Competency
The scope of the subject-matter jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court pursuant to Art. 15 § 1 of the Act - Law on Administrative Court Procedure, consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 935, in addition to considering appeals against judgments issued by provincial administrative courts, includes:
- considering jurisdictional disputes between local government bodies, between local government appeal boards, unless a separate act provides otherwise, and competence disputes between local government bodies and government administration bodies;
- adopting resolutions in order to explain legal provisions, whose application has caused differences in judisprudence of administrative courts;
- adopting resolutions containing solution of legal issues that raise serious doubts in a specific administrative court case;
- considering other cases falling within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Administrative Court under separate acts, including complaints about the excessive length of administrative court proceedings, within the meaning of the Act of 17 June 2004 on complaints about the violation of the party's right to have a case heard in preparatory proceedings conducted or supervised by a prosecutor and in court proceedings without undue delay, Journal of Laws of 2018, item 75. In this respect, the Supreme Administrative Court has the competences of a court of first instance. The SAC is also the disciplinary court in relation to judges of administrative courts, and the disciplinary spokesman in these cases is the Disciplinary Spokesman of the Supreme Administrative Court.
Among the resolutions adopted by the Supreme Administrative Court, we can distinguish between abstract resolutions and specific resolutions. Their common goal is to ensure uniformity of administrative court case law. Abstract resolutions are adopted in order to clarify legal provisions, the application of which has caused discrepancies in the case law of administrative courts. Their subject matter is therefore legal doubts that are not directly related to the proceedings pending in an individual administrative court case. On the other hand, the subject matter of specific resolutions can only be such legal doubts that occurred during the examination of a cassation appeal (complaint), and therefore demonstrate a close connection with the proceedings in an individual case (administrative court case) pending before the Supreme Administrative Court.
Only strictly defined entities (President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Prosecutor General, Commissioner for Human Rights, Ombudsman for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Ombudsman for Children) may file a motion to adopt an abstract resolution, while an adjudicating panel of the Supreme Administrative Court examining a cassation appeal or an appeal may file a motion to adopt a specific resolution (Article 264 § 2 of the Act - Code of Administrative Court Procedure).