The article covers the issues of general administrative procedure. Its relevance is due to the prospects of adopting the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure” (LAP). At the same time, there are still theoretical and practical issues important for understanding this promising legislation, its application, in particular: the role and place of LAP in the presence of other “general” and special laws; key terminology in this area, its relationship with the close terminology of the Code of Administrative Justice of Ukraine (CAJU); requirements of LAP and modern directions of deregulation and digitalization; features of application of LAP in local self-governments; the status of persons facilitating the consideration of the case, etc.

The purpose of the article is to draw the attention of administrative scientists, teachers, practitioners to the need for more active and in-depth study of the general administrative procedure, and to inform about current issues in the development of LAP.

The LAP tried to move away from the constructions of CAJU (“subject of power”, “public-power management functions”) as derivatives of “management”. “Administration”, “administration” more accurately convey the appointment of executive power and local self-government in the modern state. After all, their main task is to serve citizens and society. The category of “subject of power” in the CAJU is broader than the “administrative body” in the LAP, as it includes the bodies that shape public policy, adopt regulations. Similarly, the concept of “individual act” in the CAJU is broader than the concept of “administrative act” in the LAP, because it includes the constituent acts of state power, acts on public service, and so on.

For the implementation of LAP at the level of local self-government, the specifics for collegial bodies are taken into account in terms of decision-making deadlines, peculiarities of authorization of certain officials to conduct proceedings, peculiarities of appealing against local self-government acts. Trends in deregulation and digitalization should not be contrasted with the legal standards of administrative procedure. On the contrary, digital technologies can simplify communication with a person. Witnesses, experts, translators are already in the Ukrainian administrative legislation. In this part of the LAP only systematizes the existing elements. Despite the constitutional possibility of introducing a mandatory pre-trial appeal by law, for political reasons, the LAP has an alternative. At the same time, there are incentives for the priority use of administrative complaints.

The main challenge for the implementation of the LAP is the risk of conflicts with other “general” and special laws, as changes to them will not be made soon. At the same time, according to Article 3 of the LAP, only the principles of the LAP have priority over other legislation. Most of them have been enshrined in the CAJU for 15 years as criteria for evaluating decisions, actions and inactions of subjects of power. And first of all, the LAP will have the character of one that fills the gaps.

At the current stage, it is necessary to: ensure the adoption of the Law on Administrative Procedure as a whole as soon as possible (draft 3475); start amending other “general” and special laws; pay close attention to the educational component.