Administrative District Authority Völkermarkt regarding definition of the “place-name sign”, respectively, “end of city limits sign” for the municipalities of Ebersdorf/Drveša vas, Bleiburg/Pliberk and Schwabegg/Žvabek stipulated providing the place names in Slovenian only on additional signs beneath the respective monolingual placename signs. In these cases as well, the Constitutional Court ruled in December 2007 that the installation of place names in Slovenian on additional signs violates the law. Despite these rulings, the additional signs in these municipalities, which were originally installed beneath the place-name signs, were “screwed into” the place-name signs. Due to reports in the media, the AOB initiated an official investigative proceeding in order to bring its misgivings to the attention of the Constitutional Court. In the opinion of the AOB, this form of signage does not comply with the principle, which can be derived from the law relative to ethnic/national groups and minorities, that German designations and designations in the language of the ethnic/national group and/or minority be coequal and not be used in a discriminatory way. Therefore, the AOB again filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court to overturn the respective directives of the local authorities. AOB initiates investigative proceeding Discrimination due to gender PUBLIC TRANSPORT TICKETS FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE The AOB has been handling an increasing number of complaints because men can purchase senior public transport passes only from the age of 65, while women can purchase them from the age of 60. Since August 2008, Austria has a statutory prohibition against discrimination with regard to goods and services. In 2009, the Equal Treatment Commission determined that differentiated discounts for men and women represent a direct discrimination based on gender. Social benefits are excluded from this ruling. Different age limits do not represent positive measures to promote equal treatment/status of women. Nevertheless the appropriate tariff regulations have not been changed so far. Tariff regulations represent discrimination 41