Doctrine of provision of public services in the system of administrative law of european countries

Abstract

The article analyzes the experience of European countries regarding the formation of the doctrine of the provision of public services in the system of administrative law and the identification of its features. It is shown that the legal institution of public services in Ukraine is quite new. At the same time, there is no doubt that similar innovations in this field and their regulatory consolidation and implementation should take into account the experience of foreign countries, in particular those in which this institute was formed and has been functioning for a long time. European jurisprudence has offered various interpretations of the doctrine of public services. In particular, different approaches are offered by the German and French schools of law, which are considered to be competitors. Therefore, it appears important to conduct a consistent comparative legal analysis of the category of public services, their types, forms and subjects of their provision, the system of regulatory control. This is due in particular to the impossibility of forming new administrative and legal structures and institutions without an appropriate analysis of the experience of the process of Europeanization of administrative law. It was established that the representatives of the French legal school reached a consensus that the national administrative law of France consists of several large blocks, and the law in the field of public service, from the position of the structure of the industry, belongs to special administrative law and, together with the issues of legal entities of public law and administrative justice, constitutes one from the basic postulates of all French administrative law. The French doctrine of public service has gained wide popularity and has been implemented in many countries of the continental legal system. In the German doctrine, public service is considered as a publicly significant activity of state administration bodies and other involved subjects of relevant activity within the concept of good governance. Adoption of administrative acts in the process of carrying out administrative procedures in accordance with German legislation is not formally considered from the standpoint of public services, but in its essence it is completely included in such a construction. The category of "public services" is not specifically defined in the German doctrine, but it covers both positive public administration and law enforcement activities of public administration entities regarding the issuance of individual administrative acts in the interests of private individuals. Legal relations between authorities and citizens are traditionally referred to as «external administrative law» or «formal administrative law».