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Request to the President of Bulgaria to impose veto on the adopted Draft Law on Amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code
30.07.2018
On July 30, 2018, the AIP submitted a request to the President of Bulgaria to impose veto on the adopted Draft Law on Amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code. The AIP criticized the increase of the court fees for cassation appeal, the introduction of burdens to the citizens with relation to the so called “electronic justice,” the removal of the mandatory public hearing at the cassation level. The veto request prepared and submitted by the AIP was supported by over 50 renowned nongovernmental organizations. The President imposed the veto on July 31, 2018 just before the parliamentary recess.
On September 7, 2018, the AIP published a highly critical post in its blog “Access Point” which created an avalanche of reprints in the media, thus making it impossible to overcome the veto without public consultation. The AIP position was presented by the Head of the AIP team Alexander Kashumov at the Legal Affairs Parliamentary Committee at its session on September 11, 2018. Despite the numerous critical statements presented by representatives of public bodies and NGOs, the draft amendments were adopted by a majority of the Legal Affairs Committee and then by the National Assembly.
PDFOn September 7, 2018, the AIP published a highly critical post in its blog “Access Point” which created an avalanche of reprints in the media, thus making it impossible to overcome the veto without public consultation. The AIP position was presented by the Head of the AIP team Alexander Kashumov at the Legal Affairs Parliamentary Committee at its session on September 11, 2018. Despite the numerous critical statements presented by representatives of public bodies and NGOs, the draft amendments were adopted by a majority of the Legal Affairs Committee and then by the National Assembly.
Statement to the Constitutional Court on Constitutional Case No.12/2018
19.04.2018
As a result of the public and media campaign run by the AIP against the negative amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code, adopted in October 2018, three institutions – the President, the National Ombudsman, and a group of 53 members of the Parliament – submitted requests to the Constitutional Court for declaring unconstitutional specific provisions of the Draft Law on Amendments to the Administrative Procedure Code (Promulgated in State Gazette, issue 77/18.09.2018).
The three initiated cases were united into the Constitutional Case No.12/2018 and the AIP was invited to present a statement as a constituted third party. The AIP was constituted to the case and submitted a statement to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria on November 29, 2018. By Decision as of April 19, 2019, the Constitutional Court declared some of the amendments unconstitutional but left ones setting forth that the administrative courts consider lawsuits only in one court instance.
The risk of unstable and inconsistent practices under the Access to Public information Act in the lack of a second instance court was analyzed by Alexander Kashumov: Winners and losers from the amendments in the administrative justice and the Constitutional Court Decision.
PDFThe three initiated cases were united into the Constitutional Case No.12/2018 and the AIP was invited to present a statement as a constituted third party. The AIP was constituted to the case and submitted a statement to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bulgaria on November 29, 2018. By Decision as of April 19, 2019, the Constitutional Court declared some of the amendments unconstitutional but left ones setting forth that the administrative courts consider lawsuits only in one court instance.
The risk of unstable and inconsistent practices under the Access to Public information Act in the lack of a second instance court was analyzed by Alexander Kashumov: Winners and losers from the amendments in the administrative justice and the Constitutional Court Decision.