EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW PRINCIPLES Unit 8

Preview  Administrative law  Reliability and accountability  Openness and transparency  Accountability  Efficiency and effectiveness  Legal terms

Administrative law  The set of principles and rules applying to the organization and management of public administration and to the relations between administration and citizens

Main administrative law principles  1. Reliability and predictability  2. Openness  3. Accountability  4. Efficiency and effectiveness

Reliability and predictability (Legal certainty or judicial security)  The rule of law  Legal competence  Administrative discretion  Proportionality  Procedural fairness  Timeliness  Professionalism and professional integrity

Rule of law  The absolute predominance of regular law, so that the government has no arbitrary authority over the citizen:  equal subjection of all (including officials) to law administered by courts  Citizens’ personal rights and freedoms are protected by law

Legal competence  Public authorities can only decide on matters for which they have legal jurisdiction  Power to decide on an issue of public interest which legally enables the public authority not only to take decisions but also to take responsibility

Administrative discretion  Discretionary decisions – within a legal framework, some degree of choice left to the decision-maker  Law cannot foresee every circumstance in future situations

Principles governing the exercise of discretion  To act in good faith  To pursue the public interest in a reasonable way  To follow fair procedures  To uphold the requirement of equal treatment  To respect the notion of proportionality

Proportionality  A principle of the EU law requiring that action taken by the EU does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the EC Treaty  Originally developed by ECJ, it is now incorporated into Article 5, together with subsidiarity

Proportionality  Administrative action should be proportionate to the end pursued by the law, without depriving citizens of more than is strictly necessary for achieving that end  Reasonableness  Example: compulsory purchasing orders (expropriation) – individuals are deprived of property rights for the sake of public interest

Proportionality  Breach of the principle of proportionality can be used as a ground for judicial review of acts of the EU institutions  In order to be proportionate, action must be appropriate, necessary, and not impose an excessive burden on those affected by it

Procedural fairness  Procedures safeguarding accurate and impartial application of the law, and attention to social values, such as respect for persons and protection of their dignity

Timeliness  Supports the principles of predicatbility and reliability  Delays of public administration – frustration, injustice or severe harm for both public interest and private interests; associated with inefficiency and incompetence of civil servants

Timeliness  Clear time limits within which things must be done

Professionalism  Professional integrity: impartiality and professional independence  Absence of bias  Legal provisions prohibiting civil servants from getting involved in decisions affecting matters in which they may have a personal or vested interest

Professionalism  Bribery, duress, uncontrolled political ambition – causes for the loss of independence

Professionalism  A civil service system where civil servants have a specific statute regulating their right to career advancement, setting up rights and duties, fair and well-regulated income, sound disciplinary provisions

Openness and Transparency  Openess: administration – available for outside scrutiny  Transparency: adminstration can be “seen through” for the purpose of scrutiny and supervision

Openess and Transparency  1) Allow anyone affected by an administrative action to know its basis;  2) render outside scrutiny of administrative action by supervisory institutions easier

Openess and Transparency  Necessary instruments for the rule of law, equality before the law, and accountability

Openess and Transparency  Protect the public interest as they reduce the likelihood of maladministration and corruption  Essential for protecting individual rights

Openness and Transparency  An administrative act or decision should be accompanied by a statement of reasons: all the facts and evidence, as well as the legal justification

Openness and Transparency  Statement of reasons – important when an application from an interested party is being rejected; grounds and sufficient degree of justification to enable the interested party to prepare an appeal against the administrative decision

Accountability  Any administrative body should be answerable for its actions to other administrative, legislative or judicial authorities

Accountability  No authority should be exempt from scrutiny or review by others  Review by the courts, appeal to a superior administrative body, investigation by an ombudsman, inspection by a special board or commission, scrutiny by a parliamentary committee

Accountability  Essential to ensure values such as efficiency, reliability and predictability of public administration  Enhances the rule of law  Protects individual rights and public interest

Efficiency  A managerial value consisting of maintaining a good ratio between resources employed and results attained

Effectiveness  Ensuring that the performance of public administration is successful in achieving the goals and solving the public problems set for it by law and government

Administrative law principles  Not formalized in written laws or systematized in a code  Ethically and legally binding

Legal terms  Reliability  Pouzdanost  Predictability  Predvidljivost  Arbitrariness  Samovolja, proizvoljnost  Proportionality  Načelo razmjernosti

Legal terms  Scrutiny  Nadzor, temeljito ispitivanje  Supervision  Nadzor, kontrola  Accountability  Odgovornost

Legal terms  Efficiency  Učinkovitost  Effectiveness  Operativnost, uspješnost, postizanje željenih rezultata  Binding  obvezujući

Put the verbs in brackets into the appropriate forms:  Timeliness in the action of public administration strongly ____(support) the principles of predictability and reliability. Delay of public administration in ___(make) decisions and ___(take) action can cause frustration, injustice or severe harm for both the public interest and for private interests.

Key  Timeliness in the action of public administration strongly supports the principles of predictability and reliability. Delay of public administration in making decisions and taking action can cause frustration, injustice or severe harm for both the public interest and for private interests.

Put the verbs in brackets into the appropriate forms  Delay can ___(result) from inadequate resources or lack of political resolve. But often it ____(associate, passive) with inefficiency and incompetence of civil servants. Legal rules can help to alleviate the problem by ____(set out) clear time limits within which things must ____(do, passive).

Key  Delay can result from inadequate resources or lack of political resolve. But often it is associated with inefficiency and incompetence of civil servants. Legal rules can help to alleviate the problem by setting out clear time limits within which things must be done.

Fill in the missing words: bias, civil, integrity, Professional, relies  Professionalism and professional___ in the ___ service supports the notions of reliability and predictability of public administration. ___integrity of civil service ____ upon the notions of impartiality and professional independence. Impartiality refers to the absence of ____.

Key  Professionalism and professional integrity in the civil service supports the notions of reliability and predictability of public administration. Professional integrity of civil service relies upon the notions of impartiality and professional independence. Impartiality refers to the absence of bias.

assessing, domain, inclination, interest, particular, right, unjustified  Within the public administration ___, bias means having an___ in favour of a___ outcome in ___ a given situation, causing as a consequence an ___or unfair detriment to the general ____ or to the ____ of other interested parties.

Key  Within the public administration domain, bias means having an inclination in favour of a particular outcome in assessing a given situation, causing as a consequence an unjustified or unfair detriment to the general interest or to the right of other interested parties.

Translate  Pokušaj utvrđivanja administrativnih načela uglavnom je pravni po svojemu usmjerenju. Dokument SIGMA započinje tezom da je unatoč nacionalnim razlikama moguće dogovoriti zajedničku definiciju upravnog prava kao: “niza načela i pravila koji se primjenjuju na organizaciju i upravljanje javnom upravom, te odnosima između uprave i građana.”

Translation  Europski sud pravde ima važnu ulogu u oblikovanju tih zajedničkih načela upravnog prava: “Može se reći da danas postoji zajednički acquis zakonskih načela upravnog prava koja je razvio Europski sud pravde.” Glavna načela upravnog prava zajednička zapadnoeuropskim zemljama mogu se sistematizirati na sljedeći način:

Translation  1. Pouzdanost i predvidivost (pravna i sudbena sigurnost. Dokument opisuje brojna načela i mehanizme upravnog prava u nastojanju da se iskorijeni proizvoljnost u vođenju javnih poslova: pravna država; pravna sposobnost, upravne diskrecione ovlasti (sloboda odlučivanja); načelo razmjernosti; načelo proceduralne pravičnosti; pravovremenost; profesionalizam i profesionalni integritet (poštenje).

 2. Otvorenost (uprava je dostupna vanjskoj kontroli) i transparentnost (kroz upravu se može “vidjeti” u svrhu kontrole i nadzora)  3. Odgovornost: svako tijelo javne uprave treba odgovarati za svoje postupke drugim upravnim, zakonodavnim ili sudbenim vlastima

 4. Učinkovitost (vrijednost u upravljanju koja se u osnovi sastoji u dobrom odnosu između uloženih sredstava i postignutih rezultata) i uspješnost (kojom se osigurava da je rad javne uprave uspješan u ostvarivanju ciljeva i rješavanju javnih problema koje određuju zakon i vlada).

 Ove zajedničke temeljne vrijednosti i načela javne uprave dovele su do približavanja nacionalnih javnih uprava. Treba primijetiti da navedena upravna načela nisu formalizirana u obliku pisanih zakona, ili sistematizirana u zakoniku. No, ona su ipak etički i pravno obvezujuća.

 Prema dokumentu, postoji “zajednički acquis koji se sastoji od načela upravnog prava, koji bismo mogli nazvati neformalizirani acquis u smislu da ne postoji formalna konvencija.” Taj neformalizirani acquis snažno pridonosi europeizaciji nacionalnih uprava i upravnog prava zemalja članica EU i učvršćuje “europski administrativni prostor” u nastajanju.