Recovering Municipal Debts

Municipal non-payment cases share a pattern. A supplier or contractor performs work for a local authority, invoices are issued, and payment is not made. Domestic litigation eventually produces a favourable ruling. The ruling is not enforced. The creditor waits.

In this pattern, the ECHR route is not a substitute for domestic action — it is its logical continuation. Once the domestic ruling is final and internal enforcement has failed, the Convention case can be built. The Court has consistently found that municipalities are agents of the State for these purposes: the State is responsible for their non-payment.

ONRIGHTS handles these cases end-to-end: eligibility review, drafting, filing, representation, and where the ruling is favourable, follow-up with the Committee of Ministers on execution. The recovery does not always require a final ruling — in many cases the State pays before Strasbourg finishes its work.