Proposed amendment concerning indirect proceedings before administrative courts

one of the proposed amendments to the Law on proceedings before administrative courts[1] concerning Article 54 the above-mentioned law, which refers to the indirect mode of bringing a complaint.

Action of the Extraordinary Commission on Deregulation

Resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of 21 July 2021 the Extraordinary Commission on Deregulation was appointed. The scope of her tasks is, you might say, ambitious.

For the purposes of the Commission:

• action in cases relating to the reduction of bureaucracy,
• processing of deregulation laws,
• review and analyse the provisions governing social, economic and economic issues in order to identify unclear, inconsistent, ineffective, redundant or excessively regulated provisions,
• existence of a legislative initiative to achieve this objective Under point 3,
• dealing with draft laws on matters relating to the restriction of economic freedoms.

one from the results of the committee's activities to date is a draft law amending laws to eliminate unnecessary administrative and legal barriers.

The aim of the project is to amend several laws, including the Code of Administrative Procedure, the Act on inheritance and donation tax, the Code of Civil Procedure or the law on proceedings before administrative courts. The changes are intended to help resolve the problems most frequently reported to the committee, i.e.

excessive regulation and formalisation of procedures and, as outlined in the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, a "over-interpretation" of law, consisting inter alia of extremely conservative, i.e. safe, from the point of view of officials employed in offices serving public administrations but, in fact, incorrectly interpreted.

Important amendment to the law on proceedings before administrative courts

one of the proposed amendments is the amendment to the Law on Procedure before administrative courts[2]. It is to concern Article 54 the above-mentioned law, which refers to the indirect mode of bringing a complaint.

What is the indirect mode of bringing a complaint? According to Article 54(1) Law on proceedings before administrative courts, an action before an administrative court shall be brought through a body whose action, inaction or chronic conduct of proceedings is the subject of an action. Similarly, the electronic document shall be submitted, i.e. to the electronic delivery box of the authority concerned.

It shall then, in accordance with the provisions, be forwarded to the court, together with the complete and orderly file and the reply to the complaint, in paper or electronic form, within the time limit thirty days from the date of receipt.

Article 54 section 2 The law on proceedings before administrative courts also provides for another situation relating to indirect complaint procedures. The complaint lodged through the Consul and the complaint against a decision issued by the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs in matters regulated in Act dated 12 December 2013 on foreign nationals, the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs shall forward to the court, together with the complete and orderly files of the case and the reply to the complaint within the time limit sixty days from the date of receipt by the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs or the Consul, respectively.

Here is the proposed change. After Article 54 section 2 to be added section 2a, that:

Within the time limit specified Under section 2, Before submitting the act to the court, the authority shall draw up a statement of reasons for the contested decision if it has waived its justification on account of the party’s full request.

According to the reasons for the draft law, the purpose of this amendment is to correct the judicial review of the decision against which the authority has waived on account of the party’s request in its entirety. According to the drafters, the judicial review of the decision can now only be illusory, given that the court can only guess what was in the right direction of the body when the decision was taken.

As indicated in the explanatory memorandum:

Having regard to the introduction of this Act[3] exceptions to the principle of duality of the procedure, including the introduction of a general rule that the decision given in first The Authority’s justification, which it has waived due to full consideration of the party’s request, is final, the proposed amendment (...) is necessary.

Work on the bill has not yet been completed. For this moment, the project was rejected by the Senate.