The rights, duties and legal interests of all subjects are regulated in the substantive legal regulations which are realized by concretization in administrative and legal relations.This concretization or realization of the right of duty and legal interests is realized in the administrative procedure which regulates the competence, form and order of external actions as well as the forms of acts that are passed in connection with and as a consequence of those actions.
There are two types of administrative procedures, namely general and special administrative procedures with the generally valid rule of subsidiary application of the general administrative procedure.
The duty to act in accordance with the law in administrative proceedings have: administrative bodies of a certain political-territorial unit, other state bodies and companies, institutions and other legal entities, citizens’ associations as well as organizations or institutions with public authority.
The principles of administrative procedure are the core or basis of all other regulations that elaborate on the matter of administrative process. Thus, through the system of administrative procedural law, contradictions are eliminated and possible legal gaps are filled..“ The Public Administration Reform Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ treats administrative procedure as a key aspect of the reform that improves the quality of public services and raises the issue of administrative decision-making as a central issue in public administration reform.
The principle of legality of work or functioning of public administration and the principle of legality in administrative procedure require that legal regulations are applied in a lawful manner, by execution in specific cases. Therefore, the Public Administration Reform Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina insists on reforms that will strengthen administrative decision-making as a key component of interaction between administration and citizens, and forms administrative decision-making a functional, reliable, efficient, transparent and responsible tool of a modern citizen-centered public administration, which it serves and for which it is better qualified to become a member of the European Administrative Area. In addition, the proper functioning of the administrative decision-making system contributes to the reduction of arbitrariness, bureaucracy in the performance of public affairs and ensures the efficiency, effectiveness and predictability of public administration in providing services to society.
In the context of administrative procedure and administrative decision-making within the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the project “Program for Improving the Quality of Administrative Decision-Making in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was implemented by which a systematic analysis of the state of administrative procedures and administrative decision-making is performed and certain recommendations regarding improving the quality of administrative decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina are given, as well as recommendations related to harmonization with standards regarding administrative decision-making in European Union countries.
In the process of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the “Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2018-2022” was adopted, which analyzes the achievements of the previous strategy and assessment of the state of public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, presents lessons learned in the implementation of the “Public Administration Reform Strategy 2006-2014” and as one of the operationally key strategic goals treats and envisages the service delivery in public administration at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The ultimate goal of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the rule of law, ie the rule of regulations in the work and conduction of public administration, especially in administrative decision-making in which entities are reaching subjective rights and duties. In this context, it is necessary to mention the procedure of administrative judicial protection, ie as a possibility to lead an administrative dispute after the end of the administrative procedure in front of regular courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through administrative departments, or in front of special administrative courts, such as in Germany, Sweden and even in the neighboring Republic of Croatia.
A systematic and detailed analysis of administrative judicial protection could lead to certain results that would necessarily show that radical reforms are needed in this segment as well, in terms of establishing one of the European models of judicial protection of parties in administrative disputes.
It follows that the application of substantive legal regulations is done through the process of administrative proceedings that play an important role in the rule of law, ie the rule of regulations and the establishment of legal security in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.