Summary

Traditionally, an administrative act should only apply within the jurisdiction of the state that issued the administrative act. The concept of a transnational administrative act as a separate legal institute was first discussed in German academic writing in the 1990s. In essence, a transnational administrative act is an administrative act, issued by a Member State, with a cross-border impact.

The concept of a transnational administrative act has been developed within the context of EU law. Naturally, any progress on the EU level will also trigger changes in the administrative law of Member States. As a Member State, Estonia has had the obligation to transpose the institute of transnational administrative act into national law.

A transnational administrative act is bound to raise a number of practical issues, as evident in media coverage. There have been no coherent and conceptual discussions on this issue by Estonian academic writers hitherto. This article discusses the essence of a transnational administrative act as an institute of EU law. More specifically, the article provides an overview of the key elements of the definition of an administrative act, delimits the institute from other similar phenomena, specifies the types of transnational administrative acts, and addresses the key legal problems involved. Associations with Estonian administrative law are also discussed.