The article highlights the issues of general administrative procedure from the perspective of protecting the subject matter and scope of the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure” (hereinafter – the LAP), as well as certain purely theoretical challenges in interpreting the provisions of this new Law. At present, it is necessary, first of all, to prevent new formal exceptions to the scope of the LAP, as well as unjustified procedural features in sectoral legislation.

The purpose of the article is to show the general purpose of the LAP and its regulatory value if the integral scope of regulation is preserved. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the attempts of “new” exemptions from the LPA, their reasons and potential consequences.

The article provides arguments why the initiatives of “new” exemptions from the LAP are unreasonable and harmful. They do not take into account that the regulation is already based on the same principles and has no conflicts (e.g., LAP and environmental impact assessment); that LAP is general and subsidiary, but does not aim and cannot completely replace all special procedures (e.g., in the antitrust field or in tax administration); that the category of “national security” should be applied correctly and LAP certainly applies to administrative activities of the police. It is also important to avoid hidden exceptions to the LAP, when the application of the LPA’s principal mechanisms is limited due to unjustified “special circumstances” (as it happened in the land sector).

At the same time, in order to apply the LAP to relations that are really theoretically debatable, it is necessary to take into account, first of all, the fundamentally defined subject of the LAP in Ukraine: the relations “administrative body – person”. At the same time, public authorities may enter into certain relations on an equal footing with other legal entities. To find a correct answer to the question of the subject matter of the LAP and its scope, it is necessary to properly interpret and apply the categories of “administrative act”, “administrative body”, “administrative case”.

Bibliography

Edited books

1. Naukovo-praktychnyi komentar do Zakonu Ukrainy “Pro administratyvnu protseduru” (V P Tymoshchuk ed, 2023).

 Journal articles

2. Liukhterhandt O, ‘Proekt Administratyvnoho protsedurnoho kodeksu Ukrainy ta suchasne administratyvne protsedurne pravo’ [2002] 5 Yurydychnyi zhurnal 24–28.

3. Tymoshchuk V, ‘Do vyznachennia predmeta Zakonu Ukrainy “Pro administratyvnu protseduru”’ [2023] 34 Pravova derzhava 366–379.