Formal deficiencies

Detailed explanation

Applications submitted to an administrative body may take various forms (requests, explanations, appeals, complaints) and may be submitted in various ways, i.e., in writing, by means of electronic communication, orally to the minutes, or (now less frequently) by telegraph and by telefax. Depending on its form, the regulations specify the specific requirements that the application must meet in order to be considered. It must contain at least an indication of the person from whom it comes, its address (or electronic address), a clearly defined request and the signature of the applicant (or a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature, and in the case of an oral application – the signature of an employee of the office that draws up the protocol).

After submitting the application, the administrative body analyses whether the application (application) does not contain formal deficiencies, i.e., defects, due to which the application cannot be considered. If the application does not meet the requirements specified by law (i.e., it contains formal deficiencies), the administrative body initiates the proceedings conditionally and makes its further conduct conditional on filling in the gaps.

To this end, the administrative body shall request the applicant to remove them within a specified period of not less than 7 days from the date of service of the summons.

The summons should contain the data of the administrative authority and the data of the requested party, the purpose of the request (i.e. an indication of what deficiencies the submitted application is burdened with), the deadline within which the formal deficiencies of the application should be removed and the instruction that if the formal deficiencies of the application are not remedied, the authority examining the case will terminate the proceedings, leaving the application unexamined.

If the application does not contain the address of the applicant and it is not possible for the administrative authority to determine that address and, consequently, it is not possible to request the removal of such a deficiency, that authority shall leave the application unexamined.

If all formal deficiencies of the application are remedied within the time limit specified in the request, the administrative body will proceed to consider the case.

However, if the deficiencies are not filled in or are supplemented incorrectly (e.g., only partially), the administrative body will not consider the application, i.e., it will leave it unexamined.

Not all shortcomings of the proposal are formal deficiencies. The administrative body may, in the course of the proceedings, request a party to supplement the evidence if it is necessary to settle the case. However, such a summons will not result in the application not being considered, even if the party has not submitted the documents requested.