Control of Factual Grounds of Administrative Acts in the Russian Law
Abstract
The correct or incorrect establishment of the factual circumstances of the case in the course of administrative procedures determines the substantive legality of administrative acts. In this regard, the verification of the factual circumstances on which decision of public administration was based should not be confused with the control over proper procedure for taking the decision. Factual errors in administrative acts may be caused by actions of public administration or private individuals. This classification is based on the distribution of the burden of proof in administrative proceedings. The investigation of a case under administrative procedures is based on the principle of an ex officio or inquisitorial principle. This determines that, in most cases, the factual groundlessness of administrative acts results from actions or omissions by public administration. Factual errors may arise from the use of unacceptable evidence, insufficient evidence, a lack of mandatory evidence and disregard for or other assessments of the circumstances set out in judicial acts that are in force. The factual groundlessness, caused by the actions of individuals who provide the public administration with false information or forged documents for adoption of administrative decisions, is discussed in the article in detail. In such cases the Russian Federation legislation allows the revocation of administrative actions out of court and also provides a ban for private individuals from reapplying to public administration for a certain time period on the issue of adoption of similar administrative actions. Special attention is paid to the evolution of the modern Russian judicial doctrine of control of the factual validity of administrative acts. The role of the analysis of factual circumstances in the implementation of judicial control of the validity of discretionary administrative acts is demonstrated. Judicial review of the proportionality of negative administrative acts is essentially a comprehensive standard that includes verification of the factual and legal grounds for decisions of public administration. In the final part of the article, the author used the example of exam grades to demonstrate the possibility of a limited approach to verification of the factual basis for administrative acts by the courts.
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