Translation of the medical expert report from the Disability Insurance Medical Observation Centre in the official language of the canton

Facts

The Geneva cantonal Disability Insurance Office (Office cantonal genevois de l'assurance-invalidité) refused to grant the benefits requested by [S.], a Portuguese national domiciled in Geneva. Seized of an appeal, the Cantonal Appeals Commission for Old Age and Survivors' Insurance, Disability Insurance and Compensation for Loss of Earnings (Commission cantonale de recours en matière d'AVS-AI-APG) of the canton of Geneva annulled the decision and referred the case back to the Disability Insurance Office for a medical assessment. As part of this additional investigation, [S.] was examined by the Disability Insurance Medical Observation Centre (Centre d'observation médicale de l'assurance-invalidité) in Bellinzona (COMAI), which issued its report in Italian.

[S.] requested a translation of the report from the Disability Insurance Office, which was refused. The Disability Insurance Office then rejected the request for benefits based on the COMAI's expert opinion. [S.] appealed this decision to the Commission, which ordered the Disability Insurance Office to have the expert opinion translated into French.

The Disability Insurance Office appealed this decision by way of administrative law appeal.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal considers the appeal to be admissible, as the requirement for a translation of the expert report could cause significant economic prejudice to the Disability Insurance Office.

On the merits, the Federal Tribunal finds that, in view of the principle of the territoriality of language (Art. 70 para. 2 Federal Constitution), it is…