Public duties

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Public tasks are areas of activity of authorities and legal entities under public law that are carried out in the interest of the general public or the common good .

General

The term "public tasks" comes from Hans Peters , who saw a significant interest of the public in the fulfillment of these tasks. “Public tasks” is an indefinite legal term that has to be filled in by jurisprudence and case law . Of the three meanings of the legal term “public”, the view for non-private institutions to which certain state tasks are assigned applies in this context. Public tasks represent a concretization of constitutional goals of the state as they emerge from Articles Art. 20 , Art. 20a , Art. 73 , Art. 74 , Art. 87 , Art. 87a , Art. 87d , Art. 87e , Art. 87f GG result. According to the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of December 1974, public tasks mean “those tasks which the community has an increased interest in fulfilling, but which are of such a nature that they can neither be effectively carried out on the basis of private initiative, nor in the narrower sense What counts are state tasks that the state itself has to perform through its authorities. "

Scope and institutions

Municipal services of general interest are at the heart of public tasks . Based on the French term “services publics”, Art. 106 (2) TFEU speaks of “services of general economic interest”. These are defined as "market services that are provided in the interest of public authorities therefore by the Member States subject to specific public service obligations." Contractually was enshrined the interest at European level with the Treaty of Lisbon to in Art. 14 regulated TFEU "services of general economic interest ”.

According to § 2 GemO NRW, the municipalities in their area are the exclusive and responsible public administration bodies . Therefore, they are entitled and obliged to perform all public tasks in their area. All other regional authorities such as rural districts or municipal associations also perform public tasks. Even institutions (ipc) and public bodies (KöR) are required for the performance of public duties. It is at the discretion of the state to decide, in the case of public tasks, "which of these tasks the state does not perform through its authorities , but through specially established public-law institutions or corporations". Therefore, public broadcasting corporations also fulfill a public task as AöR, which lies in the presentation of radio programs. According to German legal developments, the organization of radio broadcasts is a public task. Savings banks as AöR also take on public tasks, which are referred to here as a public mandate . Also, Chambers of Commerce (KöR) perceive public functions.

In May 2009, the BVerfG expanded the group of addressees for public tasks to include companies organized under private law. “This principle, which was initially pronounced for legal persons under public law, also claims to be valid for legal persons under private law if they are predominantly owned by the public sector”. When assessing whether these requirements are met, the state has a wide discretion. “How the state wants public tasks to be carried out is generally a matter of its own free discretion, although to a certain extent it also depends on the nature and weight of the individual task. There is a wide range of possibilities here, ranging from the free profession with public law requirements to professions that are fully integrated into the direct state organization, i.e. represent 'public service' in the true sense. "

Categories of public tasks

The public tasks are often broken down according to their content or their objectives. The main categories of public tasks are:

  • Tasks that affect the relations between the sovereign authorities (especially states) (e.g. external security, international relations),
  • Tasks that organize the relationships within the agency and the members of society with one another (internal security and order),
  • Tasks that ensure the ability of the political-administrative system of the sovereign task holder to act (e.g. tax collection, holding elections),
  • Tasks that concern the general interest of the members of society (e.g. running schools, social security systems),
  • Tasks that are aimed at controlling social development and its natural framework conditions towards specific goals (e.g. integration policy, economic development , sustainability ).

species

The distinction between direct and indirect fulfillment of public tasks also goes back to Hans Peters . If the municipality carries out the tasks directly through its own authorities, if it is a matter of direct fulfillment, if the public tasks are carried out by institutions that are dependent on it, there is an indirect fulfillment of public tasks.

A distinction is also made between compulsory and voluntary tasks . The compulsory tasks include the indispensable components of services of general interest and the tasks assigned by law to the municipalities; non-vital areas of activity are voluntary tasks. Voluntary tasks, as opposed to compulsory tasks, are those that the administrative bodies and courts can freely dispose of not only with regard to “how” but also with regard to “whether”. In the case of the tasks assigned to the municipalities by law, a distinction is made again between “duty-free duties” and “duty-bound duties”.

aims

The fulfillment of public tasks aims to serve the satisfaction of collective needs, regardless of which form of organization or action a public administration uses. The fulfillment of public tasks is in the public interest , because public tasks are activities that are carried out in the interest of the general public or the common good. Public tasks also include uneconomical areas of activity that could not be carried out effectively or only inadequately through private initiative. It therefore requires sovereign activity to enforce these tasks.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Peters, Public and State Tasks , in: R. Diez / H. Hübner, Festschrift for Hans Carl Nipperdey , Volume II, 1965, p. 878
  2. ↑ Michael Eziger / Matthias Witt, Public Logistics , 2008, p. 16 ff.
  3. ↑ Michael Eässig / Matthias Witt, Public Logistics , 2008, p. 17
  4. ↑ BVerfGE 38, 281, 299
  5. ↑ BVerfGE 38, 281, 299
  6. ↑ BVerfG, judgment of July 27, 1971, BVerfGE 31, 314
  7. ↑ BVerfGE 12, 205, 205
  8. ↑ a b BVerwG, judgment of June 23, 2010, Az .: 8 C 20.09
  9. ↑ BVerfG, decision of May 18, 2009, Az .: 1 BvR 1731/05
  10. ↑ BVerfGE 17, 371, 377
  11. ^ Manfred Rehbinden, Legal Sociology , 7th edition, Munich 2009
  12. ↑ Dirk Ehlers / Walter Krebs, Basic Questions of Administrative Law and Local Law , 2000, p. 87
  13. ↑ Hans Peters, Public and State Tasks , in: R. Diez / H. Hübner, Festschrift for Hans Carl Nipperdey , Volume II, 1965, p. 879
  14. ↑ Michael Mroß, Business Administration in the Public Sector , 2015, p. 11
  15. ↑ BVerfGE 91, 186, 206
  16. ↑ Jörg Bogumil / Werner Jann, Administration and Administrative Science in Germany , 2008, p. 65