their legal successors.
[4][5] If a positive restitution decision is made by the Ministry, the current owners or legal successors may be sought and contacted by the commission.
The website contains information on investigations, research opportunities and the commission's series of publications since 2008.
[6] in 2018, it was discovered that a painting by Gustav Klimt, Apple Tree II, which had belonged to Serena Lederer, had been restituted by mistake to the wrong family.
[7][8] because the Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Board mistakenly confused the Klimt with a different painting.