Acts Under the Bulgarian Law on Administrative Offences and Sanctions Falling Within the Scope of Direct Administrative Justice After the 2020 Amendments to the Law

The paper analyses the acts under the Bulgarian Law on Administrative Offences and Sanctions (LAOS) which fall within the scope of direct administrative justice after the amendments to the law passed in late 2020. It defines the scope of application of the ordinary and special legislative procedures of control based on the acts that may be subject to revision. In the end, the paper lists the acts under LAOS which cannot be disputed separately.

5. The European Union legal system

This chapter discusses the EU system’s sources of law covering: primary legislation, secondary Union legislation and other sources of law, including ‘soft law’. It also discusses the legislative procedures, decision-making procedure of the Commission and legislative powers and implied powers. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the application of the principle of subsidiarity and proportionality.

Evidence-Based Laws and the Administrative Capacity to Generate Information for the Legislative Process

Traditionally, the legislative practice has been described from the moment the bills enter the Assemblies or Parliaments until they are promulgated into law, but there is a lot of opacity regarding what the doctrine knows about the previous moment, that is, the pre-legislative procedures, which finally determine the way in which a problem will be approached legislatively, the content that these texts will develop and who has influenced the strategy deployed. This note seeks to make visible certain practices within the administration that allow understanding which is the starting point of a bill, how the knowledge of the administration members is structured and some of its problems, which are the sources of information for the elaboration of diagnoses, what should be the previous steps for the creation of a regulation and the existence of an institutionality that gives certainty, who influences the drafting of a legal text, what have some Latin American countries done to advance on this issue and how an evidence-based bill should be structured so that its result is close to the optimum expected in terms of legal effectiveness and transparency and accountability to citizens. Finally, this note concludes on the benefits derived from the strengthening of administrative capacity that allow generating, structuring and articulating technical, impartial and transparent information to promote evidence-based laws whose follow-up and evaluation allow assess their ex post effectiveness.

Role and challenges of customs representative institute in foreign economic activity development

The article considers the scientific and practical aspects of customs representative institution activity in Russia in the conditions of intense and challenging foreign economic activity (FEA) of enterprises. On the basis of customs process specifics identified in Russia and comprehending approaches to the development of the customs representative institution, a role of this institution’s subjects is determined, and the ambiguity of attitude towards them from the customs authorities is represented. The complication of FEA was noted as the main factor in increasing demand for the customs representatives’ services. The accelerated digitalization of the customs process that is carried out by Russian Federal Customs Service was noticed as a factor potentially limiting their activities. There has been presented the dynamics of customs representatives in Russia, the substantive coverage is studied, and the most requested customs brokerage services are listed. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of engaging customs representatives by FEA participants for customs clearance are also shown in this article. Among the merits of engaging customs representatives for customs clearance are particularly highlighted competence, flexibility in working methods, and responsibility of customs representatives with the variability of legislation and technique of working. Shortcomings are the risk of malpractice in providing services and the involvement of the declarant in illegal schemes in the customs clearance process. There has been given the analysis of the current practice, considered the issues of the actual and relevant challenges in the development of customs representative institution. Special attention focuses on the influence of legislative procedures, which regulate the activity of customs representatives and affairs related to digital problems of the customs process, the internal problems connected with the work of customs representatives, such as improvement of the organizational structure and competence of the staff. There have been provided general recommendations for improving the customs intermediaries’ efficiency by revising and adjusting the principles of their interaction with customs authorities, as well as by optimizing their internal organizational structure through a competent division of responsibilities between employees.

7. Legislative Powers

This chapter addresses what the legislative powers of the European Union are, and what types of procedures are legislative procedures. It begins by analysing the scope of the Union's legislative competences. This scope is limited, as the Union is not a sovereign State. The chapter then looks at the different categories of Union competences. Depending on what competence category is involved, the Union will enjoy distinct degrees of legislative power. The chapter also considers the identity of the Union legislator. Various legislative procedures thereby determine how the Union must exercise its legislative competences. Finally, the chapter scrutinizes the principle of subsidiarity as a constitutional principle that controls the exercise of the Union's shared legislative powers.

7. Legislative Powers

This chapter addresses what the legislative powers of the European Union are, and what types of procedures are legislative procedures. It begins by analysing the scope of the Union’s legislative competences. This scope is limited, as the Union is not a sovereign State. The chapter then looks at the different categories of Union competences. Depending on what competence category is involved, the Union will enjoy distinct degrees of legislative power. The chapter also considers the identity of the Union legislator. Various legislative procedures thereby determine how the Union must exercise its legislative competences. Finally, the chapter scrutinizes the principle of subsidiarity as a constitutional principle that controls the exercise of the Union’s shared legislative powers.

Two sides of the contemporary system of quasi-legislative acts of the Commission of the European Union

The scientific article is devoted to the issue of complex legal analysis of both advantages and disadvantages of the contemporary system of Commission’s quasi-legislative acts which is composed of implementing and delegated acts. Commission’s implementing and delegated acts play a crucial role in the EU, but the abusive application by the EU legislator of the delegation of quasi-legislative powers to the Commission of the EU cause various negative consequences on the EU legal order. The author outlines the following positive sides of Commission’s quasi-legislative acts: acceleration of the EU decision-making process, adding the EU decision-making process flexibility, improvement of the quality of the EU legislative acts and unloading the overall EU legislature’s workload. Taking into account the latest statistics, the author has proved that the process of the adoption of implementing and delegated acts is in four times faster than ordinary and special legislative procedures. It is emphasized that COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 made the EU urgently enact a bunch of legislative acts that were mainly adopted in the form of Commission’s quasi-legislative acts. The author also points out that the quality of the EU’s legislation has been improved as well as EU’s legislator workload has been greatly reduced because of Commission’s implementing and delegated acts. At the same time, the author specifies that the absence of an explicit legal distinction between Commission’s implementing and delegated acts leads to numerous interinstitutional litigations and disputes and undermines the hierarchy of legal acts under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty. It is established that an excessive application by the Commission of the EU of the quasi-legislative instruments may breach the principle of institutional balance and may lead to the replacement of the sole EU legislator – the European Parliament and the Council. Eventually, the author argues that the lack of transparence and accountability of the Commission of the EU during the process of adoption of implementing and delegated acts deepen the ‘democratic deficit’ problem within the EU.

Biased politicians and independent agencies

Some agencies derive legitimacy from their political independence: for example, political meddling in monetary policy is problematic, as politicians favor short-term electoral goals over long-term economic stability. Nevertheless, the process of agency reform, even for agencies that are thought to be independent, is seldom onerous and often follows standard legislative procedures. Furthermore, citizens frequently lack expertise to hold policymakers accountable for new bureaucratic policies. Why then do politicians abstain from exercising influence through agency reform? This article delineates an informational cost to agency reform. In issue areas where politicians are frequently biased and citizens cannot perfectly observe the quality of agency reforms, citizens assume that reforms serve the politicians’ self-interest and punish politicians for any reform at all. Agency independence then comes more from informational challenges than from institutional design. This article develops a formal model to explain when agencies are reformed and when they retain their independence.