Semi-public and admitted or accredited entities

This project concerns the legal position of semi-public entities. Semi-public entities are defined as private bodies that perform an element of a public function or are institutionally linked to ‘traditional’ governmental authorities. Institutional relationships can exist through governmental shareholdings or the government’s power to give instructions, to approve decisions of the private entity, or to appoint or dismiss its directors. Government funding can also be seen as constituting an institutional relationship. Another important characteristic of semi-public entities is their performance of a public function. Semi-public entities are therefore situated at the intersection of public and private law. This raises questions about the divide between the two areas of law. This project especially concerns questions regarding the applicability of substantive-law standards, access to justice and public accountability and democratic control.

In the semipublic domain both public and private actors use their (legal) instruments to secure order and security, to protect visitors, personnel and their goods from harm. This project aims to answer the question to what extent non-governmental actors can legitimately contribute to public order and security on a local level. The first theme of this project concerns the legitimacy of the use of private law instruments for public policy goals and the applicable normative framework, derived from private law principles as well as public law principles. Consideration is given to the horizontal effect of human rights and sufficient mechanisms of checks and balances. Second, private actors also increasingly cooperate with governmental actors in order to create an ‘integral security policy’. This project aims to answer the question to what extent the government can control the use of private law instruments by these private actors. Which boundaries have to be taken into account in case of public-private-partnerships? To this regard, attention will be given to accountability of the different partners in the network.