If you believe that a state institution has issued an unlawful administrative decision, you have a right to appeal it in the Administrative court. There may be certain requirements for your access to the court, but they cannot be so excessive that you are unable to fulfil them.
You have the right to bring a claim against a state institution and have it examined in the Administrative court. However, this right has certain conditions:
Type of claim
You have to choose the right court for your claim. Administrative courts only deal with disputes between private persons and state institutions (government agencies) where these institutions have exercised state power.
example If a municipality refused to issue you a construction permit, you can appeal this decision in the Administrative court.
Decisions taken by law enforcement agencies (the police or a prosecutor) about matters of a specific criminal case will not be examined by the Administrative court. Any other claim that concerns decisions or actions not resulting from state’s administrative activity or where a separate procedure is established, may not be examined by the Administrative court. That is the case, for example, of matters related to execution of a criminal penalty, that are in the jurisdiction of the instruction judge, military command acts etc.
example If the prosecutor has taken a decision to declare you a suspect in a criminal case, you cannot appeal this decision in the Administrative court.
Preliminary procedure
In many cases, to access the Administrative court, you first have to file a preliminary application against the decision from a state institution or agent you disagree with to that particular institution.
example Before you can appeal notary’s decision refusing to indent a civil act in the court, you have to file a preliminary application before the notary.
Read more about the preliminary procedure.
Requirements
In bringing your claim to the Administrative court, you may also be asked to fulfil other requirements such as time limits. These requirements cannot be demanding to the degree that you are unable to fulfil them, preventing you from bringing your claim to court.
The time limits are established or not, depending on the kind of claim you want the court to examine. For example, the time limit for appealing a state institution’s decision is 30 days. But where the state institution’s decision did not contain information (or it was inaccurate) about the procedure or time limits for the appeal, you can appeal it within one year.
You must be careful in observing these time limits. However, if you have missed a deadline due to no fault of your own, you may ask the court to reinstate this time limit. You must ask for a renewal at the same court to which the limit was applied and send your request together with the documents necessary for filing your claim.