The administrative courts have a crucial role in exerting control over public administration and ensuring procedural safeguards of legality and proportionality in cases of the states’ restriction of individual rights. The scope of the administrative law and the case load of administrative courts have increased steadily in recent years, causing a need for legislative changes to allow for better court’s organization and modernization of the court’s work in the age of the digital society.

At present, the Administrative Court of Montenegro has embarked on several initiatives to help improve its efficiency and transparency. Through the framework of the EU and Council of Europe support, 18 representatives of the Administrative Court of Montenegro, including 8 judges, 3 candidates for judges and 7 court staff members enhance their capacities for managing administrative disputes and communicating its judgments in proactive and transparent manner.

During the course of the workshop which took place in Petrovac, on 15 and 16 June, representatives of the Administrative Court and Council of Europe consultants engaged in lively discussions about the administrative procedures from the perspective of European standards and comparative law. Concrete issues and cases were explored to facilitate better understanding of administrative law standards which will in turn lead to greater jurisprudential stability and predictability of administrative courts’ decisions. The effect of the administrative judgments on the activity of public administration and the enforcement of the administrative judgments, in case the public administration fails to comply with it, has been examined as well.

The workshop thus contributed to the solution of challenges in the implementation of more efficient and effective administrative disputes, which is among the key factors of continued reforms of the judicial system of Montenegro. It also allowed the Administrative Court’ judges and staff members to make the most efficient use of the best European practices with regard to administrative law. In the long run, support provided to the Administrative Court will have an impact on enhancing the quality of its decision-making and information dissemination to increase public trust in the work of the Court.

This support to the Administrative Court is being implemented within the framework of the action "Strengthening accountability of the judicial system and enhancing protection of victims' rights in Montenegro” which is part of the joint European Union and the Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye".