Administrative Procedure under the Legislation of Ukraine and Certain Foreign Countries (Comparative Legal Study)

Abstract

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to analyse the experience of regulatory definition of administrative procedures in foreign countries. It characterizes models of systematizing procedural legislation in certain developed countries worldwide and in Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on Ukraine adopting a model of systematizing administrative procedural legislation that involves the adoption of a general act on administrative procedure with the preservation of the priority of special legislation. This approach aligns with the recommendations of the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union, particularly Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)7 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of June 20, 2007, to member states on good administration, and the European Parliament Resolution of January 15, 2013, with recommendations from the Commission on Administrative Procedure Law in the European Union. The latter document envisages that the general act on administrative procedure should contain a universal set of principles and outline a procedure applicable as de minimis provisions when there is no lex specialis. The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of legal regulation of administrative procedures under the laws of foreign countries. It is argued that updated legislation should include referral norms that clearly address the legal practitioner (other subjects endowed with administrative-procedural legal status) to a specific procedure defined by sectoral legislation. This is particularly relevant to cases handled by administrative authorities on their own initiative. The study uses the comparative legal method to establish the common and distinctive features of legal regulation of administrative and procedural legislation of foreign countries. The author examines the peculiarities of legal regulation of administrative procedures in certain European countries. It is noted that the implementation of legislation on administrative procedure in Ukraine should be carried out using the existing experience of countries where the relevant changes have already been implemented. It is emphasized that in the future, attention should be focused on the formation of a homogeneous national law enforcement practice, which is determined by a unified approach to the interpretation of procedural law. Based on the study, the author formulates the following conclusions and makes recommendations: at the initial stage, it is worthwhile to establish communication between representatives (officials) of administrative bodies and judges of administrative courts with a view to taking a number of measures to ensure effective implementation of domestic administrative procedure legislation; to ensure data exchange within the administration and to identify practical problems which may arise in the process of harmonization of the entire array of legal acts around the basic Law of Ukraine "On Administrative Procedure".