Strasbourg/Vienna - The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) said Friday that corruption was common in Austria and legal measures against it were still in the early stages, according to a spokesman and a report presented in Strasbourg.

In the construction business, in political life and in public administration, such practices were common occurrences, said a spokesman for GRECO, which was founded by the Council of Europe.

Although Austria had initiated some anti-corruption measures, "overall, the country is still at an early stage of the fight against corruption," the report said.

Experts at GRECO, which is made up of 46 European countries and the United States, based their report on a review of Austrian legislation, as well as questionnaires and interviews with officials.

In the private sector, the report said there were some instances of organized corruption.

While some Austrian officials hardly acknowledged the issue, GRECO wrote, others admitted that there was a problem that also occasionally involved prosecutors, police and tax officials.

"Overall, the police and prosecutorial bodies are perceived as not being independent enough and/or strongly politicized," the experts said.

GRECO criticized the fact that the government had no special anti- corruption programme.

The new Austrian government is planning to set up an agency to fight corruption, but funding has not yet been secured.

This year, the watchdog group Transparency International ranked Austria as the country perceived to be the 12th least corrupt in the world, ahead of Germany and Britain, but lagging behind the top- ranked Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden.

The experts recommended Austria's government start dealing with the problem through a comprehensive study on the scale of corruption.

They also called for enhanced coordination among institutions. (dpa)