Information Note on the Court’s case-law 12
November 1999
Municipal Section of Antilly v. France (dec.) - 45129/98
Decision 23.11.1999 [Section III]
Article 34
Non-governmental organisation
Application lodged by a "communal section": inadmissible
The applicant is a local authority district. Such entities are defined as being part of a local authority with their own property and rights and separate legal personality. The applicant is represented before the Court by its property administration committee whose role, in the circumstances laid down by statute, is to manage its assets. In 1994 the applicant resolved through its property administration committee to purchase a parcel of land. That resolution was ruled null and void by an administrative court, which held that the property administration committee did not have decision-making powers in this sphere. Before the Conseil d’État the applicant complained, inter alia, that the proceedings before the administrative court had been unfair as, owing to a lack of financial resources, it had been unable to seek representation by counsel. The Conseil d’État dismissed its appeal.
Inadmissible under Article 6 § 1 and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. A local authority district had the characteristic features of a public-law legal entity, in particular, in that it administered collective assets and rights in the general interest of the local population. It was consequently a “governmental organisation” and therefore did not come within the classes of potential applicants listed in Article 34 of the Convention. To the extent that it acted in its own name, the property administration committee was defending collective interests and was therefore distinguishable from the “groups of people” having a common interest referred to in Article 34: inadmissible rationae personae.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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