Facts
The Swiss Union of Electrical Installers (USIE) is a professional association that has adopted a regulation establishing a fund for vocational training. By decree of December 2, 2005, the Federal Council has declared participation in this fund mandatory for all companies in the industry and has compelled them to pay training contributions.
X. is a joint-stock company registered in the commercial register of the canton of Geneva that operates a business for rapid repairs of neon signs. The USIE has claimed contributions to the fund from X. for the years 2007 and 2008.
The cantonal authorities have ruled that X. was exempt from the obligation to pay a contribution to the USIE fund as it was already paying a contribution to the vocational training costs of the Geneva State fund.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal has upheld the public law appeal filed by the USIE. It considered that the declaration by the Federal Council making participation in a vocational training fund mandatory for all companies in the industry has the effect of transforming the nature of the contribution, initially a private law matter, into a public law obligation.
Thus, only the public law appeal is available in this case. The Federal Tribunal ruled that company X. is required to pay the full annual contributions for 2007 and 2008 provided…