Administrative Delict Proceedings as a Procedural Form of the National System of Justice

The article advances the idea that proceedings in cases of administrative offences in courts of general jurisdiction form part of a broader procedural phenomenon that encompasses judicial authorisation of measures of administrative coercion for administrative delicts. The author proposes to designate this phenomenon as administrative delict proceedings. At present, this sphere is unjustifiably divided among three competing bodies of rules: the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation, the Code of Administrative Procedure of the Russian Federation, and the Arbitration (Commercial) Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. This situation complicates the administration of justice and creates a need for guiding clarifications for judges. The author proposes a third codification of administrative offence legislation by removing from the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation and the Arbitration (Commercial) Procedure Code of the Russian Federation the rules regulating this judicial activity and consolidating them in a standalone federal law “On Administrative Delict Proceedings.” Its subject matter should cover the following types of proceedings in courts of general jurisdiction and commercial courts: (1) cases of administrative offences; (2) resolution of certain procedural issues in administrative offence cases pending before non-judicial bodies; and (3) adoption of certain procedural response measures relating to administrative delicts outside the framework of administrative offence case proceedings. Administrative delict proceedings should be elevated to the status of a type of judicial proceedings within which administrative delict law is implemented, equivalent to the forms of justice enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. This innovation should be built on a specially developed procedural model—an administrative delict procedural form. It should envisage the court’s determination of the truth in the case under conditions of adversarial process and equality of the parties—the administrative prosecution authority and the person subject to administrative prosecution. The procedural model should also provide for an acquittal decision in an administrative offence case.