Some Aspects of Ensuring the Right to a Fair Trial in the Resolution of Disputes Arising from Public Service Relations

Abstract

The focus is placed on specific aspects of ensuring the right to a fair trial in the resolution of disputes arising from public service relations.

The objective of this study is to identify the peculiarities of resolving public service-related disputes, which are influenced by the form of administrative proceedings applied by the courts, and to determine whether such peculiarities may lead to violations of the guarantees of the right to a fair trial, particularly the guarantee of a public hearing.

Based on an analysis of the provisions of the Code of Administrative Proceedings, it is concluded that courts tend to prefer the rules of simplified claim proceedings when adjudicating public service disputes (except in cases where, considering other factors, the application of general claim proceedings would enable the court to more effectively fulfill the objectives of administrative justice). In simplified proceedings, the preferred procedural form for deciding the case on the merits is written proceedings, which do not involve a court hearing (oral hearing). In certain cases, such a form of adjudication may result in the disregard of some guarantees of a fair trial, particularly the guarantee of a public hearing.

The relevance of this research stems from the fact that administrative courts frequently apply simplified claim proceedings in such disputes, within which written adjudication is prioritized. This, in turn, may lead to limitations in the realization of one of the key guarantees of a fair trial — the public nature of court proceedings. In the context of European standards of justice, as enshrined in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, this situation requires thorough analysis.

The study aims to identify the specific features of applying forms of administrative proceedings in public service cases and to assess their impact on compliance with the guarantees of public hearings. The methodological basis of the research is the dialectical method, which enabled a comprehensive analysis of the issues related to determining the form of administrative proceedings in public service cases and the potential impact of such a choice on the realization of the right to a fair trial. The formal-legal method was used to determine the content of the legal norms of the Code of Administrative Proceedings and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and to analyze their application in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and Ukrainian courts. The formal-logical method served as a basis for identifying shortcomings in national legal regulation and for seeking ways to overcome them. The comparative legal method allowed for a comparison of approaches to ensuring the publicity of court proceedings, as established in European standards of justice, in cases adjudicated under simplified claim proceedings. The case study method was applied due to the specificity of the chosen topic, which involves the examination of real court cases — disputes arising from public service relations and adjudicated by administrative courts in Ukraine.