The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses is a statutory instrument that regulates the public attitude towards holding a subject liable. The code stipulates the list of all offenses (the list can be added to on the local level, by the way), information about the bodies that look into such cases, the order of bringing to justice, and the order of carrying out the rulings.
Administrative offenses fall within administrative cases, also known as cases of administrative jurisdiction, a public law dispute lies in their core, and they belong to the jurisdiction of administrative courts. These are the cases connected with the actions or lack thereof of the bodies that exercise supervisory functions or provide administrative services under the law.
The practice of administrative offenses case proceedings falls within the jurisdiction of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, the Code of Administrative Legal Proceedings of Ukraine, and numerous by-laws that regulate the actions of the public law relations participants. Since there are many statutory instruments and the responsibility in the majority of the cases is minor, lots of people decide that it is better to pay the fine than engage in a long and costly fight for legal rights. We believe this point of view to be faulty and are ready to help you protect your rights through consultations and representation of your interests when the court or other organs try the case.
Such cases are tried by the administrative commissions with the executive committees of the village, settlement and city councils and their officials, district, city district, municipal and district, and city courts (judges), and, in the cases stipulated by the Code, by local administrative and commercial courts, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court, bodies of the National police, bodies of state inspections and other bodies (officials), so authorized by the Code.
Opening of an administrative offense case
Since the moment an authorized person establishes the fact of an administrative offense and it gets registered in a relevant procedural instrument document, the trial of a case of an administrative offense begins. The protocol of the administrative offense is considered the procedural instrument. The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses stipulates the draw up procedure and the contents of the protocol of an administrative procedure. The protocol is compiled in two copies (in each case), one to be handed against receipt to the subject of administrative sanctions. In certain cases, the protocol of the offense isn’t drawn up, for instance, for the administrative offenses that fall within the jurisdiction of the National police and the offenses in the sphere of traffic safety registered automatically. Article 285 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses stipulates the complete list of such cases.
Administrative offense: trial of the case
According to the general rule, administrative offense cases are tried at the venue of their committal. There are exceptions though. For instance, the cases on exceeding the speed limit by more than twenty kilometers per hour, or on violation of the requirements of the road signs and roadway marking are tried at the venue of the place of registration of the vehicle or the place of residence of the offender.
The trial of the administrative offense case begins with the announcement of the structure of the panel or presentation of the authorized person to review a particular case and concludes with the rendition of the ruling in the case that can be appealed in a superior body or the court and this possibility must be stated in the ruling. The ruling of the judge can be contested in the court of appeal. An appeal is looked into within twenty days of the day of the case’s arrival with the court.
Administrative cases are tried in district administrative courts and local general jurisdiction courts.
Administrative cases concerning challenging decisions, actions, or lack thereof of the subjects of authority in the cases of bringing to administrative responsibility are in the competence of local administrative courts, administrative cases concerning the challenging of the decisions, actions or lack thereof of the subjects of authority by either a physical or a legal person – in the competence of district administrative courts. The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses contains the exhaustive list of the cases that fall within the competence of local courts of general jurisdiction, administrative courts, and district administrative courts.
Administrative cases: types
Cases on administrative offenses are classified as follows:
- Administrative cases of minor complexity (minor case), typical and example administrative cases. The case that contains controversy concerning the participants and subject matter of legal relations does not require preliminary proceedings or a court hearing for the full and comprehensive coverage of the factual background.
- Typical administrative cases are the cases where the responder is the same subject of authority (its separate structural units), the dispute emerges on similar grounds, in relations that are subject to the same legal norms, and in which the plaintiff files the same claims.
- The example administrative case is a typical administrative case taken for proceeding by the Supreme Court as the court of the primary instance to issue an exemplary ruling. The Supreme Court of Ukraine website contains the list of the Supreme Court decisions in example cases.
Administrative cases are tried in compliance with the rules of simplified or action proceedings. Minor cases, except for the ones stipulated in the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. are tried in compliance with the rules of the simplified proceedings. Separate categories of the administrative cases of undetermined complexity are reviewed by the court without notifying the participants and contesting the failure to respond to the inquiry or a request for information. Certain categories of complex administrative cases require special proceedings. For instance, complex administrative cases on contesting the legitimacy of the actions or lack thereof of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are tried in simplified proceedings by the Supreme Court in the composition of the panel of the Administrative Cassation Court. As a result of the review of the administrative case, the court renders the judgment.
The court rulings in administrative cases are divided into the following types:
- Orders;
- Decisions;
- Resolutions.
Orders to set aside the complaint, open the proceedings in an administrative case, suspend (postpone) the proceedings, close the proceedings, etc., are drafted in a separate document. The orders come into force immediately after being pronounced. Court decisions are drafted both in printed and electronic versions, contain introductory, descriptive, justificatory, and operative parts, and are pronounced in a court hearing to conclude the proceedings. Court decisions come into force upon expiration of the time limit to appeal for all the participants of the case and provided the appeal isn’t filed.
Currently, judicial practice in cases of administrative offenses changes pretty rapidly. For instance, in early 2020 for the contestation of the order on administrative offense required no court fee, but in compliance with the ruling of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of March 18, 2020, Docket 543/775/17, the Supreme Court decided that filing a lawsuit on the overturning of the order on the administrative offense requires paying the court fee in the amount of 0.2 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons (in 2020 that was 420.40 hrn).
Our legal company has provided qualified assistance in the field of protecting the rights and interests of the person for many years. We keep track of changes in judicial practice in cases of administrative offenses constantly, therefore, by using the services of our qualified experts, you will save your time and money. Our attorneys are ready to answer your questions or come to provide legal aid at any time.