Conducting an administrative investigation is an integral part of the process of prosecution in cases specified by law. Most cases of prosecution for illegal acts of an administrative nature do not pass this stage.
What is an administrative investigation?
An administrative investigation is the stage following the initiation of an offense case. Its conduct is necessary in controversial cases to determine all the circumstances of the case, allowing to qualitatively draw up a protocol on an administrative offense.
Conducting an administrative investigation is an optional procedure, which, nevertheless, is included in the general procedure that determines the correctness of prosecution.
Verification of an administrative type - a set of procedural actions, the implementation of which requires time spent by authorized officials.
The essence of deep verification is as follows:
- Establishment of circumstances of an unlawful act of an administrative nature.
- Fixation of established circumstances.
- Legal qualification of an administrative act.
- Registration of procedural documents.
An administrative investigation, under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, is carried out in the areas enshrined in part 1 of article 28.7:
- antitrust law;
- patent law;
- monopolies of the natural type;
- advertising legislation;
- legislation in the field of joint stock companies;
- securities market and investment funds;
- insurance legislation;
- sphere of elections and referenda;
- the sphere of combating money laundering and legalization of income that was obtained through illegal means;
- scope of financing of terrorist organizations and their actions;
- the legislation on counteraction to terrorism in the Russian Federation of unlawful acts of an administrative nature, established by Article 15.27.1 of the Code;
- legislation defining anti-corruption practices;
- labor law;
- the sphere of market manipulation and misuse of insider information;
- legislation on the means and substances of a narcotic or psychotropic type or precursors of these substances;
- legislation on the prevention of the use of doping, on the fight against doping in the field of sports and physical education in general;
- scope of violations of the requirements for the content of provisions and regulations establishing the procedure for conducting sporting events;
- utility tariffs, antitrust laws;
- scope of advertising;
- gambling and entertainment;
- environmental legislation.
Legislation regulates many other areas in which it is necessary to conduct in-depth checks of an administrative nature.
Check for violations of the law is carried out in several stages:
- Decision-making on carrying out of deep check of the report on violations in the field of legislation
- The establishment of all necessary and existing circumstances of the case.
- Suspension of a deep check (if there is an objective need for this).
- Registration in the procedural form of the results of an in-depth audit of a violation of the law.
- Submission of an administrative offense protocol drawn up by an authorized official for consideration by a higher competent official or body.
- An additional in-depth inspection of a committed unlawful act of an administrative nature (if the higher authority returned the case for further investigation).
- Repeated submission of an administrative offense protocol drawn up by an authorized official for consideration by a higher competent official or body.
- Making a decision on holding the guilty person liable.
Reason for deep review
The reason for an administrative investigation is messages or appeals received by law enforcement or other authorized bodies that contain sufficient data on the existence of an unlawful act of an administrative nature. This may be information type messages that do not include complaints from citizens or information about the harm caused by non-compliance with relevant legislation.
If the received message is informative and is not considered the basis for conducting an in-depth audit of an unscheduled nature, it is in any case an occasion for an investigation.
The types of reasons for deep testing and the list of persons conducting the audit are extensive due to the large number of regulated areas.
Types of Occasions
General categories of reasons for conducting an administrative investigation are:
- Data from state or law enforcement agencies, from local authorities or associations of a public nature that an administrative offense has been committed.
- Detection by officials, authorized to draw up protocols, persons of data that an unlawful act has been committed;
- Statements and messages from individuals, legal entities or the media in which there is evidence of a committed or ongoing administrative offense.
Article 28.1 of the Code also provides for other reasons for conducting an audit.
Determination of an administrative investigation
If in the course of the proceedings it is necessary to initiate an administrative investigation, an official authorized to draw up the minutes, the person draws up a decision on the investigation.
If the decision is made by the prosecutor, he draws up a decision to conduct an administrative investigation, referring to Article 28.3 of the Code. In addition, more than ninety categories of officials are entitled to make a determination.
The document is drawn up immediately after receiving information about the commission of an illegal act of an administrative nature.
Definition Elements
The drafted decision or ruling should contain the necessary data confirming the legality and validity of the investigation of an administrative case. Definition Elements:
- Place and date of preparation of the document.
- Surname with initials and position of the person making the document.
- Reason for conducting an administrative investigation and initiating proceedings with a detailed description of the data obtained, according to which an administrative offense was committed.
- Link to the article of the law on the basis of which the investigation is conducted.
- Record that the rights in relation to the investigation are explained to an individual, legal entity and other persons.
- Signature of the person who issued the determination or decision.
Investigation Procedure
According to the established procedure of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the investigation must be carried out at the place of identification or commission of an administrative offense. The tasks of the proceedings in such cases determine the need to bring the perpetrator to justice in compliance with the principles of completeness, objectivity and justice.
An investigation of an administrative offense must be carried out carefully, with an investigation of all the circumstances and the place of its commission. After all the necessary actions have been taken, the victims and offenders have the right to familiarize themselves with the materials collected during the in-depth verification process, give explanations and explanations in the case, and submit materials for examination on their part.
Investigation proceedings
When conducting an in-depth audit of administrative offenses, it is necessary to carry out some procedural steps to investigate the matter from all sides. The procedural actions include:
- Obtaining explanations by an authorized official from a person who is held administratively liable (Article 26.3 of the Code).
- Obtaining evidence from victims and witnesses present in relation to the case under review.
- Examination by an authorized person (Article 26.4 of the Code).
- Sampling and sampling (Article 26.5 of the Code).
- Fixing material and other evidence by photographing, filming, etc. (Article 26.6 of the Code).
- Examination of documents of a person accused of administrative wrongful acts (Article 26.7 of the Code).
- Taking the necessary testimony by special means of a technical type (Article 26.8 of the Code).
- Submission of requests to the relevant authorities of territorial significance (Article 26.9 of the Code).
- Giving instructions to other persons to take the necessary actions (Article 26.9 of the Code).
- Demanding the necessary information, including data on the calculation of the fine for an administrative offense (Article 26.10 of the Code).
In addition to the actions specified in the Code of Administrative Offenses, other procedural actions may be performed.
Duration of an administrative investigation
As with any legally significant action, there are statutory deadlines for investigating cases of unlawful acts. Such a period for an administrative investigation is one month from the date of the adoption of the decision to initiate proceedings. But it can vary.
In some cases, the period of investigation of an administrative offense may be extended. For this, the official conducting the investigation is required to write a written application.
One of the four managers is entitled to give permission to extend the term:
- The head of the body (or deputy head) to whom the official reviewing the case of an administrative offense is subordinate. The maximum renewal period is one month.
- The head of the customs higher authority (or deputy head) or the head of the executive authority authorized to resolve issues of unlawful acts in the field of customs. The maximum renewal period is six months.
- The head of the higher authority investigating cases of violation of the law in the field of the Rules of the road and the operation of vehicles, if these violations led to the victim causing slight bodily harm or moderate harm. The maximum renewal period is six months.
- The head of a higher authority (or deputy head), empowered to resolve issues of administrative type offenses in the organization or holding of games (gambling). The maximum renewal period is six months.
Definition of extension
The decision to extend the investigation period is an official document approved by a higher manager, which allows to increase the time period for consideration of a case of an illegal act of an administrative type.
The completed determination must contain the necessary data confirming the legality and validity of the extension of the time period for investigating an administrative offense case. The constituent parts of the definition:
- Place and date of preparation of the document.
- Surname with initials and position of the person making the document.
- The basis for an extension of the investigation of an unlawful act of an administrative nature.
- The final date for the extension of the investigation.
- Link to the article of the law on the basis of which the investigation is conducted.
- The signature of the person who issued the determination and the signature of the person who approved the determination.
A copy of the document drawn up to increase the length of the in-depth inspection in the twenty-four hour period is issued against signature or sent to an individual, legal entity who is suspected of an administrative offense, and the victim.
Case Results
As a result of an in-depth audit of an administrative offense, real facts are revealed. After an administrative investigation under Art. Code of Administrative Offenses, an authorized official compiles one of two documents:
- Protocol on holding liable for committing an unlawful act provided for in Article Code (Article 28.2).
- Decision to terminate consideration of an administrative offense case (Article 24.5).
Judicial and other types of applied practice confirm that a person who does not try to protect his interests and to justify himself for committing an illegal act of an administrative nature is most often held accountable, even if there are grounds for dismissing him.