Paradigmatic Change of the Right to Appeal: Towards the Limited Appeal in the Administrative Cases

Discussions regarding the right to appeal in administrative proceedings in Lithuania began in 2019. For that purpose, an international conference entitled “New Challenges and Experiences in the Administrative Process” was held. On December 2, 2019, the draft Law on Administrative Proceedings of the Republic of Lithuania, and other draft laws accompanying it, were registered in the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania. Currently, the third draft amendment to the Law on Administrative Proceedings of the Republic of Lithuania has been registered. This project aims to expand the competence of pre-trial bodies dealing with administrative disputes by applying a mandatory pre-trial dispute resolution procedure to an even wider range of disputes; i.e., including disputes concerning damage caused by the illegal actions of state administration entities and municipal administration entities, disputes regarding the imposition of civil service penalties, and disputes regarding the issuance of permits for foreigners to live or work in Lithuania. A second amendment to the Law on Administrative Proceedings of the Republic of Lithuania was to introduce a limited appeal for the above-mentioned categories of cases, after they are examined in a mandatory pre-trial procedure for administrative disputes and reviewed in a district administrative court. Therefore, it is proposed to establish the following criteria for the admissibility of the appeal: 1) a clear and consistent case law of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania has been formed on the issue of the dispute, from which the court of first instance deviated by adopting the decision under the appeal; 2) a manifest error of law has been made in the judgment of the court of first instance; and 3) it is necessary to ensure the formation of uniform practice of administrative courts. This study presents the grounds and peculiarities of the right to appeal de lege lata in constitutional jurisprudence, whereas the second part of the study deals with certain aspects of the proposed model of limited appeal de lege ferenda, the extent to which the proposed amendments are in line with the constitutional case law, and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights