On 12 December 2017, the Administrative Court No. 1 of Tarragona issued a new ruling concerning the EUCC of Planas del Rey.
This time, the court did not reconsider whether the EUCC should be dissolved. Its dissolution had already been ordered by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia in 2016.
The new ruling concerned the practical enforcement of that decision.
In simple terms: the issue was no longer whether the EUCC should disappear. For the court, it was already dissolved as a result of the 2016 judgment. The necessary steps now had to be taken to wind up the entity.
Several property owners request enforcement of the judgment
On 30 June 2017, several Planas del Rey property owners, grouped within the association SOS Planas, asked the court to enforce the decision issued in 2016.
The purpose of this procedure was to secure the effective implementation of the judgment of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia ordering the dissolution of the EUCC of Planas del Rey.
The application was directed against Pratdip Town Council and the EUCC.
The court confirms that the EUCC is already dissolved
In its ruling, the judge makes an essential clarification.
He explains that there is no longer any reason to debate whether the EUCC should be dissolved.
The dissolution follows directly from the judgment handed down in 2016.
The court also states that it is not for Pratdip Town Council to decide for itself whether the entity should be dissolved. The judicial decision has already done so.
The Town Council must therefore act on the basis that the dissolution has already taken effect.
In simple terms: the ruling of 12 December 2017 does not order a second dissolution. It orders the implementation of the dissolution that had already been decided by the courts.
The former governing body becomes the liquidation body
The court then clarifies what must happen to the EUCC itself.
Under the planning regulations cited in the ruling, the governing body of the EUCC becomes the body responsible for its liquidation.
Liquidation means completing the steps still required to bring the entity to an end: settling outstanding matters, closing its administrative and financial position and formally ending its operations.
From that point onwards, the former governing body is therefore no longer responsible for continuing the ordinary management of the development, but for completing the liquidation of the dissolved entity.
What this ruling does not decide
This is probably the most important point for understanding the document correctly.
The court expressly states that it does not rule, in this decision, on the obligations of the different parties following the dissolution of the EUCC.
In other words, the ruling does not state that all services, infrastructure or tasks previously carried out by the EUCC are automatically transferred to Pratdip Town Council.
Nor does it determine, in this procedure, who must from then on finance or maintain each network, facility or service in Planas del Rey.
In simple terms: the court is dealing here with one specific issue: the EUCC is dissolved and must be liquidated. The division of responsibilities after the dissolution is a separate matter.
Why this ruling matters
Even so, this ruling represents an important stage in the history of Planas del Rey.
After the 2016 judgment, uncertainty remained over how the dissolution was to be implemented in practice.
The court now clarifies that:
- the dissolution of the EUCC has already taken effect under the 2016 judgment;
- it is not for the Town Council to decide again whether the entity should be dissolved;
- the former governing body of the EUCC becomes its liquidation body;
- the future obligations of the Town Council, the property owners or the former EUCC are not decided in this ruling.
The decision therefore allows the legal winding-up of the EUCC to move forward, without immediately resolving all the questions surrounding the future management of Planas del Rey.
What should be remembered
The ruling of 12 December 2017 confirms one simple point above all: the dissolution of the EUCC decided in 2016 must now be enforced.
The entity does not have to be dissolved again by the Town Council. It has already been dissolved by court order, and its former governing body must now carry out its liquidation.
However, the judge does not state in this document that the Town Council automatically takes over the whole management of Planas del Rey.
This distinction is essential to understanding the actual scope of the ruling.
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
Original document
Ruling of the Administrative Court No. 1 of Tarragona dated 12 December 2017, notified in January 2018, concerning the enforcement of the dissolution of the EUCC of Planas del Rey.
