Summary

In Juridica 2004/5, M. Ernits initiated a discussion with critical comments on the results of mistakes made in the delivery of administrative acts. His criticism referred to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and the “Administrative Procedure Handbook”, which was published in spring.

The basic problem in the debate is whether an error of procedure or form in the delivery of an administrative act always precludes the entering into force of an administrative act, or whether it sometimes precludes it, or whether it can never affect it.

M. Ernits concludes that if the delivery rules are violated, the administrative act does not enter into force, and even the provision for the correction of the error – APA § 58 – cannot save it. He considers such a situation to be unreasonable and proposes that the Act be changed in this regard. The author of this article disagrees with M. Ernits’s standpoint, and says that, proceeding from the first sentence of Section 1 of § 60 of APA, even an erroneously delivered administrative act enters into force as long as the omissions by the administrative body are not serious enough to make notification completely impossible. This regulation is in accordance with the constitutional framework of administrative procedure and the needs of legal policy, and there is therefore no need to change it.