Police detention centres 2.6 Police detention centres 2.6.1 Introduction Ten visits to police detention In 2019 the commissions carried out ten visits to police detention centres, to Vordernberg detention centre and to the special transit area of Schwechat Airport. The commissions mainly examined compliance with the stipulations for detention set forth in the decree of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of January 2018. The focus of the visits was on monitoring the fixtures and fittings and structural condition of the police detention centres as well as the implementation of the improvements envisaged by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. 2.6.2 New decree on detention enforcement and new hygiene directives As explained in its Report 2018 (p. 140 et seq.), the NPM recommended the Federal Ministry of the Interior in May 2016 and in December 2017 to implement the standards adopted by the working group on conditions in police detention centres. The decree of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of January 2018 deviated from these standards in some cases; regulations are also missing in places (see NPM Report 2018, p. 141 et seq.). Furthermore, neither the revision of the hygiene directives for police detention centres nor that of the Directive on Workplaces (Richtlinie für Arbeitsstätten) were complete at the beginning of 2019 (see NPM Report 2018, p. 142). Adaptation of the Directive on Workplaces In June 2019 the Federal Ministry of the Interior reported the completion of the revision of the Directive on Workplaces, which had taken over four years. The NPM was recently informed that the new directive should be released in spring 2020. From the point of view of the NPM, the incorporation of all of its recommended standards, which can only be realised through structural measures, requires the assessment of several specialist departments of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. However, without the release of the new Directive on Workplaces it is to be feared that, amongst others, the provision of rooms for table visits, the construction of privacy walls in the communal shower rooms and the physical separation of toilets in cells for multiple inmates in all police detention centres will be delayed once again. 151