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.