Facts
The case concerns a claim for benefits filed by [F.] on 30 June 2006 with the Disability Insurance Office of the canton of Fribourg. The administrative procedure was conducted exclusively in French and the decision was rendered on 14 May 2008 in the same language. [F.] filed an appeal with the Social Insurance Court of the Cantonal Court of the canton of Fribourg on 17 June 2008, but wrote his appeal brief in German. The AI office requested that the procedure be conducted in French and requested a French translation of the appeal brief. The Cantonal Court found that the procedure had to be conducted in French and refused to derogate from the rules of the Fribourg Code of Administrative Procedure and Jurisdiction, requiring [F.] to translate his appeal brief into French under penalty of not being considered.
[F.] filed a public law appeal against this judgment, requesting its annulment and the referral of the case to the Social Insurance Court of the Cantonal Court of the canton of Fribourg so that it could consider his appeal. The AI office concluded that the appeal should be dismissed.
Considerations
The Court examined the issue of freedom of language in proceedings before cantonal authorities, in particular art. 17 al. 2 of the Constitution of the canton of Fribourg, which allows a party to address an authority whose competence extends to the entire canton in the official language of their choice. The Court considered that this provision constitutes an exception to the principle of territoriality and that cantonal authorities must accept requests written in one of the two official languages of the canton.
The Court also examined the preparatory work of the Fribourg Constitution and found that the Fribourg Constituent Assembly clearly expressed its intention to establish the free choice of official language in relations with cantonal authorities as a…