4.  The applicants are entrepreneurs who obtained from the local authorities in Leova licences (patenta) to offer services such as selling various types of goods at the local marketplace. All the applicants offered their services on the territory of a private marketplace (L.) situated in the centre of Leova and which had received its licence in 1996. The local authorities authorised the offering of services on the territory of L. from Monday to Saturday. Another marketplace, owned by the State (U.), was open on Sundays, but was situated far from the centre and was inconvenient to many sellers and the population.
5.  The applicants and L.’s owners asked the local authorities for a change in work schedule, allowing them to work on Sundays and to have their free day on Monday, as was the case of many similar marketplaces in other towns. However, the local authorities rejected on a number of occasions such a change, invoking various sanitary, public order and other reasons. According to the applicants, the real reason for the refusal was the protection of U.’s interests, since Sunday was the most lucrative day of the week. Accordingly, many private entrepreneurs felt obliged to offer their services also at the State-owned marketplace, thus having to incur additional costs and suffering from the rudimentary conditions of work on the territory of U.
6.  On 31 January 2005 the general meeting of entrepreneurs (which included the applicants) decided to ask the local authorities to allow them to work on Sundays and to rest on Mondays. They submitted their request to L.’s owners, who on 8 February 2005 complained to the mayor of Leova, referring to the decision of 31 January 2005 and requesting an authorisation of a change in the work schedule of the marketplace.
7.  On 2 March 2005 the Leova city council adopted its decision no. 2.2, rejecting “the requests of citizens of Leova who work on the territory of [L.] and have business licences”. The reasons were that work on Sunday would cause traffic problems and would disturb the nearby population, including a school and a hospital. The decision was printed a stationery with the heading of the mayor’s office. The stamp on the decision was applied by the Leova mayor’s office and bears the date 29 March 2005.
8.  On 4 April 2005 the general meeting of entrepreneurs (including the applicants) expressed its disagreement with the decision of 2 March 2005. On the same day the 191 entrepreneurs working on the territory of L., including the applicants, declared a strike and decided to submit an official request for a change in their work schedule.
9.  Accordingly, on 4 April 2005 the entrepreneurs submitted their request to the “Leova regional council”. They asked, inter alia, for the annulment of the decision 2.2 adopted by the city council on 2 March 2005 and explained that they had not been offered proper working conditions on the territory of U.
10.  On the same date the applicants sent a preliminary request to the Mayoralty of Leova. In it, the applicants made a similar description to that in their complaint made mentioned in paragraph above. They asked for the annulment of decision no. 2.2 adopted by the city council of the Leova Mayoralty.
11.  On 6 April 2005 the Leova city council discussed at its meeting the demands of the entrepreneurs and of L.’s administration, made in their request of 4 April 2005. According to the applicants, L.’s director was allowed to address the councillors and spoke about the applicants’ demands. After discussing the issue, the city council adopted its decision no. 3.1 in which it took note of the applicants’ demands and decided that L. was to work in accordance with the decision of the Leova city council no. 2.2 of 2 March 2005.
12.  On 12 May 2005 the mayor of Leova replied to the complaint of 4 April 2005. The mayor informed the entrepreneurs that an answer to their demands had already been given by the Leova city council in its decision no. 3.1. of 6 April 2005, “namely that [L.] shall work in accordance with the decision of the Leova city council no. 2.2 of 2 March 2005”.
13.  On 28 May 2005 the 191 entrepreneurs, including the applicants, lodged administrative court proceedings, asking for the annulment of the decision of 2 March 2005. They argued that their rights had been affected by that decision and that its aim was the protection of U.’s interests. They annexed copies of the preliminary request addressed to the mayoralty, of their complaint made on 4 April 2005 to the Leova city council, and of the reply of the mayor’s office of 12 May 2005 (see the preceding paragraph).
14.  On 5 July 2005 the Leova District Court found in favour of the entrepreneurs. The court established that L.’s activity on Sundays did not cause any kind of sanitary, traffic or other problems and that the decision of 2 March 2005 was contrary to anti-monopoly legislation. It also accepted in full the applicants’ request for compensation for their legal costs of 15,000 Moldovan lei, a sum which they had paid to the lawyer for representing them in this case. The Leova city council appealed.
15.  By its final decision of 20 October 2005 the Cahul Court of Appeal quashed the lower court’s judgment and decided to strike out the court action lodged by the entrepreneurs. It explained that the entrepreneurs had submitted their preliminary complaint to the mayor, while the decision which they sought to annul had been adopted by the city council of the Leova mayoralty. Therefore, Article 14 of the Law on administrative proceedings (see paragraph 17 below) had not been observed since the complaint had to be submitted first to the authority which had adopted the impugned decision. The court added that the applicants no longer had the right to complain against the decision of 2 March 2005.