The Verbotsgesetz 1947 (Prohibition Act 1947), abbreviated VerbotsG, is an Austrian constitutional law originally passed on 8 May 1945 (Victory in Europe Day)[1] and amended multiple times, most significantly in February 1947 and in 1992.

To underpin the prohibition, the Verbotsgesetz itself, though constitutional law, comprises several penal provisions classifying any act of (re-)engagement in National Socialist activities (Wiederbetätigung) as a punishable offense.

[3] The Austrian legal scholar and judge Wilhelm Malaniuk justified the admissibility of the non-application of the nulla poena sine lege principle with regard to the Verbotsgesetz: "Because these are criminal acts that violate the laws of humanity so grossly that such lawbreakers are not entitled to the guarantee function of the offense.

With the public mood shifting from considering Austria as a perpetrator of Nazi aggression to one of its victims, calls to end the endless process of almost two years of self-reflection grew louder.

Up to today numerous verdicts are handed down by Austrian courts based on the Verbotsgesetz, most notably the conviction of David Irving at the Vienna Landesgericht für Strafsachen on 20 February 2006.