site.btaPresident Vetoes Administrative Procedure Code Amendments

Sofia, July 31 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev has returned the Act Amending and Supplementing the Administrative Procedure Code for further consideration by the National Assembly, the President's press secretariat reported on Tuesday. Radev challenged 16 provisions in the law, arguing that they will have an adverse impact on the role of administrative justice in protecting ordinary people from unlawful and arbitrary actions of the authorities.

Radev disagreed with provisions about jurisdiction rules, closed-door court hearings, the drastic rise of cassation court fees and the removal of the cassation court instance in a number of special laws.

The vetoed amendments were adopted conclusively by the National Assembly on July 25. Among other things, they stipulated a drastic increase (up to 900-fold) of the fees for cassation appeals and a possibility for many administrative cases to be tried behind closed doors. The increase of the fees was explained with the need to reduce the workload of the Supreme Administrative Court and to limit the possibility for organizations to challenge contracts and delay projects, including major projects that are important for the country's development. The amendments met with resistance from civic organizations, which described them as a step back to authoritarian rule and urged the President to veto them.

The President said in his reasoning for the veto that the provisions challenged by him represent a turn away from some fundamental constitutional rules and deform traditional principles and achievements of administrative law. They undermine the protection of the rights of individuals and corporate entities in respect of decisions made from a position of authority and requiring obedience.

Radev recalled that the right of defence has been interpreted on many occasions by the European Court of Human Rights, which assumes that the state should not raise legal or practical barriers to the exercise of that right. The challenged amendments raise precisely this kind of barriers, he stated.

The controversial provisions undermine the ability of administrative justice to be among the main guarantees for balance and control between the separate branches of government and for the rule of law. This endangers the law-governed and democratic nature of the state, Radev said.