Information Note on the Court’s case-law 27

February 2001

Ayuntamiento de Mula v. Spain (dec.) - 55346/00

Decision 1.2.2001 [Section IV]

Article 34

Non-governmental organisation

Application brought by town council: inadmissible

The applicant, a municipality, complained of a Supreme Court judgment granting a private individual ownership rights over a property which allegedly belonged to the municipalit y itself.

Inadmissible under Article 6 § 1: Local authorities had consistently been regarded by the Convention institutions as public-law bodies performing tasks entrusted to them by the Constitution or by statute. As such, they were “governmental organisa tions”, a term used to designate any national authority – whether central or decentralised – that discharged public duties. Nor could a municipality be treated as a person or a group of individuals. Such an interpretation would be incompatible with the dis tinction drawn in Article 34 between non-governmental organisations and persons or groups of individuals. Lastly, the fact that municipalities, like natural persons or non-governmental organisations, were entitled to take part in court proceedings to prote ct their property rights was not a sufficient reason to afford them equivalent treatment where Article 34 was concerned: inadmissible ratione personae .

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court .

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