Предметът на административното дело в светлината на ТР № 6 от 2010 г. на ВАС
Тhe Subject Matter of Administrative Cases in the Light of Interpretative Decision № 6/2010 of the Supreme Administrative Court

Summary/Abstract: According to Interpretative Decision № 6/2010 of the Supreme Administrative Court the subject matter of a judicial review of an individual administrative act is the legality of the particular act itself. Therefore the scopes of the force of res judicata of two contrary decisions delivered on appeal against different acts do not coincidence although the acts are issued on identical grounds. The SAC applied this logic to state that in such situation there could be no formal conflict between the judicial decisions and they cannot be subject of an extraordinary appeal on the basis of art. 239, item 4 of the Administrative Procedure Code. The article identifies some crucial ambiguities in the reasoning of the Interpretative Decision № 6/2010. It is submitted that the SAC do not adhere to a wholly consistent theory on the force of res judicata in administrative law. The analysis then focuses on three main points: what is the subject matter of administrative cases; which individual administrative acts are identical; should decisions on appeal against identical acts be consistent? Both jurisprudence and legal doctrine are invoked to support the main argument that the material issues addressed with the individual administrative act are always relevant when determining the subject matter of the administrative cases. Accordingly, the concept of identity of administrative acts should be applied in a uniform manner in all appeal procedures whether or not administrative or judicial. There are numerous reasons to accept that judicial decisions based on identical facts findings should not contradict each other. It is thus suggested that Interpretative Decision № 6/2010 should be reconsidered in the future. The development of independent theory on the force of res judicata in administrative law is encouraged.

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