Strategic litigation
Court cases
15. FOICA vs. Yerevan Urban Development & Investment Programs Department
19.06.2009
On February 27, 2009, the FOICA sent an information request to the “Yerevan Urban Development and Investment Programs Department” SNCO asking to provide the following information:
1. How much money was allocated to the Yerevan Urban Development and Investment Programs Department SNCO for 2006-2008 years’ State Budget?
2. Which organizations did the SNCO sign contracts with in 2006, 2007 and 2008?
3. What was the volume of the profit of the SNCO received from the signed contracts during 2006, 2007 and 2008 years?
1. How much money was allocated to the Yerevan Urban Development and Investment Programs Department SNCO for 2006-2008 years’ State Budget?
2. Which organizations did the SNCO sign contracts with in 2006, 2007 and 2008?
3. What was the volume of the profit of the SNCO received from the signed contracts during 2006, 2007 and 2008 years?
The SNCO answered that information included in the first question was published in the “State Budget” Law of the RA of the respective years, while the next two questions contain a commercial secret and not subject to be released.
On March 3, 2009, the FOICA appealed the SNCO’s answer to the RA Administrative Court asking to recognize the fact of violation of the right of FOICA to receive information and oblige the SNCO to provide the requested information. On July 15, 2009, the Administrative Court decided to postpone the hearing of the court case for an indefinite period, because the respondent was in the process of liquidation. However, the court session was resumed in November, 2009.
On May 5, 2009, the FOICA applied to the court of General Jurisdiction of Center and Norq and Marash administrative districts with another claim asking to impose an administrative penalty to the head of the SNCO. On June 6, 2009, this case was suspended until it would be made the decision on the case about recognizing the fact of violation of the right of FOICA to receive information and obligingthe SNCO to provide the requested information.
On the 20th of November, 2009 during the court hearing the FOICA representative Karen Mejlumyan fully pursued the claim. Whereas, the representative of the SNCO did not accept the precision of any of the FOICA’s claims, by fully objecting the claim.
On the 7th of December, 2009 the RA Administrative Court issued a decision, dismissing the FOICA’s claim.
The court had found that the SNCO had actually answered the FOICA’s request for information by giving a comprehensive answer to the first part of the request. As for the 2nd and 3rd parts, the answers contained commercial secrets, for even though the SNCO is a non-commercial organization and does not pursue any commercial interests, the organizations that the SNCO has contracts with do pursue commercial interests. So, if the SNCO provided the FOICA with that information, it would mean that it was publishing the commercial secrets of those organizations.
In December, 2009 the FOICA appealed the RA Administrative Court’s decision in the RA Court of Cassation.
On June 3, 2010, The RA Court of Cassation fully satisfied FOICA’s claim. The Court of Cassation annulled the RA Administrative Court’s decision over the case FOICA vs. Yerevan Urban Development and Investment Programs Department and sent it to a new exam.
On June 20, the court fully satisfied our claim vs. Yerevan Urban Development & Investment Programs Department obliging it to provide complete information within 5 days, as well as to compensate the state court taxes by the amount of 24,000AMD paid by the FOICA.
On November 8, 2011 the RA Administrative Court of Appeal denied the appeal of “Yerevan Urban Development & Investment Programs Department” SNCO with regards to the FOICA vs. the SNCO case.
The SNCO appealed the denial of the RA Administrative Court of Appeal in the RA Court of Cassation. On January 18, 2012, the RA Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of the SNCO against the denial of the RA Administrative Court of Appeal, and the RA Administrative Court's decision of June 20 remaind in force. On March 29, 2012, the SNCO finally provided the information, which was the subject of court case.
The case about imposing an administrative penalty to the head of the SNCO., which was suspended on June 6, 2009, was resumed on March 12, 2013. The court case was handed to the RA Administrative Court from the court of General Jurisdiction of Center and Norq and Marash administrative districts. The first court hearing took place on August 15. The next court hearing will take place on December 10, 2013, at 12:00.