s assets to another legal person. On the other hand, a municipal unitary enterprise enjoys independence in its operational activities and the authorities are not responsible for its debts under domestic law.
55. In deciding whether the municipal company's acts or omissions are attributable under the Convention to the municipal authority concerned, the Court will have regard to such factors as the company's legal status, the rights that such status gives it, the nature of the activity it carries out and the context in which it is carried out, and the degree of its independence from the authorities (see, mutatis mutandis, Radio France and Others v. France (dec.), No. 53984/00, ECHR 2003-X (extracts), with further references). The Court will notably have to consider whether the company enjoyed sufficient institutional and operational independence from the State to absolve the latter from its responsibility under the Convention for its acts and omissions (see Mykhaylenky and Others, cited above, § 44, and, mutatis mutandis, Shlepkin v. Russia, No. 3046/03, § 24, 1 February 2007).
56. As regards the company's legal status, the Government argued that municipal enterprises are incorporated under the domestic law as separate legal entities and that the State is absolved from the responsibility for its debts, save in a limited number of cases specified in Article 56 of the Civil Code. In the Court's view, the company's legal status under the domestic law, however important, is not decisive for the determination of the State's responsibility for the company's acts or omissions under the Convention. Indeed, on several occasions, the Court has held the State liable for companies' debts regardless of their formal classification under domestic law (see, among others, mutatis mutandis, Mykhaylenky and Others, cited above, § 45; Lisyanskiy v. Ukraine, No. 17899/02, § 19, 4 April 2006; Cooperativa Agricola Slobozia-Hanesei v. Moldova, No. 39745/02, §§ 18 - 19, 3 April 2007; Grigoryev and Kakaurova v. Russia, No. 13820/04, § 35, 12 April 2007; and {R. Kayapor} and Others v. Serbia, Nos. 2269/06, 3041/06, 3042/06, 3043/06, 3045/06 and 3046/06, § 98, 15 January 2008). Accordingly, the applicant company's domestic legal status as a separate legal entity does not, on its own, absolve the State from its responsibility under the Convention for the company's debts.
57. As regards the company's institutional and operational independence from the State, the Court notes the Government's argument that the degree of the State's involvement in the company's activities cannot be equated with that in the Mykhaylenky and Others case (cited above). At the same time, the Court notes that the company's independence was limited by the existence of strong institutional links with the municipality and by the constraints attached to the use of the assets and property. The Court notes in this respect that the city of Yakutsk was the company's owner in accordance with domestic law and retained ownership of the property conferred to the company. The Town Council approved all transactions with that property, controlled the company's management and decided whether the company should have continued its activity or been liquidated.
58. The company's institutional links with the public administration were particularly strengthened in the instant case by the special nature of its activities. As one of the main heating suppliers in the city of Yakutsk, the company provided a public service of vital importance to the city's population. The company's assets were withdrawn from circulation and enjoyed special status under the domestic law.
59. The Court notes that the relations arising from the management of communal infrastructure of vital importance were qualified by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation as public in
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