Consideration of an administrative offense

While criminal law isn’t something every person comes to deal with, the case of administrative law is different. Now, what is administrative law? It is the area that regulates the relations in the process of implementing the functions by the state bodies. In other words, nearly every interaction with the public authorities falls within the regulations of the administrative law.

This field is pretty specific because various categories of cases get tried in different courts.

Administrative offenses cases  cover a large number of case categories of various complexity with the defining feature being the presence of the public law dispute.

Public law dispute is:

• The dispute that stems from public law relations;
• The dispute where the parties are the subjects of the public law relations;
• The disputes connected to the pursuit of the public interest;
• The object of the dispute is a decision, action, or lack thereof of the subjects of public law relations that violate or may violate the rights, freedoms, and interests of other subjects.

Private law differs from public law in the presence of public, private, proprietary, or non-proprietary interest. The private-law nature of a dispute is associated with the danger of violation or actual violation of private interest or right of a person that is subject to protection in a legally stipulated way for the area of private law relations, even if the plaintiff attempts to protect his violated right to sue on the cancellation of an administrative offense and managerial actions of the authority subjects.

Administrative case: who tries it?

Administrative and local general courts consider administrative offense cases. The following cases are within their jurisdiction:

• on contesting the ruling on an offense of the National Rehabilitation Commission in legal relations that emerged on the grounds of the Law of Ukraine “On the rehabilitation of the victims of the repressions of the communist totalitarian regime of 1917-1991”.
• connected to the stay of foreigners or stateless persons in the territory of Ukraine;
• concerning decisions, actions, or lack thereof of the subset of authority in the cases of bringing to administrative responsibility;
• connected to the process of elections or referendum;
• connected to the stay of foreigners or stateless persons in the territory of Ukraine;
• administrative cases concerning decisions, actions, or lack thereof of a state enforcement officer or other officials of the state enforcement service regarding their execution of court decisions in the cases, stipulated in the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine;

All other cases fall within the jurisdiction of general local courts.

Depending on the complexity, administrative cases are divided into the following categories:

• minor complexity cases are the cases where the nature of legal relations, the circumstance in proof, and a participants list do not require a preliminary and/or a court hearing. Such cases may be considered within simplified proceedings leading to a reduced litigation period because the court must look into the case in simplified proceedings within 60 days since the opening of such proceedings. The issue of whether to consider a case a minor one and to open the simplified proceedings is ruled on by the court depending on the need for a long study of the case, hearing of the justification of the parties, an administrative offense attorneys, and so on.
• typical cases are administrative cases that have the same subject of authority (its separate structural divisions) as the respondent, in which the dispute arises on similar grounds and in the relations regulated by the same legal norms with the same claims asserted by the plaintiffs. In case the Supreme Court looks into one typical case as the primary instance court, it will render an exemplary ruling that in practice means that precedent law will be applied by the courts in all other similar disputes.
• example cases are typical administrative cases taken into proceedings by the Supreme Court as the primary instance court to render an exemplary ruling.

Currently, the list of opened proceedings and rendered exemplary rulings in a case are published on the website of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and can be freely accessed.

The process of administrative proceedings

Administrative cases are considered on the grounds of a complaint filed using the services of an administrative case attorney and in compliance with the Code of the Administrative Procedure of Ukraine. The complaint gets filed directly in court or sent by registered mail with the acknowledgment of receipt. The complaint must be enclosed with its copy and copies of all attached proofs in compliance with the number of the participants in the case. It is required to attach proofs of paying the court fee or the documents that provide for the grounds to be relieved of paying one, calculation of the amount of the court expenses, and a confirmation notice on non-filing a similar complaint on the same subject with the same parties.

The Code stipulates that every person has the right to go to court for the protection of the rights, use his claims at his discretion except in the cases provided in the Code. A person may represent himself after consulting with an administrative cases attorney or involve a representative. Representation in court is exercised by an attorney except in cases stipulated by the law. Along with that, in minor cases and other instances outlined in the Code, a natural person, who has administrative procedural capacity under the Code of the Administrative Procedure, may be a representative.

Administrative cases experts

Our legal firm has exercised representation of the interests of the person in administrative cases for many years. The advantage of turning to a legal company is the saved time and money. Our attorneys have provided qualified assistance for many years and have a tried-and-tested base of procedural documents and own positive practice in the area of resolutions of administrative cases.

Therefore, should your rights be violated by illegal actions of the bodies of the State Tax Service or the State Ecology Inspection of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the bodies of the Pension Fund and other public authorities, legal consultation in administrative cases from our firm’s experts will help protect them.

Also, our company provides legal aid in resolving the following disputes:

• land disputes where the bodies of local governments are the authority subjects;
• on organization and holding of public procurement by the authority subjects;
• disputes with the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals;
• disputes on contesting the protocol on administrative offense, any decision, action, or lack thereof of the public services.