They were based in Germany on the Prussian municipal tax bill of 14 July 1893 and in Austria on state law regulations.
Currently, the Austrian state of Vorarlberg is executing Hand- und Zugdienste on the level of the municipalities regularly.
[6] According to the respective municipal regulations, basically there are two versions of executing the mandatory services for the drafted citizens: in some municipalities the citizens can choose, if they participate in manual work for the community or if they prefer to pay additional taxes as a substitute to the compulsory community work.
In other communities, the administration transferred the work to private companies, so every citizen, that is in age to be drafted, has to pay the additional substitute tax.
They are public service obligations within the scope of the German Constitution[10] and are not contrary to the prohibition of compulsory labor, if the following conditions are fulfilled: