Admission to commercial representation before the Administrative Court

Facts

The complainants [A.] and [B.] lodged a complaint against the decision of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Thurgau, President, of 29 January 2014, with which they were not admitted as representatives of the individual company [C.] and [D.] before the Administrative Court.

The individual company [C.] had lodged an appeal against a ruling of the Office for the Environment of the Canton of Thurgau of 19 August 2013, which was rejected by the Department for Construction and the Environment of the Canton of Thurgau with a decision of 21 August 2013.

Against this decision, the individual company [C.] or its owner [D.] , represented by [A.] and [B.] , lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Thurgau.

The President of the Administrative Court informed [A.] that professional representation by him and [B.] was inadmissible because they were not admitted lawyers.

[A.] and [B.] claimed that they should be admitted as representatives because the lawyer's monopoly provided for the Administrative Court was contrary to federal law.

Considerations

The Federal Court examines the admissibility of a legal remedy ex officio and with free cognition.

The requirements for the complaint in public law matters are met, as the contested decision concerns a public law matter within the meaning of Art. 82 lit. a FSCA and no exception pursuant to Art. 83 FSCA is given.

The complainants are entitled to lodge a complaint because they participated in the preceding proceedings and are particularly affected by the contested decision as directly affected parties.

The lower court stated that the Confederation had provided for the principle of lawyer's monopoly in civil and criminal proceedings for all cantonal courts, but the cantons determined whether the lawyer's monopoly applied before their cantonal administrative courts.

The Canton of Thurgau had reserved professional representation and representation before the Administrative Court to lawyers admitted according to the Federal Law on Lawyers in § 9 Abs. 3 of the Law on Administrative Justice of 23 February 1981.

The complainants complained that the lawyer's…