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If a private individual wishes to use public property, they may require a permit. This may be a task such as collecting signatures for a popular initiative. The following blog post explains what qualifies as public property and accordingly, when a permit is required. For further information, please contact a lawyer for administrative law in Switzerland.
Financial assets indirectly serve the fulfillment of public tasks through their asset value or earnings. Examples are real estate, securities or even pastureland. Our lawyers for administrative law in St. Gallen, Zurich or Frauenfeld can provide you with more detailed information on administrative assets.
Public assets are categorized into financial assets and public assets in the strict sense. Strictly speaking, public assets serve directly to fulfill public tasks and are defined against the public assets in common use and administrative assets. Public assets in common use include public roads, squares, waters, airspace, etc. Like the administrative assets, public assets in common use indirectly serve the fulfillment of public tasks. Unlike administrative assets, they are not at the disposal of state bodies or a specific group of users, but only of the general public.
Public property in the public domain is made available for use by the general public. There are different ‘intensities’ of use, some of which require a permit. Simple public use is the typical public use and includes driving on roads, walking on sidewalks, riding on dirt roads or swimming in public waters. This common use must be in accordance with the intended purpose and it must be compatible with the common good. Intended use means that the use is based on the dedication of the property to the public, meaning it is handed over to the general public for a specific purpose. The use is deemed suitable to the public if it does not impair other persons in the exercise of the public use or only insignificantly, especially for a short period of time. An example of simple public use is the collection of signatures for a popular petition on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich on a Saturday afternoon with three people. As a public space, the Bahnhofstrasse is intended to facilitate the expression of popular opinions. Thus, it is in line with these regulations. It does not interfere with other pedestrians’ access to the Bahnhofstrasse (since there are only three people collecting signatures), which makes it a common use. Simple public use is permitted without a permit and is typically free of charge. However, the canton can charge a control fee. A further form of intensity of use is the increased public use. To be defined as increased public use, at least one of the two criteria of simple public use is not met, i.e. the use is line with the intended purpose or not compatible with the community. A petition on the Bahnhofstrasse on a Saturday afternoon with three people and a stand would not be in the public interest, since the stand would interfere with the general pedestrian access to the Bahnhofstrasse. The general public can demand a permit requirement for an increased public use, whereby a fee is charged. This requirement varies from canton to canton, as Art. 8 Para. 1 of the police regulations of the city of St. Gallen exemplifies, requiring a permit for increased public. If you are unsure whether your case is classified as simple public use or increased public use, please contact a lawyer for administrative law in Zurich, Frauenfeld or St. Gallen.
Finally, there is the special use, which is not dependent on regulations or public interest. The special use excludes other people from the use of the public property in question. A demarcation to the public use is determined by a duration of exclusion. The simple public use allows only short-term boundaries to be imported on public spaces whilst the increased public use assumes a longer exclusion and the special use, in turn, presupposes a long-term exclusion. A lawyer specializing in administrative law in Frauenfeld, St. Gallen or Zurich can help you to distinguish between the special use and public use. Special use requires a permit and can be declared subject to a concession fee for the community. Again, the example of the regulations in the city of St. Gallen are helpful. According to Art. 8 para. 1 of the police regulations, special use also requires a permit. It also requires the granting of a concession by the city council (Art. 8 para. 2 Police Regulations).