Strech v. EUROCONTROL

The dispute arose from an employment dispute between a staff member and EUROCONTROL, the international organization established by the 1960 Convention relating to Cooperation for the Safety of Air Navigation. The applicant, employed at the organization’s establishment in Karlsruhe, challenged measures affecting his employment relationship before the German labour courts.

Before the Labour Court of Karlsruhe, the claimant sought to characterize the dispute as an ordinary employment matter falling within the jurisdiction of the German labour courts. He argued that, since the employment relationship was performed in Germany and bore similarities to a domestic employment contract, German courts should provide judicial protection.

EUROCONTROL objected, invoking its status as an international organization endowed with legal personality under international law and benefiting from immunity from national jurisdiction in matters concerning its internal administration. It maintained that staff relations were governed exclusively by its internal legal order and subject to review by the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILOAT), whose jurisdiction it had recognized.

The Labour Court upheld Eurocontrol’s objection and dismissed the action as inadmissible. It held that disputes concerning the internal service law of an international organization fall outside the jurisdiction of German courts. The Court emphasized that immunity in this context was functionally justified, as permitting domestic judicial review would undermine the organization’s institutional independence and the uniform application of its staff regulations.
On appeal before the State Labour Court of Baden-Württemberg, the claimant reiterated that the denial of access to German courts violated his right to judicial protection and that immunity should not extend to employment disputes of a private-law character. He also questioned whether the alternative remedy before the ILOAT constituted an adequate substitute for national judicial review.

The State Labour Court confirmed the first-instance decision. It reaffirmed that Eurocontrol’s immunity from jurisdiction covered disputes arising out of employment relationships governed by its internal service regulations. The Court reasoned that the organization’s establishment by treaty and its attribution of autonomous regulatory powers distinguished it from ordinary employers operating under domestic law. The existence of a recognized international administrative tribunal competent to hear staff disputes was regarded as reinforcing the compatibility of immunity with rule-of-law considerations.