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CIVIL LAW PROCEDURE FOR COMPENSATION OF DAMAGES
CAUSED BY AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSE
Azimov Tokhir Saidovich
Associate Professor of the Department of Administrative
Activities of Internal Affairs Bodies.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14850490
Abstract
: The article analyzes the concept of damages caused as a result of
an administrative offense and describes the civil law procedure for their
compensation.
Keywords
: administrative offense, damages caused as a result of an
administrative offense, methods and procedure for compensation.
In accordance with Article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, the state provides victims with protection and access to justice, and
creates conditions for compensation of damages inflicted upon them.[1]
According to Article 985 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, damages
caused to the person or property of a citizen by unlawful action (inaction), as
well as damages caused to a legal entity, including lost profits, must be fully
compensated by the person who caused the damages. According to Article 38 of
the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Administrative Responsibility, a
person who has committed an administrative offense is obliged to compensate
for the damages caused as a result of the administrative offense.[2] Based on the
foregoing, it can be said that our national legislation provides for the legal basis
for compensation of damages caused as a result of an administrative offense.
Compensation for property and moral damage caused as a result of an
administrative offense, that is, the restoration of violated rights and freedoms of
persons affected by the offense, acts as a protective function of administrative
responsibility. In this case, unlike administrative liability, civil liability is not
punitive for the offender, but compensatory, aimed at restoring the violated
rights of the victim. After all, regardless of whether an administrative penalty is
applied to the offender, he is obliged to compensate for the damage caused as a
result of the administrative offense. That is, the application of an administrative
penalty to the offender does not release him from compensation for the damage
caused as a result of the administrative offense.
The Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Administrative Responsibility
establishes the following 3 procedures for compensation for property damage
caused as a result of an administrative offense:
firstly, the div (official) authorized to consider cases of administrative
offenses has the right to decide on compensation for property damage, if it does
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not exceed the amount of the established basic calculated value at the time of
application of the penalty;
Secondly, the court in criminal cases considers the issue of compensation
for damage regardless of the amount of property damage caused;
Thirdly, compensation for property damage caused as a result of an
administrative offense is resolved in a civil law manner.
It was noted that our national legislation provides that compensation for
damage caused as a result of committing administrative offenses can be resolved
not only in the administrative-legal procedure, but also in the civil-legal
procedure. Professor N. Imomov states that..."each branch of law uses its own
methods and means in combating offenses and makes its worthy contribution to
this process"[3], while Professor O. Okyulov emphasizes that "recognizing civil-
legal protection of human rights and interests as a comprehensive, large-scale,
and accessible method, criminal-legal and administrative-legal protection is
effective and effective"[4]. Certainly, resolving the issue of damage caused as a
result of an administrative offense in the procedure of civil proceedings allows
for a full determination of the damage caused to the victim. Because the
recovery of expenses, actual damage, and lost profits incurred by the victim to
restore their violated rights is also established by civil legislation. In the
administrative-legal procedure, only the loss or damage of the victim's property
(actual damage) is taken into account as damage. Thus, the Code of
Administrative Offenses does not establish legal mechanisms for recovering
from the offender expenses incurred by the victim to restore the violated right
and lost profits (for example, lost income for sick days).
According to Article 38 of the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on
Administrative Responsibility, a person who has committed an administrative
offense is obliged to compensate for the damage caused as a result of the
administrative offense[5]. It is also provided that the decision to recover this
damage in favor of the victim is made by the authorized div (official) during
the application of punishment to the guilty party, that is, during the proceedings
in the case of an administrative offense. Considering that, according to the
current procedure, cases of administrative offenses are considered
extrajudicially by more than 30 authorized state bodies (officials) and
administrative penalties are applied, these authorized bodies, when considering
a case of an administrative offense, must also determine whether property
damage was caused to the victim (Article 307 of the Code of Administrative
Offenses). However, although the Code of Administrative Offenses stipulates that
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state bodies (officials) resolve the issue of compensation for damage caused to
the victim as a result of administrative offenses, there are no norms defining
how to recover damages from the offender. In other words, measures ensuring
the recovery of the damage caused by the offender at his expense in favor of the
victim are not clearly defined in any article of the code. This, in practice, often
leads to the fact that the damage caused by the administrative offense is not
compensated to the victim and the administrative offense case ends with the
application of administrative penalties to the offender. As a result, citizens
appeal to various state bodies to recover damages from offenses.
Indeed, we acknowledge that the main task in administrative offense
proceedings is to strengthen legality, protect the interests of the individual, the
state, and society, and establish fair liability for committed offenses.
Nevertheless, when conducting an administrative offense case, the state div
(official) considering the case is obliged to take all legal measures to compensate
the victim for the damage caused. Among these measures, compensation for
damage caused to the victim by the person who committed the administrative
offense is taken into account as a circumstance mitigating responsibility when
imposing punishment on him, the victim can apply to the civil court on the basis
of the decision of the state div (official) that considered the administrative
offense, and compensation for damage is resolved in accordance with civil law.
However, if the legislation does not establish strict and specific measures for
recovering damages caused by an administrative offense from the guilty party in
favor of the victim, the aforementioned measures will not be sufficiently
effective.
It should be noted that, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of
Uzbekistan dated August 20, 2015 No. ЗРУ-391, a separate Chapter XVI1
"Administrative Responsibility for Obstruction, Illegal Interference in the
Activities of Entrepreneurs, and Other Offenses Violating the Rights and
Legitimate Interests of Economic Entities," consisting of 11 articles, was
introduced into the Code of Administrative Offenses. It should be noted that the
introduced norms contribute to the free operation of entrepreneurs, the
administrative and legal protection of their rights and freedoms. However, as
noted above, these articles also do not provide for strict measures to recover
damages caused to an entrepreneur as a result of an administrative offense. In
our opinion, in order to more effectively protect the rights and interests of
entrepreneurs, it is advisable to include the following methods of civil law
protection in the content of these articles. These are:
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firstly, the issue of exempting offenders from liability in case of voluntary
compensation for damage caused to entrepreneurs;
secondly, the procedure for recovering expenses incurred or to be incurred
by the entrepreneur to restore the violated right as a result of the offense, the
loss or damage (actual damage) to his property, as well as lost income (lost
profit), which the entrepreneur could have received under normal conditions of
civil circulation if his rights had not been violated;
thirdly, the introduction of strict and specific measures ensuring the
recovery of damages from the offender in favor of the entrepreneur;
Fourthly, provisions providing for criminal liability in relation to officials or
civil servants in cases of repeated commission of the same offense within a year
after the application of administrative penalties.
When considering the damage caused as a result of administrative offenses,
it is also advisable to dwell on the need to determine the subject responsible for
the damage or to whom the claim for compensation for damage should be
addressed. Because, according to the general rule, the damage caused must be
fully compensated by the person who caused it. However, there are cases when
the legislation provides for the liability of third parties, more precisely, the state,
for causing harm. For example, Part 1 of Article 302 of the Code of
Administrative Offenses "Compensation for Damage Caused to a Citizen as a
Result of Illegal Bringing to Administrative Responsibility" states: "Damage
caused to a citizen as a result of illegal bringing to administrative responsibility
is compensated by the state in full regardless of the fault of the div (official)
that considered the case on the administrative offense." The same rule is
established in the norms of civil law. For example, part 1 of Article 991 of the
Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan states: "Damage caused to a citizen as a
result of unlawful conviction, unlawful prosecution, unlawful application of
detention as a preventive measure or obtaining a receipt for decent behavior,
unlawful imposition of an administrative penalty in the form of detention, as
well as the use of any torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment, shall be compensated by the state in full in the manner
prescribed by law, regardless of the fault of officials of the bodies conducting the
pre-investigation check, the inquiry, preliminary investigation, the prosecutor's
office, and the court"[6]. However, there is no mechanism for the practical
application of the legal norm provided for in the above article, which states
that..."payment is made by the state in full in the manner prescribed by law."
Also, the issue of which state div will compensate for the damage and in what
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order is not defined. For these purposes, we consider it necessary to adopt the
Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the Procedure for Payment of Monetary
Payments from the State Budget," which defines the procedure for
compensation for losses provided for in the above-mentioned articles of the Civil
Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Along with the above, when recovering damages caused by administrative
offenses in favor of the victim, the div (official) considering the case must take
into account a number of features. In this case, the subject who committed the
administrative offense, the type of administrative offense, whether the property
or personal interest damaged as a result of the administrative offense was
insured or not are also important in solving the issue of compensation for
damage caused as a result of the administrative offense. In particular, the
following:
- the obligation of the state to compensate for damage caused as a result of
certain administrative offenses committed by an official or civil servant (Article
302 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);
- property or material damage is not always caused as a result of any
administrative offense (for example, as a result of an offense of insult or slander,
the victim often suffers moral damage, and its compensation is protected by the
court);
- insurance of property or personal interests damaged as a result of
administrative offenses (for example, according to the law on compulsory
insurance of civil liability of owners of vehicles, the insurance organization
compensates the injured party for the damage), and these circumstances affect
the resolution of the issue of compensation for damage during the proceedings
in the case of an administrative offense.
Based on the foregoing, it should be emphasized that the issue of compensation
for damages caused by administrative offenses must be finally resolved by the
authorized state div (official) during the proceedings and consideration of the
offense case, since the main task of law is not only to punish the offender, but
also to restore violated rights.
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