The fashion in which the European Union pursues its objectives has varied enormously over time. In all fronts but, in particular, as a public administration that implements the policies of the Union. Currently, the European Union’s executive action is not as it was originally designed to be. The model of executive federalism, where the Union takes decisions in the fields where it is competent and Member States implement them, was valid for the old Communities and still perceivable in the Treaties and in the rulings of the Court of Justice. Today it is often more of a legal fiction than a reality.

Composite administrative procedures in the European Union

The support for the fight against ‘human trafficking’ has evolved rapidly and comprehensively There has been, however, no overarching critical evaluation of the efforts to make ‘human trafficking’ a focus of international law The study addresses this gap and questions the usefulness of the international law definition of human trafficking and the legal framework built around this definition It shows how by moving to the concept of human trafficking, the international community side-lined the older and more established human rights law concepts of slavery, servitude and forced labour, a development urgently requiring rectification I propose two steps to reverse these negative developments The first is to address the terminological confusion and the definitional indeterminacy that surround the concepts of human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced labour in international law In relation to this, the study shows that the concept of human trafficking is ineffective Thus the study seeks to place renewed emphasis on the human rights law concepts of slavery, servitude or forced labour and to determine their definitional scopes The second step implies clearer understanding of states’ positive human rights obligations flowing from the human trafficking and the human rights legal frameworks In this regard, the study demonstrates the values and the limitations of both frameworks, while at the same time maintaining that the way forward is to work within the human rights system These objectives are addressed from the perspective of European law with focus on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking and Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights The relevant EU law is also considered (Less)

Human Trafficking and Slavery Reconsidered : Conceptual Limits and States' Positive Obligations in European Law

With the rise of computer algorithms in administrative decision-making, concerns are voiced about their lack of transparency and discretionary space for human decision-makers. However, calls to ‘keep humans in the loop’ may be moot points if we fail to understand how algorithms impact human decision-making and how algorithmic design impacts the practical possibilities for transparency and human discretion. Through a review of recent academic literature, three algorithmic design variables that determine the preconditions for human transparency and discretion and four main sources of variation in ‘human-algorithm interaction’ are identified. The article makes two contributions. First, the existing evidence is analysed and organized to demonstrate that, by working upon behavioural mechanisms of decision-making, the agency of algorithms extends beyond their computer code and can profoundly impact human behaviour and decision-making. Second, a research agenda for studying how computer algorithms affect administrative decision-making is proposed.

The agency of algorithms: Understanding human-algorithm interaction in administrative decision-making

This socio-legal thesis has explored the factors responsible for explaining whether and how redress mechanisms control bureaucratic decision-making. The research considered the three principal institutions of administrative justice: courts, tribunals, and ombudsman schemes. The field setting was the local authority education area and the thesis examined bureaucratic decision-making about admissions to school, home-to-school transport, and Special Educational Needs (SEN). The thesis adopted a qualitative approach, using interviews and documentary research, within a multiple embedded case study design. The intellectual foundations of the research were inter-disciplinary, cutting across law, socio-legal studies, public administration, organization studies, and social policy. The thesis drew on these scholarly fields to explore the nature of bureaucratic decision-making, the extent to which it can be controlled and the way that learning occurs in bureaucracies and, finally, the extent to which redress mechanisms might exercise control. The concept of control was studied across all its dimensions – in relation both to ex post control in specific cases and the more challenging notion of ex ante or structuring control. The aim of the thesis was not to measure the prevalence of bureaucratic control by redress mechanisms, but to understand the factors that might explain its presence or absence in a particular area. The findings of the research have allowed for a number of analytical refinements and extensions to be made to existing theoretical and empirical understandings. 14 factors, along with 87 supporting propositions, have been set out with the aim of making empirically derived suggestions which can be followed up in future research. In terms of the thesis’ contribution to existing knowledge, its comparative focus and its emphasis on the broad notion of control offered the potential for new insights to be developed. Overall, the thesis claims to have made three contributions to the conceptual framework for understanding the exercise of control by redress mechanisms: it emphasizes the importance of ‘feedback’ in relation to the nature of the cases referred to redress mechanisms; it calls attention to the structure of bureaucratic decision-making as well as its normative character; and it discusses how the operational modes of redress mechanisms relate to their control functions.

Administrative justice and the control of bureaucratic decision-making : a study investigating how decision-makers in local authority education departments respond to the work of redress mechanisms

This chapter shows how the case law of the Supreme Court of the United States, the case law of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union, some decisions of national courts (using the Spanish example) and the control exercised by certain international bodies, such as the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, are gradually deploying an intense control on procedural defects and bad motivation, thus satisfying the control of good administration and contributing, albeit indirectly, to its consolidation. In this sense, although indirect and limited, judicial review of administrative action is an instrument contributing to the quality of the administration by protecting the right to good administration. The work emphasizes that the emergence of various procedural legal principles and obligations related to the emergence of a right to good administration seems to be a feature of the judicial globalization process.

EU Law, Global Law and the Right to Good Administration

This article examines the relationship between administrative procedures, the duty of giving reasons, and the citizens’ participation in relation to the quality of the administrative behavior. I will take into account some national experiences and will reflect about some crucial issues connected with fundamental rights and administrative procedures in the European Union (EU). The U.S. model will also be considered. This study focuses on adjudicative procedures. I will not analyze rulemaking procedures, but a number of brief considerations about them will be included in the final part. The three fundamental questions are:

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Juli Ponce

Papers

Good Administration and Administrative Procedures