Specialist conference
Details
The right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires guarantees for access to court and full-scope judicial review over restrictions imposed by administrative bodies. The appropriate court proceedings should offer all the guarantees of a fair trial.
Bulgarian Administrative Procedure Code offers improved guarantees for citizens’ right to a fair trial in administrative proceedings, compared with the previous legislation. The Code introduces for the first time an explicit requirement for proportionality of restrictive measures as well as other instruments for better protection against possible arbitrary interference with citizens’ rights and interests. Although it constitutes a further step towards the alignment of the Bulgarian legal system with the Convention requirements, the effectiveness and efficiency of the Code depend on the way the later is interpreted and applied by first-instance administrative courts, as well as by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The Protection against Discrimination Act (PADA) was adopted in September 2003. The Act entered into force on 1 January 2004. PADA’s adoption was a preparatory step towards the accession of Bulgaria to EU and was a response to the requirements of acquis communautaire ¬ and in particular Directive 2000/43/EC and Directive 2000/78/EC. It aimed at transposing the EU provisions into the national law.
The various grounds of discrimination (e.g. race, sex, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, etc.) are not exhaustively pointed out in the law. The scope of the prohibition is wide ranging: it covers both direct and indirect discrimination, racial segregation, harassment (including sexual harassment), incitement and assistance to discrimination and persecution on the ground of anti-discrimination action taken by the victim or third person. The law provides for a list of cases of affirmative action that are not qualified as discrimination. PADA provides for protection against discrimination in the fields of labor relations, educational and professional training. Also PADA envisages shifting of the burden of proof and provides for various sanctions in case of discrimination.
The law establishes the Commission against Discrimination and an administrative procedure before the Commission and respectively before the court. With the amendments from 2011 (State Gazette issue 39/2011) the Act was amended and now the decisions of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination are to be appealed before the Sofia Administrative Court. Before the amendments the appellative body was the Supreme Administrative Court.
The conference is aimed at increasing the capacity of Bulgarian magistrates, practicing lawyers and researchers in administrative justice by bringing practice in compliance with the requirements of the ECHR for access to court and scope of judicial review and contemporary EU antidiscrimination standards. It seeks to raise awareness regarding recent developments and the way in which the Administrative Procedure Code and Protection against Discrimination Act are applied by first instance administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court. It is considered to be an independent experts’ assessment of the recently developed case law in the field of administrative law and antidiscrimination law and a timely reaction to the relatively new amendments of the Protection against Discrimination Act, and seeks either to prevent or to overcome the establishment of possible improper judicial practices which could result in new violations of the European Convention and EU law.
The frame for the conference will be two lectures of experts of “Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights”:
-Topic I: Improved guarantees for effective protection against discrimination in administrative court proceedings
-Topic II: Improved guarantees for fair trial in administrative court proceedings (problems pertaining to the access to court and the scope of judicial control)
Topics
Partner
