Administrative Procedures and the Supervision of Administration OECD in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Albania
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SIGMA Papers No. 17 Administrative Procedures and the Supervision of Administration OECD in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Albania https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kml6198lvkf-en Unclassified OCDE/GD(97)167 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES AND THE SUPERVISION OF ADMINISTRATION IN HUNGARY, POLAND, BULGARIA, ESTONIA AND ALBANIA SIGMA PAPERS: No. 17 ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Paris 56836 Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d'origine Complete document available on OLIS in its original format THE SIGMA PROGRAMME SIGMA -- Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries -- is a joint initiative of the OECD Centre for Co-operation with the Economies in Transition and the European Union’s Phare Programme. The initiative supports public administration reform efforts in thirteen countries in transition, and is financed mostly by Phare. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental organisation of 29 democracies with advanced market economies. The Centre channels the Organisation’s advice and assistance over a wide range of economic issues to reforming countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Phare provides grant financing to support its partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe to the stage where they are ready to assume the obligations of membership of the European Union. Phare and SIGMA serve the same countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Established in 1992, SIGMA works within the OECD’s Public Management Service, which provides information and expert analysis on public management to policy-makers and facilitates contact and exchange of experience amongst public sector managers. SIGMA offers beneficiary countries access to a network of experienced public administrators, comparative information, and technical knowledge connected with the Public Management Service. SIGMA aims to: • assist beneficiary countries in their search for good governance to improve administrative efficiency and promote adherence of public sector staff to democratic values, ethics and respect of the rule of law; • help build up indigenous capacities at the central governmental level to face the challenges of internationalisation and of European Union integration plans; and • support initiatives of the European Union and other donors to assist beneficiary countries in public administration reform and contribute to co-ordination of donor activities. Throughout its work, the initiative places a high priority on facilitating co-operation among governments. This practice includes providing logistical support to the formation of networks of public administration practitioners in Central and Eastern Europe, and between these practitioners and their counterparts in other democracies. SIGMA works in five technical areas: Administrative Reform and National Strategies, Management of Policy-making, Expenditure Management, Management of the Public Service, and Administrative Oversight. In addition, an Information Services Unit disseminates published and on-line materials on public management topics. Copyright OECD, 1997 Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to: Head of Publications Service, OECD, 2 rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. Views expressed in this publication do not represent official views of the Commission, OECD Member countries, or the central and eastern European countries participating in the Programme. 2 FOREWORD SIGMA is publishing this report to make more widely available comparative information on administrative law and administrative supervision in central and eastern European countries, and to highlight certain relationships with developments in these areas in Western Europe. Although each country has its own history and traditions in approaching these matters, there is at the same time emerging a common and widely accepted model of how they should be managed in democratic states. This report should be of particular interest to civil servants, government officials, parliamentarians and others with an interest in the development of administrative procedures and oversight institutions. Numerous individuals from the five countries studied contributed to the project leading to this publication. Some provided information which otherwise would not have been available; others agreed to be interviewed and gave generously of their time; while others still read and offered comments on drafts of the report. This group includes officials, lawyers, parliamentarians, judges and scholars from many parts of Central and Eastern Europe. They were very helpful in explaining the sometimes great difference between what laws say and how they operate in practice. Professor Denis Galligan, Director, University of Oxford’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (Wolfson College), performed the research and wrote this report. The opinions expressed in the report are his. Ms. Ágnes Munkácsi, a lawyer from the Hungarian Parliament on an OECD training programme to the SIGMA Secretariat, served as project co-ordinator and made important contributions to the project. It should be borne in mind that laws and practices in the region are changing rapidly and that changes have occurred in some of the areas discussed here. The text is based on information available through October 1996. Staffan Synnerström, Senior Counsellor for the Management of the Public Service at the SIGMA Secretariat, launched the project in early 1996 and oversaw its progress. Upon joining SIGMA later that year, Kjell Larsson, Senior Counsellor for Administrative Control, assumed this responsibility. Larsson is also responsible for organising forthcoming workshops which will use this report as a base. He may be contacted at the SIGMA Secretariat for more details about the subjects dealt with in this report, and about SIGMA work in the administrative oversight field. Administrative Procedures and the Supervision of the Administration in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Albania is also available in French under the title La procédure administrative et le contrôle de l’administration en Hongrie, Pologne, Bulgarie, Estonie et Albanie. This report is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. SIGMA-OECD 2, rue André-Pascal 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France Tel (33.1) 45.24.79.00 or 45.24.13.94 Fax (33.1) 45.24.13.00 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.oecd.org/puma/sigmaweb 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This SIGMA Paper addresses administrative law and administrative institutions in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Albania. The countries represent different geographical, cultural and historical groupings. The paper consists of two parts. The first examines administrative procedures in the countries mentioned, the second addresses the various forms of judicial and non-judicial supervision of the countries’ administrations. Both parts aim to describe the position in each country studied, and to identify areas inviting further consideration by governments. All countries in Central and Eastern Europe recognise that the building — or rebuilding, as the case may be — of a professional and stable public administration is a vital element in the creation of a modern, democratic society. The fulfilment of that objective depends in part on creating suitable administrative institutions within which the plans of government may be implemented in an effective and economical manner. While the attainment of the general objective requires long-term planning and the commitment of substantial resources, it also should be borne in mind that administrative government has a legal dimension. Three aspects of this legal dimension include: i) the administration should be conducted within a framework of law; ii) the relationship between the administrative authority and the citizen should not depend on the will or whim of the authority but ought to be mediated by legal principles; and iii) each administrative authority ought to be subject to supervision by other authorities. Part I of the report identifies assumptions underlying procedures, outlines the background of the countries, and charts the changes that have occurred in recent years. This part concludes that the five countries studied, spread as they are across the region and with widely diverse backgrounds, are at very different stages of development of administrative law. Each has been engaged on a programme of reform to bring its system in line with a model of administrative procedure which has come to be accepted across Europe. Further, a certain tension exists between the procedural regimes of the communist period and those which are more suitable to a democratic, rule of law system. Part II addresses not only judicial supervision, but also supervision provided by other bodies, including ombudsmen, inspectorates and special commissions, the prosecutor, and parliamentary committees. While judicial supervision by independent courts is a central plank in the reforms of all five countries, this is confined to matters of legality. The most suitable forms of supervision of the content and merits of administrative actions are more debatable and divergent views are expressed. It is hoped that the report will prove of interest to officials, legislators and law reformers of the countries studied.