The ÖSD is the Republic of Austria's examination system for German as a foreign language, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the Republic of Austria, and state-funded.

The Common European Framework of Reference distinguishes three broad bands of competence ("Basic", "Independent" and "Proficient"), each divided into two levels for a total of six levels. Levels are identified with letters from "A" to "C" in increasing order of proficiency, subdivided by numbers from "1" to "2": the minimum level is therefore "A1", while the maximum level is "C2".

For detailed information: Official ÖSD website