Central European Public Administration Review (E-Journal)
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The Effects of Law Through Actions of Inspections
Full text linkRegulated phenomena in changing environments are difficult to manage. Their complexity is many times higher that can usually be embraced in the conventional ways public administrations prepare draft statutes, adjudicate and control other people. The same or even more stands for inspections as public bodies that directly see “regulations in action”, how asymmetries between regulation and implementation arise. Inspection is in the context of executive tasks despite its age a relatively new and poorly understood element of regulatory policies. This paper claims that regulation and enforcement are two sides of the same coin: only “regulation-enforcement” (feed-in) and “enforcement-regulation” (feedback) are the “eyes and ears” of effective regulation. Without the latter, when rules are realistic and adequate for a given context, no amount of enforcement will make unrealistic rules work. At the same time, without the properly administrated enforcement steps, focused on the risk-analysis, risk-management (risk-based strategic planning), monitoring and sufficient resources, no amount of otherwise good regulation will provide expected results
Legal remedies in asylum and immigration law: the balance between effectiveness and procedural autonomy?
Full text linkThe paper tackles a widely discussed but still rather under-researched area of asylum and immigration law, more precisely its procedural aspects and its interactions within the public administration and administrative judiciary. It contributes to the debate about the Europeanization of public administration within the specific context of asylum and immigration law.The purpose of the paper is to examine the influence of European Union law on the legal regulation of administrative and judicial review of decisions rendered in asylum and immigration procedures.The research is based on an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of amendments and the motivation of national legislation while adopting new procedural rules in the above-mentioned areas on the case of the Czech Republic (based on the description and analysis of the legal regulation, explanatory memoranda and the case law, supplemented with certain comparative aspects). The procedural autonomy principle gets increasingly limited by other principles, namely the effectiveness principle and the principle of effective judicial protection. The paper therefore focuses on the margin of appreciation left to the national legislator: it determines whether the principle of procedural autonomy keeps the real relevancy while harmonising the asylum and immigration law and what is the influence of tensions between the aforementioned principles.The research shows that the legislator still maintains quite a wide degree of margin of appreciation in the administrative and judicial review of asylum and immigration decisions (apart from the visa procedures). However, a broadening of the interpretation of the effective judicial protection principle as provided by Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU decreases the scope of procedural autonomy and has the potential to influence not only individual legal remedy, but also the system of administrative or judicial remedies as such. Besides the overall findings related to the influence of European Union law on the review in asylum and immigration procedures, the article tackles numerous practical implications of amendments based in European Union law and practical challenges for the administrative and judicial review in concerned area of law.The paper provides a reaction to tensions coming from the need to find the balance between the obligation to provide an effective remedy and between the autonomy of Member States and their attempts to preserve national procedural traditions and specificities within the system of administrative and judicial review. It is original by its overall view on the problematic of remedies in asylum and immigration law and by a new perspective of interactions between national legislation and European Union law. Although the research is limited to the case study of the Czech Republic, certain aspects apply to other Member States with similarities within their system of administrative and judicial review
An Examination and Evaluation of Multi-Level Governance During Migration Crisis: The Case of Slovenia
Full text linkPaper presents the value added to the analysis of the functioning of multi-level governance in the context of EU. Furthermore, it contributes to the small state studies, as the mitigation of crisis from the perspective of small state is analysed.The aim of the research was to determine whether the multi-level governance during the large-scale crisis was successful and what factors affected the level of success.The analysis utilizes of the case study method, where the crisis responses during the peak of Western Balkan migration route and Slovenia as a small state on Schengen border serve as examples of examination and evaluation.Results show unsuccessfulness of multi-level governance during the crisis, with mostly top-down direction of decision-making, and particularly the subnational level being poorly involved into the process. In addition, also layering of policy creation and implementation can be observed.The results of the analysis also pointed out that the multi-level governance in the case of migration crisis on the Western Balkans Route can be positioned as the type 1 governance, if we follow the outline of Hooghe and Marks (2003).The results indicate that unsuccessful multi-level governance had negative impacts on managing the crisis, as well as on perceptions about EU and Schengen Zone.This study is novel in its content, as it represents the first examination and evaluation of multi-level governance during the EU migration crisis, where Western Balkan route and Slovenia as small state on the outer Schengen zone border serve as a case study for the evaluation
The (Draft) European Charter of the Commons – Between Opportunities and Challenges
Full text linkThe concept of ownership, which (in Italy and similarly in other European systems) is still essentially based on private law rules, is currently not sufficient to ensure the satisfaction of the general interest in an increasingly wide access to scarce resources, in the perspective of equality and fairness on the field. At the same time, strong criticism has been expressed about the frequent phenomenon of privatisation of originally public assets and resources. The threats to the pursuit of the public benefit posed by privatisation may be tackled by constructing a new legal framework, aimed to protect the right of the populations to be involved not only in the use, but also in the management of the commons. An expression of this idea is the draft European Charter of the Commons, which is the result of a collective brain-storming by a group of scholars rather than a source of law. Its non-normative nature has allowed its authors to express particularly ‘brave’ positions. This article takes the Charter as a starting point to focus on some open issues. The main proposal concerns the possible exploitation of new participatory models for the involvement of communities of users in the strategic decisions on the management of the commons. In such perspective, a brief reference to the Italian legal system is made. In Italy, there are no systemic rules about the commons, but some procedures to involve the interested local communities in the strategic choices have been experimented, which can serve as an illustration also for otherEU countries
Can Top Down Participatory Budgeting Work? The Case of Polish Community Fund
Full text linkThe article addresses the participatory budgeting (PB), which is one of the most recognised governance innovations of recent decades. This global phenomenon represents in practice a shift towards participatory and collaborative management of public resources at the local level. The purpose of this article is to determine when top down approach to PB might be welcomed, taking into account the characteristics of PB schemes all around the world that they emerged as local initiatives, instigated either by civil society groups or local governments. The analysis is based on the description of the PB example as introduced via country-wide legislation, exhaustively regulating PB procedure. The article examines Polish experience in the field of functioning top down approach to PB. It demonstrates that top down PB can effectively work, if it is accompanied with significant incentives and grants, as well as the extensive autonomy and flexibility of local communities. Polish experience suggests that such an initiative might be relatively successful, yet there is a number of conditions that has to be met in order to ensure the dissemination of legislative model of participatory budgeting. The results have practical implications to central government institutions that consider introduction of some legislative framework for participatory budgeting at the local level. The originality of the research is in the analysis of one of successful stories of the PB introduced via country-wide legislation, and determining when this approach can work, also in other countries
Analysis of the Relationship of Professionals towards the Vertical Equity of the Slovenian Tax System and Its Comparison with Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the USA
Full text linkVertical equity states that taxpayers whose positions are not the same should be treated differently while taking into consideration all the relevant characteristics. The main purpose of using the vertical equity principle is to require the redistribution of income in a way that reduces the income inequality of the society. The presented research aims to check the opinion of Slovenian tax system professionals on the principle of vertical equity. Slovenian results have been compared to a similar analysis carried out in Croatia, and partly with survey results from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United States of America. The results show that the professional public agrees with the principle of vertical equity in the implementation of tax systems. All of the compared countries are similarly favourable towards vertical equity. However, this is also affected by the current tax arrangements of the individual countries
Consumer Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) – A Mechanism for Innovative E-governance in EU
Full text linkOnline Dispute Resolution (ODR) could be the first important step towards adjusting the public Administration to the requirements of the digital era by introducing new e-disputes. In this context, this article examines the significance of the emergence of consumer ODR systems in EU as a new mechanism for resolving disputes, online ones included. It takes a theoretical research approach to evaluate the nature and scope of ODR development in the emerging field of e-governance and combine it with a comparative data analysis to identify the core positive and negative challenges in the use of ODR. Some EU member states have already adopted ODR as a tool for digital e-government and others are still in the period of its implementation. ODR has already proved effective resolution for at least some disputes (e.g. cross-border disputes), but unfortunately has not yet reached its full potential. The lack of relevant ODR case law is another issue that contributes to only gradual usage of ODR systems and their efficiency. Key findings are formulated as a list of challenges that EU has to face for efficient use of ODR and it as an important part within innovative European e-governance in the future
Tax Secrecy and its Limitations: Is There a Balance?
Full text linkEconomic development in the past decades and the increase of cross-border business by the multinationals coupled with recent financial crisis have brought many questions about whether the taxpayers are paying their fair share. In order to assess the equitable amount of taxes due, revenue authorities often rely on information provided to them by taxpayers. In conducting their procedures, revenue authorities are in principle bound by tax secrecy. However, recently, the tax systems have introduced tax policy instruments with opposing effects, intended to provide full insight in taxpayers’ revenues worldwide and affect the taxpayers’ behaviour towards greater tax compliance. Two such instruments are particularly worth noting, public shaming lists, used primarily nationally, and international exchange of information, as a cross-border procedure. Through comparative legal approach we provide an analysis of legal instruments balancing tax confidentiality and tax transparency. As the research will show, the optimal level of tax secrecy, while preserving international standards of tax transparency, is very difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish. Legal tradition of secrecy, implementation of international standards and the evaluation on the adequacy of such measures should all be taken into account before jumping to any conclusions about the perfect balance. The goal of accomplishing fair and equitable tax system must not be disregarded as well
The Use of Facebook in the Slovenian Local Self-Government: Empirical Evidence
Full text linkThe paper presents a contribution to the rapidly growing field of social networks usage in public administration organizations. Despite the increasing volume of research in this field, there is a lack of detailed empirical evidence. To address the issue, we aim here at comprehensive empirical analysis of the usage of Facebook as the most popular social networking site among Slovenian municipalities. The methodology of research is based on 21 indicators measuring usage, engagement, multichannel features, multi-media content, and the existence of a social networks usage strategy. The measurement has been performed in each of the 212 Slovenian municipalities. Their Facebook interaction has been observed in a period of six months, from November 2015 to May 2016. The analysis results reveal that only 36% of the Slovenian municipalities were present on Facebook in 2016, with almost a quarter having a zero interaction rate on their Facebook pages/profiles in the observed six-month period. In particular, one-way interaction was recorded on municipal Facebook pages, leaving considerable room for improvement as regards the usage of Facebook as a social network with the highest potential of reach and engagement in terms of number of its users. The results are useful for information and benchmarking purposes for Slovenian and foreign municipal managers
Cooperation Between Public Research Organizations and the Industry in Slovenia in 2007–2013
No full textFunding for research and development activities is an important part of every society. In the 2007-2013 period, Slovenia increased the share of gross domestic expenditures for research and development. The share then declined, and Slovenia is again falling short of the set goal of investing three percent of its GDP in research and development.The article presents statistical data on the share of investments in research and development activities in Slovenia in the 2008-2015 period and two measures or instruments introduced in 2009 and 2010 by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia. The stated goal of the measures was to foster collaboration and networking between researchers at public research organizations and the private sector. The measures in question were the Tender for the development of centers of excellence and the Public tender for the development of competency centers in the 2010-2013 period. The measures were co-financed through structural funds