Enforcement against the public administration
Abstract
In Germany, there are legal provisions that allow the citizen to enforce court decisions against the public administration. They are regulated in Sections 170 to 172 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (VwGO). The law distinguishes between the enforcement of money claims of the citizen against the state and the enforcement of other obligations imposed on the state. Money claims against the state can be enforced by seizing government bank accounts or the mayor’s company car.
In order to fulfill its other obligations, the state may be suspended by the court through the imposition of periodic penalty payments. Other public obligations include the prevention of disturbing noise at night, the imposition of driving bans on polluting motor vehicles and compliance with rules on the protection of aliens. The article uses these three examples to illustrate how courts can and must impose penalties on the administration to enforce judicial decisions.
The article concludes that there are special legal rules in Germany that allow the enforcement of court decisions against the administration. The court can therefore not only decide in favor of the citizen, but can also enforce the citizen’s rights against the state by ordering enforcement measures. The procedures are rather rare. They account for 1 to 2 percent of court cases. However, the procedures are important in order to make the legal protection in favor of the citizen effective.
References
Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, Vollstreckung, Zwangsgeld, Geldforderungen, sonstige Verpflichtungen des Staates
BVerwG, Urteil vom 27.2.2018 – 7 C 30.17 – NJW 2018, 2067.
BVerwG, Urteil vom 27.2.2018 – 7 C 26.17.
VGH München, Beschluss vom 27.2.2017 – 22 C 16.1427 – DVBl 2017, 781.
VG München, Beschluss vom 29.1.2018 – M 19 X 17/5464.
VGH München, FAZ vom 27.8.2018.
VG Stuttgart, Beschluss vom 26.07.2018 – 13 K 3813/18.
VG Stuttgart, Beschluss vom 23.8.2018.
VG Gelsenkirchen; bestätigt durch OVG Münster, Beschl. v. 15.8.2018 – 17 B 1029/18.
VG Gelsenkirchen, Beschluss vom 3.8.2018 – 8 L 1412/18 und 8 M 80/18.
Deutschland erhebt die Zahl nicht. In Frankreich wurden im Jahr 2017 insgesamt 3 530 verwaltungsgerichtliche
Entscheidungen getroffen, die die Vollstreckung gegen die öffentliche Hand betreffen. Das sind etwa 2% der Gesamtzahl von 200 000 Verfahren – Conseil d' Etat, Rapport public 2018, S. 187.