Summary

Due to the rise of new state functions and the need to develop administrative objectives and to take more complex decisions, the process of preparing decisions, the procedure, has become more important. Also, greater public involvement in the decision making process is considered significant: individuals should have the opportunity to actively contribute to the shaping of the result of the procedure. These tendencies are also reflected in the provisions of the Estonian Administrative Procedure Act regarding open proceedings where interested persons are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and positions.

The subjects of public participation include persons legally concerned, interested persons and the public. This means the extension of the group of persons who can participate in the procedure. The author examines the procedural status of such persons who, on the basis of a public notice, receive information about the commencement of open proceedings and participate in the proceedings by submitting their opinion or objection. The question is whether they can be regarded as parties to the proceedings in the traditional sense and whether a relationship in procedural law arises between them and the administrative authority and what rights and obligations derive therefrom. The author focuses on the definitions of parties to a proceeding, first and foremost, persons concerned and interested persons, and the particulars of their procedural status, and examines the time of the rise of the procedural rights of interested persons. The author argues that although the Administrative Procedure Act only provides for interested participation, the person submitting an objection or proposal in an open proceeding can be regarded as a participant in the proceeding in the meaning defined by the Administrative Procedure Act. For this reason, the rights of parties to a proceeding laid down in the Chapter on open proceedings as well as the right and obligations arising from the general regulation extend to such persons.