Information Note on the Court’s case-law 56
September 2003
Breisacher v. France (dec) - 76976/01
Decision 26.8.2003 [Section II]
Article 34
Non-governmental organisation
Application lodged by a person wishing to act in the defence of the interests of a local authority: inadmissible
The applicant was granted leave to claim civil damages in place of the City of Paris in a judicial investigation into misappropriation of which the City of Paris was alleged to be the victim in a public tendering procedure. The applicant took advantage of the possibility available to a taxpayer of a municipality to exercise, with leave of the administrative court, the actions which he believes the municipality should have brought but which it has failed to exercise.
Inadmissible under Article 34: The applicant is acting not in his personal capacity but in place of the City of Paris in defending the latter’s interests. Independently of the fact that the applicant is not the City of Paris’s legal representative, it has consistently been held that a municipality is a legal person governed by public law and must be classified as a governmental organisation: incompatible ratione personae.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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