Judicial review in an integrated administration: the case of 'composite procedures'

In the past years, increasingly more and more forms of cooperation have been set up across the different national and European administrative levels with the aim of putting European policies into effect. While the administrative level is becoming more ‘integrated’, the judicial system remains based on a strict separation between the EU and the national levels of jurisdiction. The aim of this article is to show how the operation of the system of ‘integrated administration’ may pose problems of judicial accountability. The gaps in judicial protection will be examined using the example of the ‘composite procedures’, i.e. decision-making processes with input from administrative actors from different jurisdictions, where the final decision, issued by aMember State or an EU authority, is based on procedures involving more or less formalized input of the various participating authorities. After categorising the various composite procedures, the problems connected with access to court when challenging measures adopted in the course of the composite procedures will be analysed, together with an exemplification of these problems by use of a specific case study. Throughout the discussion, the relevance of the recently published ReNEUAL Model Rules will be specifically address and evaluated. Finally, solutions will be brought forward as to how the identified gaps could be effectively filled. DOI 10.7590/187479814X14186465138022 * REVIEW OF EUROPEAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW; VOL. 7, NR. 2, 65-102, PARIS LEGAL PUBLISHERS © 2014 65 Review of European Administrative Law 2014-2