Bulli v Foreign and Commonwealth Office

• Jurisdiction: Italia
• Date: 16 Settembre 1981
• Court: Examining Magistrate (Italy)

Italy Examining Magistrate (Pretore) of Venice.

Bulli

and

Foreign and Commonwealth Office of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland1

Sovereign immunity Foreign States Consular employee Citizen of receiving State employed as commercial officer Contract of employment Termination of Action for unlawful dismissal Whether foreign State entitled to jurisdictional immunity Classification of employment relationship Acts iure imperii and iure gestionis Whether export promotion by foreign State a sovereign activity The law of Italy

Summary: The facts:The plaintiff, an Italian subject, was employed at the British Consulate in Venice as a commercial officer with the task of promoting the sale of British goods in Italy. He was responsible to the British Embassy and ultimately to the Foreign Office. On being dismissed from his post he instituted proceedings against the defendant for unlawful dismissal. The defendant applied to the Examining Magistrate of Venice for a preliminary judgment suspending the proceedings pending an appeal to the Court of Cassation for a declaratory judgment that the Italian Courts lacked jurisdiction by virtue of the principle of the jurisdictional immunity of foreign States and their agencies.

Held:The application was granted and the proceedings were suspended.

On the basis of the evidence available the duties performed by the plaintiff were correlated with the institutional aims of the Foreign Office, with the result, that he had participated in the public activity of the foreign State which had employed him. As a commercial officer he had furthered the public interest of the British Government in encouraging British exports rather than the private interest of British firms in exporting their products, which could be served by local commercial agents appointed by the firms themselves. The prima facie classification of the employment relationship in question was therefore such as to provide well-grounded reasons why the defendant could be entitled to jurisdictional immunity.

The following is the text of the judgment of the Court:

By means of an appeal lodged on 15 July 1981, in which he stated that he had been employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as marketing officer at the British Consulate in Venice since 1 January 1965 and that he had received a letter of dismissal on 22 June 1981, which became effective on 30 September 1981 Dario Bulli, considering his dismissal to he unlawful, requested the undersigned Magistrate to give judgment against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office...