Administrative justice is an area of law that is still not very well known among lay people. However, this does not mean that it is not used. On the contrary, administrative courts are overburdened and the Supreme Administrative Court is crying out for strengthening. What is on the agenda of the administrative courts and how can they help the average citizen?
An administrative authority is a public authority that carries out administrative activities on behalf of the state. Its main function is to decide on administrative matters in accordance with the applicable legislation. This includes, for example, issuing permits, deciding on applications and providing information to the public.
Administrative authorities are divided into non-official type administrative authorities (e.g. municipal councils) and official type administrative authorities, which include many of the administrative authorities we commonly encounter, such as the building authority, the Czech Social Security Administration or the Financial Administration.
An administrative act is then a specific decision of an administrative authority which aims to regulate the rights or obligations of specific persons or entities. An example of an administrative act may be a building permit, an award of a social benefit or an assessment of a tax amount.
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We deal with administrative authorities on many different issues in the course of our lives: building permits, tax proceedings, trade licence proceedings, misdemeanour proceedings, issuing various certificates and so on.
If you think that an official has not made a fair and lawful decision in your case, there is a possibility to appeal or lodge an appeal directly within the administrative procedure and have the decision reviewed.
Tip: We have discussed how to defend yourself against a decision in an administrative procedure in our separate article.
According to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, our citizens are guaranteed the right to judicial review of decisions of public administration bodies, so the decision of an administrative body does not have to be the end of the matter. Within our judiciary, there is a whole system of administrative courts that are ready to review an incorrect administrative decision and, if necessary, to advocate its change.
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The administrative justice system can be decided either by regional courts within their administrative agenda (the administrative court is not a special separate court building, but is an agenda within the ordinary regional court) or by the Supreme Administrative Court.
According to statistics, 60% of the agenda of administrative courts also reaches the Supreme Administrative Court, which is currently overloaded. The Supreme Administrative Court, like some other important legal institutions, is based in Brno.
The Regional Court, as an administrative court, decides:
The Supreme Administrative Court then decides on extraordinary appeals against decisions of regional courts – i.e. on cassation complaints. It thus unifies the case law on administrative law. However, it can also rule as an administrative court of first (and only) instance in certain cases, namely:
In addition, it is also a disciplinary court for judges, bailiffs and public prosecutors.
Tip: Are you interested in how the Supreme Administrative Court works and decides? Then you must not miss our next article.
The peculiarity of the Czech legal system in the field of administrative justice is its two lines, each of which has a different agenda and follows different rules. Until 2002, the legal regulation of administrative justice was governed by Part Five of the Code of Civil Procedure. However, with the adoption of the Administrative Procedure Code, the regulation of administrative justice was transferred to a separate procedural rule and Part Five of the Code of Civil Procedure was given a new content. Under this legal provision, civil, labour, family and commercial matters are now dealt with, but they used to be decided by the administrative authorities.
The key to determining the administrative rules and the competent court is whether the administrative authority was dealing with private or public rights. However, you will certainly not make a mistake if you consult a lawyer about the correctness of the procedure.
If you are dealing with your subjective rights, such as disagreements with bills from telecommunications operators, energy disputes or disputes concerning the land register, you must bring an action before the civil court (the civil section of the district court), which proceeds in accordance with Part Five of the Code of Civil Procedure.
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If your matter concerns, for example, taxes, construction proceedings, tax offences, trademarks or competition, it is a classic administrative procedure and an action is brought before the Administrative Court and the Administrative Procedure Code is followed.
In the case of the most common agenda, i.e. actions against decisions of administrative authorities, if the court grants the action, it annuls the contested decision and returns the case to the administrative authority with a binding legal opinion for further proceedings. In this case, therefore, the court does not replace the annulled decision of the administrative authority.
The parties to the dispute here are not two private persons, but the applicant (who may be a natural or a legal person) and the administrative authority which took the decision at last instance. In some cases, the circumstances may indicate that other persons who may be affected by the proceedings before the court should also be involved.
However, different rules apply in the case of proceedings under Part Five of the Code of Civil Procedure. The proceedings are a new hearing of a private-law dispute which was originally before an administrative authority. The applicant cannot seek annulment of the administrative decision and referral of the case back for a fresh hearing. On the contrary, the action may be settled by a judgment on the merits replacing the original contested decision of the administrative authority. However, this must be the purpose of the statement of claim (the so-called petition), so it is worth having a lawyer prepare the claim to avoid incorrect wording. The party to the proceedings is not the administrative authority, but the applicant and those who were parties to the proceedings before the administrative authority.
Administrative justice plays a key role in protecting citizens’ rights against decisions of administrative authorities. It allows review of those decisions and ensures that the public administration acts in accordance with the law. The double-track nature of the Czech legal system offers two ways to defend against decisions – either through administrative proceedings or through the Civil Procedure Code. If you want to increase your chances of success, we recommend contacting an Accessible Lawyer to provide you with the assistance you need.
Has the court ruled against you and do you want to fight it? We will assess your chances of success and take care of preparing an appeal, appeal or constitutional complaint depending on the proceedings and their stage.
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