The Social Body Concerned and Administrative Litigation. The Stages of a Dispute
The Social Body Concerned and Administrative Litigation. The Stages of a Dispute

Author(s): Dan Constantin Mâţă
Subject(s): Administrative Law
Published by: Societatea de Stiinte Juridice si Administrative
Keywords: administrative litigation; interested social body; association; legitimate public interest; legitimate private interest;
Summary/Abstract: The notion of social body is provided in the Romanian Constitution, in connection with the fulfilment of the Government's duties, and defined in Law no. 554/2004 of the administrative litigation. This category includes non-governmental structures, trade unions, associations, foundations and any other private legal person, the object of activity of which is the protection of the rights of different categories of citizens or, as the case may be, the proper operation of public administrative services. The law of administrative litigation assimilates the notion of social body to that of a person injured by a public authority by means of an administrative act or by the failure to settle a request within the legal term. Through the action drawn up, the social body may claim the damage of a legitimate public interest or of the legitimate rights and interests of certain natural persons. Considering these legal provisions in the doctrine and case law of administrative litigation, a long dispute has emerged regarding the category of litigation triggered by the action filed by the social body. In one case, it was considered that we are in the presence of an objective litigation, and therefore the social body can file the action on the basis of a damage to a legitimate public interest, without the possibility to claim damage compensation. In another case, representing the majority in both the doctrine and case law, it was stated that the action filed by the social body triggers a subjective litigation, and therefore the petitioner must justify the injury of a subjective right or of a legitimate private interest. The High Court of Cassation and Justice clarified this issue regarding the situation in which the subject of referral to the administrative litigation court is represented by an association. By Decision no. 8/2020, a second appeal was settled in the interest of the law, being established that an association, as social body concerned, can claim the legitimate public interest alternatively to the claiming of a legitimate private interest. The article analyses, from a critical perspective, the evolution of this controversy in relation to the main doctrinal approaches and to the tendencies of the case law in this matter .

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