Administrative mediation in the light of institutional transformations in Ukraine

Abstract

The article highlights the social significance of administrative mediation, which consists in the organization and development of civil society institutions (for example, public associations of mediators), including their public control over public administration as a system of bodies and organizations designed to implement goals and objectives given by the political (representative) power of the state. With the help of administrative mediation, society can legally «signal» to the representative authorities about certain problems in public relations (for example, on the basis of depersonalized statistical information and reports provided by associations of mediators), eliminate and find compromise in overcoming shortcomings of public administration together with the government and, finally, to move the process of modernization of the executive branch towards finding consensus at all levels of interaction between the state and society. The article proposes the author’s definition of «administrative mediation» as an extra- judicial legal form of voluntary settlement of an administrative dispute involving two or more parties, one of which is a subject of power, and a professional mediator arising from a violation of administrative law. The article presents a number of special features and characteristics of administrative mediation, which, unlike other types of mediation, require the application of specific institutions. For instance: inequality of the parties, the dispute is based on the public interest; the principles of confidentiality and voluntariness are relative; complex structure of the mediator’s financial reward; requires the involvement of independent experts; special requirements for the mediator. The article proposes the criteria according to which an administrative dispute can or cannot be resolved through the procedure of administrative mediation. The article proposes a number of legislative initiatives regarding the institutionalization and development of the institution of administrative mediation in Ukraine. Among them, it is proposed to introduce a special section in the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine «Mediation» (as was done in Poland), where, among other things, clearly define the restrictive framework (criteria) for administrative disputes, according to which the procedure of administrative mediation can be applied.