Territorial Jurisdiction of Cases on Complaints Against Acts of Bringing to Administrative Responsibility Issued by Officials

This article is devoted to some important issues of territorial jurisdiction of the complaints against decisions of state officials made in cases of administrative offenses. Based on an interpretation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, previously such cases were reviewed where the relevant administrative offense was committed. However, not so long ago, the case-law took a dramatic turnaround – they began to be reviewed at the location of the state body whose official issued a decision in a case of an administrative offense or a decision of a higher official on a complaint against him. An exception is made for those administrative offenses that are detected by special technical means operating automatically. However, at the same time neither the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation itself nor the interpretation have changed. A similar situation arises with the jurisdiction of complaints against officials’ decisions to refuse to initiate cases of administrative offenses. 
So attention is drawn to the fact that the emerging case-law most likely requires adjustments to the above-mentioned interpretation, and may also threaten the reversals on a formal basis of many previously issued rulings and decisions in similar cases, since the procedural legislation does not set the time limits for their cassation appeal, including – on the argument about violation of the rules of territorial jurisdiction. Speaking further, the possibility of a sharp increase in the workload of the cases of administrative offenses in a number of district (city) courts cannot be ruled out, if one takes into account the fact that in the centers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the majority of government bodies are usually concentrated in one specific administrative district.