Shevchuk S. Principles of Discretion and Adversariality in Administrative Proceedings as a Mandatory Component of the Right to a Fair Trial

The thesis defines the legal nature and reveals the specifics of implementation of the principles of discretion and adversariality in administrative proceedings in Ukraine from the perspective of analysing the established approaches to their interpretation with a correlation of changes in their application as a result of the development of judicial doctrine, reforms of the judiciary and updating of national legislation in general. The author reveals the specific features of administrative proceedings as a form of judicial protection of rights, freedoms and interests of individuals and legal entities with a detailed description of the basis for ensuring its functionality. The fundamental rules for the proper conduct of administrative proceedings in Ukraine are described, highlighting the place and role of the principles of discretion and adversariality in the system. It is proved that their legal nature is dual, since they can be considered as follows: 1) in terms of regulating of relations between the parties to a public law dispute referred to an administrative court as a correlation of their administrative and procedural legal personality with the autonomy of their own will, where any restriction or interference with the exercise of their procedural rights and obligations by an administrative court is permissible within the procedural form of exercising its controlling powers; 2) in terms of the administrative court's activity as an independent arbitrator, which intensifies the general adversarial judicial process, ensures an objective consideration of an administrative case, including through the use of judicial discretion. The author identifies the particularities of objectification of the principles of discretion and adversariality of administrative proceedings in Ukraine at various phases and stages of court proceedings in an administrative case, and concludes that only a comprehensive analysis of all the mechanisms which were activated within consideration of a particular administrative case enable to adequately assess a particular model of behaviour of its participants. The author characterises the current problems of ensuring the efficiency of administrative proceedings in Ukraine, summarises the existing ways of their solution, and identifies the ways to improve the efficiency of implementation of the principles of discretion and adversariality within it.