Competence

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania is:

1. the appellate instance for cases heard by the Regional Administrative Court as courts of the first instance.
2. the single and last instance for the cases relating to the lawfulness of regulatory administrative acts adopted by the central entities of state administration;
3. the last instance for the cases relating to the complaints against the decisions or omission of the Central Electoral Committee of the Republic of Lithuania, with the exception of those assigned to the competence of the Constitutional Court;
4. the appellate instance for cases regarding:

• lawfulness of legal acts passed and actions (omission) performed by the entities of public administration, as well as delay these entities in performing within their remit;
• lawfulness of acts passed and actions (omission) performed by the entities of municipal administration, as well as delay of actions of these entities;
• compensation for damage caused by unlawful actions of public administration entities (Civil Code, Article 6.271);
• payment, repayment or exaction of taxes, other mandatory payments and levies, the application of financial sanctions and the tax disputes;
• office-related disputes, where one of the parties is a public or municipal servant, as well as disputes arising from exercise of material liability and the right of recourse under the Law on the Civil Service of the Republic of Lithuania;
• decisions of the Chief Institutional Ethics Commission and petitions by the said Commission for the severance of service relations with public servants;
• petition by the Seimas Ombudsperson on the severance of service relations with public servants;
• disputes between the entities of public administration which are not subordinate to one another concerning competence or breaches of laws, except for civil litigation cases assigned to the courts of general jurisdiction;
• violation of the election laws and the Law on the Referendum of the Republic of Lithuania;
• lawfulness of the decisions made and actions (omission) performed in the sphere of public administration by public agencies, state or municipal enterprises and associations with public administration powers, as well as delay of actions of these entities;
• lawfulness of acts of general character passed by communities, political parties, political organisations or associations;
• complaints by aliens about the refusal to issue permits for residence and work in Lithuania or withdrawal of such permits, about changing permits for residence, as well as complaints about refusal or cancellation of Asylum;
• petitions of the municipal council to present a conclusion whether a member of the municipal council or the mayor against whom the procedure of the loss of mandate has been initiated has breached their oath and/or failed to exercise the powers assigned to them by the laws (as specified in the application);
• petitions of the State Data Protection Inspectorate to apply to the competent judicial authority of the European Union regarding the decision of the European Commission on the suitability, adoption of standard data protection conditions or on the universal validity of the approved codes of conduct.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania hears petitions for renewal of proceedings in administrative cases, which have been disposed of by virtue of an effective court decision or order.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania also performs other functions within its remit.

The Vice President of the Court and a judge appointed by the President takes part in a specialized judicial panel to resolve disputes regarding the amenability of the case to the jurisdiction of general or administrative courts.

The Court decisions and orders are final and cannot be appealed. Thus, the judges take into account the circumstances and every detail of the case to carefully examine the claims and make a just decision. As the supreme administrative authority, the Court forms uniform administrative case-law by interpreting and applying statutes and other legal acts.

The Court:

• analyzes national, European Union and international court case-law, other sources of law, prepares the Court‘s, Court of Justice of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights case-law summaries, reviews, publishes information about its activity;
• issues its bulletin which contains the newest case-law reviews and summaries, other information about the activity of the Court and material about uniform interpretation of the law and other legal acts.

The Court‘s decisions and orders as well as decisions relating to the lawfulness of regulatory administrative acts are published in the Teisės aktų registras (Legal Act Register) and are readily available to the public.

More information and statistics about the Court‘s activity over the years can be found in the annual reports.