Refusal to initiate

Detailed explanation

The date of initiation of the proceedings, i.e., the moment initiating the proceedings, is considered to be the date of service of the request on the administrative authority. In the case of submitting a request by electronic means, the date of initiation of proceedings shall be deemed to be the date of entry of the request into the electronic system of the administrative body.

The administrative authority shall notify the parties of the initiation of proceedings in order to enable them to participate in the proceedings.

However, where the administrative authority considers that, for justified reasons, proceedings cannot be initiated, it shall issue a decision refusing to initiate proceedings. A party may lodge an appeal against such a decision (see: Appeals).

Justified grounds for refusing to initiate proceedings should be considered to be those situations which manifestly and do not require clarification constitute an obstacle to the initiation of proceedings. One of such obstacles referred to in the legislation is the submission of a claim by a person who is not a party, so that the proceedings requested by that person do not concern their interest in bringing proceedings. The general Regulations of the administrative procedure do not specify other than the above-mentioned obvious reasons constituting the basis for refusing to initiate proceedings, therefore each case is treated individually. However, an example of such a situation in which it is justified to refuse to initiate proceedings is the existence in legal transactions of a final decision already resolving a given case or a situation where proceedings are already pending before an administrative authority in a given case or a situation where there is no basis for considering the request in the administrative procedure in the Regulations of law. However, in a situation where the issue of inadmissibility of initiating proceedings is not obvious at the stage of filing an appeal or when obstacles to the initiation of proceedings come to light later, the administrative body is obliged to conduct the proceedings and, after clarifying any doubts as to the existence of reasons for refusing to initiate proceedings, discontinue such proceedings, i.e. end them without substantive resolution.

The grounds for refusal to initiate administrative proceedings may also provide for the Regulations of laws in which individual cases dealt with in such proceedings are regulated.