Abstract

ReNEUAL Model Rules on EU Administrative Procedure – a Swiss Perspective

The article analyses the possible impact of the ReNEUAL Model Rules on EU administrative procedure for Switzerland, as well as the benefits of an additional Swiss perspective in the European discussion. Switzerland is not a member state of the European Union. Yet Switzerland is so closely connected to the European Union that codification of administrative procedure would sooner or later have spill-over effects on the Swiss legal system. Conversely, Swiss public administration with its multi-jurisdictional nature and pluralisation of actors is perfectly similar to that of the European Union in many respects. Experiences gained by Switzerland in connection with the codification of administrative procedure may therefore also be of value for the project in the European Union.

The authors of the ReNEUAL Model Rules deliberately drew them up as an innovative draft. In particular, this innovation manifests itself in a very broad approach which aims to comprehensively regulate as full a range of administrative activities as possible. What is especially noteworthy is the first-time attempt to regulate mutual assistance and administrative information management in a uniform and consistent manner. However, the European Parliament did not follow this comprehensive approach in June 2016 and instead suggested a modest “re-statement” of single decision-making. This pragmatic approach is strikingly similar to the concept on which the Swiss Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) of 1968 was based. This course of action may appear fainthearted, but from a Swiss perspective, it proved its worth step by step, since later reform steps have not been precluded. This is revealed, for instance, by the provisions on alternative dispute resolution added to the APA at a later stage. The procedural rules for Administrative Rule Making are strikingly similar to the proposals in Book II of the ReNEUAL Model Rules. They are, however not to be found in the Swiss APA, but in an act which regulates Administrative Rule Making together with the preliminary proceedings of legislation. A comparison with the Swiss legal system, therefore underlines that regulation of EU administrative procedure could be placed on an even broader basis than that proposed in the ReNEUAL Model Rules. Procedural laws in Switzerland regularly also contain provisions concerning administrative and judicial review. Bearing in mind the great fragmentation of the legal situation in the EU, a harmonisation of constitutional standards may well be useful in this respect. Besides some content-related aspects, this paper includes some critical references to the language and structure of the Re-NEUAL Model Rules, which the author considers to be in need of improvement.

Even though the European Parliament is pursuing a rather modest approach for the time being, the ReNEUAL Model Rules will not forego their position as a reform agenda and point out what fields of activity of public administration should be codified for the reinforcement of democracy and the constitutional state in the medium-to-long term. However, the Model Rules not only outline a reform agenda for the EU’s procedural law, but are also an expression of a European ius commune proceduralis. They can therefore serve as a model for the member states and associated countries such as Switzerland.