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Legislation on administrative offences: issues related to procedural law

Legislation on administrative offences: issues related to procedural law

One of the key aspects of modern legal reform is the digitalization of procedural legislation. This allows not only to simplify access to justice, but also to make it faster and more transparent. The introduction of electronic document management and the possibility of remote participation in proceedings significantly speeds up the processing of cases and makes justice more accessible. Such conclusions were reached by the participants of the session ‘Legislation on Administrative Offences: Issues Related to Procedural Law’, which took place within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.

 

The Forum is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with support from the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

 

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Sanctions and amounts of administrative fines for citizens remained unchanged in the new code

“Now there is a clear trend towards mitigation of administrative sanctions both in respect of citizens, individual entrepreneurs and legal entities. <...> With regard to administrative fines themselves, it was decided not to increase their amounts for citizens, but with a number of certain exceptions, practically for individuals, fines remain at the same level,” Irina Rukavishnikova, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction.

 

The need for a clear definition of administrative liability

“Moratoria on inspections. A lot has changed over the years, and today the moratorium is becoming a permanent reality. But nevertheless, when we remove some negotiable fines, others appear. Today we have negotiable fines for violation of the rules of storage, processing and leakage of personal data. Well, practically. I think we are already anticipating their appearance out of desperation. The volume of fines has increased significantly. And today there is a very acute question of whether we know what we ultimately want and who we want to bring to administrative responsibility in this part? <...> Therefore, one of the first tasks is that bringing to administrative responsibility should be very clearly defined. We must very clearly understand the subject we bring to administrative responsibility for, so that there was not even the most hypothetical possibility of challenging the fact that we make a decision on,” Elena Avakyan, Vice President, The Russian Federal Bar Association.

“In recent years, the introduction of certain elements of the use of these technologies in proceedings on cases and administrative offences has been observed. In particular, the possibility of sending notices to the participants of proceedings using any means of communication and delivery, ensuring the recording of notices, the use of videoconferencing. Issuance of a ruling on an administrative offence case and its sending for execution in the form of an electronic document. Filing an electronic complaint against a ruling issued on an administrative offence recorded with the use of a special technical means operating in automatic mode,” Sergey Kuzmichev, Judge, Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

 

PROBLEMS

Regional legal framework cannot resist federal rulings

“This is one of the most acute, most complex issues, in general, the cornerstone of all regulation. <...> For decades, negative judicial practice of challenging regional laws in the field of administrative responsibility as contrary to federal legislation has been formed everywhere. No matter how we approach the solution of this problem, so far, unfortunately, there is no obvious way out here,” Irina Rukavishnikova, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction.

 

Limited use of information technologies in legislation

“The only area of procedural legislation, in which the use of such technologies is significantly limited, remains the legislation on administrative offences. At present, for example, electronic document flow is applicable only to cases on administrative offences recorded with the help of special technical means,” Maria Glushchenko, Acting Director of the Department of Legislation on Defense, Security and Judiciary, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

“It appears that such strengthening will be implemented with minimal risk of increasing the burden on the judiciary only if it is implemented simultaneously with the introduction of a system of specialized administrative courts,” Anastasia Milyutina, First Deputy Executive Director - Chief of Staff, Association of Lawyers of Russia.

 

SOLUTIONS

Internet courts for administrative cases

“The idea of creating Internet courts, in this case it also has a right to exist, so that such disputes are considered online, because it is hardly possible to assume that Internet offences will be committed by a person who does not know where the button on the computer is,” Elena Avakyan, Vice President, The Russian Federal Bar Association.

 

Digitalization of the administrative process

“The bill to amend the CAO [Code of Administrative Offences, – Ed.] proposes to consolidate the possibility of making, sending, receiving any procedural documents in electronic form, including in the form of an electronic document, as well as to provide legal grounds for remote participation in proceedings on administrative offence cases. I should like to draw your attention to the fact that the regulation being introduced will apply to all types of procedural documents and will apply to all categories of cases and at different stages of the proceedings. It will be possible to send both documents originally produced in electronic form and electronic copies of paper documents. The draft law provides for several channels for the exchange of documents in electronic form,” Maria Glushchenko, Acting Director of the Department of Legislation on Defense, Security and Judiciary, Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

 

* This is a translation of material that was originally generated in Russian using artificial intelligence.

 

For more information, visit the Roscongress Information and Analytical System roscongress.org.

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