Traffic Police Decisions Can Be Challenged Without Appearing in Court: New Amendments

The government has approved proposed amendments to the Administrative Procedural Code, which introduces a written procedure for the examination of a number of cases, primarily relating to the challenge of administrative offenses concerning traffic safety.

According to Armenpress, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan emphasized that during the 13 years of administrative justice in the Republic of Armenia, two versions of the administrative procedural code have been adopted, neither of which provided for a written procedure. This, in our assessment, significantly affects the burden on the courts.

“According to the report from the Supreme Judicial Council, in recent years the number of challenge claims has increased by approximately 566%. If we look at the statistics for the years 2018-2020, the cases for which we are implementing a written procedure account for 80% or more of all cases. For instance, in 2019, 7,165 judicial acts were issued regarding challenge claims, of which 5,755 were related to the cases I mentioned,” said the minister. He added that based on the nature of these cases and their relatively simple examination compared to other violations, it is deemed appropriate to establish an exclusively written procedure for these cases both at the trial level and to allow for the review of these acts in the appellate court to also be conducted in a written procedure. In the appellate court, for example, out of the 5,755 acts in 2019, 2,084 were contested, with 35% of these involving the Traffic Police.

The draft law proposes to implement a written procedure for examining cases related to administrative offenses specified in various articles of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Armenia, mandating the written procedure unless there are grounds excluding it. Additionally, possibility is provided for the administrative court to apply a written procedure in the review of other administrative cases.

Furthermore, it grants the appellate administrative court the ability to review acts issued in written proceedings by the Administrative Court, while ensuring the right to a hearing for the parties involved in exceptional cases.

At the same time, considering that this will significantly alleviate the burden on the judicial system, as well as the results of numerous discussions with judges of the administrative court, the project was recognized as urgent by government decision.