On July 3-4, the Supreme Court of Ukraine is hosting an international conference entitled “Administrative Justice in Ukraine: Theoretical and Practical Issues. The 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine: Experience and prospects of administrative justice in ensuring the protection of rights and freedoms in a democratic society". The Supreme Court of Latvia will be represented remotely by Jānis Pleps, Senator of the Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases.

The aim of the conference is to promote discussion and exchange of experience on issues such as: theoretical and practical aspects of the application of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine in the context of 20 years of experience; identification and solutions of procedural challenges in administrative proceedings, particularly in the context of the martial law regime; the enforcement of legal acts and the implementation of procedural mechanisms to ensure the sustainability and consistency of case law; adaptation of the administrative proceedings of Ukraine to international standards and the development of recommendations based on international experience and the practice of democratic countries to improve administrative justice in Ukraine. Participants include judges from the supreme administrative courts and the European Court of Human Rights, representatives of the Council of Europe and other institutions, university professors and other legal experts.

Senator Jānis Pleps will participate in the second day of the conference with a presentation on “National security arguments in emergencies: Safeguarding the rule of law”. The Senator points out that democratic states are currently facing real threats to their existence, and in this context, the concept of self-defending democracy, various emergency situations and the need to balance fundamental human rights with national security considerations are no longer just a theoretical subject of study. The application of these principles is of practical importance for the protection of the existence of the state and the democratic system. In crisis situations, it is the constitutional duty and responsibility of the courts to strike an appropriate balance between the interests of national security and the requirements of the rule of law. Even in emergency situations, the principles of the rule of law and human rights must be safeguarded and continuously applied; and it is the task of the administrative courts to ensure this in every case so that the state does not lose its identity and fundamental values. The legal method for fulfilling this task is to weigh and balance competing interests and values, which means that the court must strike a balance between the protection of human rights and the interests of national security in each specific case. In this regard, consideration should be given to applying the principle of practical concordance to achieve the best possible balance between competing interests and values in each specific case and to try, as far as possible, to consider both interests and values, without excluding either of them. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has defined the basis for the application of this legal method in its case-law, and the administrative courts follow it in their work.

6 July 2025 marks the 20th anniversary since the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, which defined the powers of administrative courts to consider cases of administrative jurisdiction, as well as the procedure for applying to administrative courts and the procedure for conducting administrative proceedings. The Code became one of the first legal acts to reflect and implement the principles of the rule of law. The conference is organized by the Supreme Court of Ukraine with the support of the Council of Europe.

 

Information prepared by Iveta Jaudzema, Communication Specialist at the Supreme Court of Latvia

E-mail: iveta.jaudzema@at.gov.lv; tel.: +371 67020362