Shaping administrative activity (legal forms): a legislative approach

Hrubešová, Sára (author)

Purpose: The topic of legal forms in public administration is strongly influenced by the principles of good administration. In the Czech legal order, the Parliament acts as the rule-maker of statutory foundations for public administration, making it crucial to focus on the legislative approach to enacting legal forms. This paper examines the weaknesses in legislation related to the enactment of legal forms of public administration, specifically through the principles of legal certainty and predictability of law. Design/Methodology/Approach: The author analyses Czech legal norms, existing legal doctrine, and administrative court’s rulings in relation to the legislative enactment of legal forms of public administration. This analysis leads to categorisation of legislative techniques based on the clarity with which the legal form of public administration activity is enacted. The paper also includes a case study consisting of a qualitative analysis of the legislative process in a specific case, based on publicly available records of parliamentary debates during the legislative process. Findings: In the case under review, there was no proper discussion of the implications of removing the explicit designation of legal form during the legislative process. No case has been found in which the Constitutional Court, acting as a negative legislator, annulled a statute for failing to explicitly specify a legal form, either due to its removal or its absence from the outset. Academic contribution to the field: The article highlights that, for the public administration to function effectively as good administration, the rules governing its activities must be clearly defined. The findings encourage legislators to ensure that proper discussions regarding the legal form of administrative activity take place when enacting laws. Such expert debate during the legislative process is essential to ensuring the clarity of the laws under which public administration operates in a particular legal form. Circumventing the legislative process or failing to engage in proper debate disproportionately impacts legal certainty and the predictability of law. Originality/Value: This article presents arguments emphasising the irrefutable role of the legislature in creating clear rules for the exercise of public administration and, as a direct result, enabling public administration to function as good administration. It points out the importance of clearly referencing the legal form of public administration in the law. The categorisation of legal form designation aids in identifying patterns and trends, helping to isolate relevant issues and focusing research on specific legal questions.

• Language: English
• Keywords: administrative procedural rules, Constitutional Court, good administration, legislature, legislative process, legal forms of public administration
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.11.2024
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 147-163, 258-259
• Numbering: Vol. 22, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-165637
• UDC: 34:35:004(437.3)
• ISSN on article: 2591-2240
• DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2024.2.07
• COBISS.SI-ID: 218271235
• Publication date in RUL: 11.12.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Central European public administration review
• Shortened title: CEPAR
• Publisher: Fakulteta za upravo
• ISSN: 2591-2240
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293849600

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Oblikovanje upravnega delovanja (pravne oblike): zakonodajni pristop

Abstract

Namen: Na pravne oblike v javni upravi močno vplivajo načela dobre uprave. Po češki zakonodaji je parlament tisti, ki oblikuje zakonske podlage za delovanje javne uprave, zato je nujno posvetiti pozornost zakonodajnemu pristopu k uzakonjanju s tem povezanih pravnih oblik. Prispevek obravnava pomanjkljivosti zakonodaje, povezane z uzakonjanjem pravnih oblik javne uprave, zlasti prek načel pravne varnosti in predvidljivosti. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Prispevek analizira češke pravne norme, ob-stoječo pravno doktrino in sodbe upravnega sodišča v zvezi z uzakonjanjem pravnih oblik javne uprave. Analiza vodi do kategorizacije zakonodajnih tehnik, s katerimi je uzakonjena pravna oblika delovanja javne uprave. Prispevek vključuje tudi študijo primera, ki obsega kvalitativno analizo zakonodajnega postopka v konkretnem primeru na podlagi javno dostopnih zapisov parla-mentarnih razprav med zakonodajnim postopkom. Ugotovitve: V obravnavanem primeru v zakonodajnem postopku ni bilo ustrezne razprave o posledicah odprave izrecne določitve pravne oblike. Prav tako ni bil zabeležen primer, v katerem bi ustavno sodišče v vlogi negativnega zakonodajalca razveljavilo zakon, ker v njem ni bila izrecno določena pravna oblika, bodisi ker je bila odstranjena ali ker je že od samega začetka sploh ni bilo. Akademski doprinos k znanosti: Prispevek poudarja, da morajo biti za učinkovito delovanje javne uprave kot dobre uprave pravila, ki urejajo njeno delovanje, jasno opredeljena. Ugotovitve spodbujajo zakonodajalce, da pri sprejemanju zakonov zagotovijo ustrezne razprave o pravni obliki upravnega delovanja. Takšna strokovna razprava v zakonodajnem postopku je nujna za zagotovitev jasnosti zakonov, na podlagi katerih javna uprava deluje v določeni pravni obliki. Obhajanje zakonodajnega postopka ali opustitev ustrezne razprave nesorazmerno vpliva na pravno varnost in predvidljivost. Izvirnost/vrednost: V prispevku so predstavljeni argumenti, ki poudarjajo neizpodbitno vlogo zakonodajalca pri oblikovanju jasnih pravil za izvajanje javne uprave in posledično omogočajo delovanje javne uprave kot dobre uprave. Izpostavljen je pomen jasnega sklicevanja na pravno obliko javne uprave v zakonu. Kategorizacija poimenovanja pravne oblike pomaga pri prepoznavanju vzorcev in trendov, izpostavljanju pomembnih vprašanj in usmerjanju raziskav na specifična pravna vprašanja.

• Keywords: digitalno usmerjena zakonodaja, pravna varnost, varuh človekovih pravic, pravna država, tehnološko nevtralno pravo