Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal

The purpose of this article is to address the question of arbitrability of administrative conflicts, generally and as characteristic of Portugal. Although the use of arbitration in conflicts where public entities intervene in private relationships is usually allowed, European legislatures commonly...

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Main Author: Marta Portocarrero
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) 2020-04-01
Series:Central European Public Administration Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20531
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author Marta Portocarrero
author_facet Marta Portocarrero
author_sort Marta Portocarrero
collection DOAJ
description The purpose of this article is to address the question of arbitrability of administrative conflicts, generally and as characteristic of Portugal. Although the use of arbitration in conflicts where public entities intervene in private relationships is usually allowed, European legislatures commonly consider administrative disputes as a type of controversy excluded from arbitration. It is indeed easy to raise strong arguments against alternative dispute resolution when public administration is implicated. Nevertheless, none of the objections usually raised seems to be unbridgeable. Consequently, the article aims to critically analyse the main arguments against the power of arbitrators to rule on public conflicts. Presently, the Portuguese law allows administrative arbitration in a wide range of areas, from conflicts relating to administrative contracts to conflicts over the legality of administrative authority acts. The assessment of this regime makes it clear that the enlargement of the objective scope of administrative arbitration has to be accompanied by rules, which offer a response to the specific requirements of administrative law and a safeguard of public interest. In this sense, the analysis offers a critical review of the solutions of Portuguese law, which can be also used in comparable legal regimes of other European countries.
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publisher University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
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spelling doaj-art-763fda0537b74875b4c25da1177f230f2025-01-22T10:50:35ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Central European Public Administration Review2591-22402591-22592020-04-0118110.17573/cepar.2020.1.10Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in PortugalMarta Portocarrero0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1199-1105Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Catolica Research Centre for the Future of Law (CEID), Faculty of Law The purpose of this article is to address the question of arbitrability of administrative conflicts, generally and as characteristic of Portugal. Although the use of arbitration in conflicts where public entities intervene in private relationships is usually allowed, European legislatures commonly consider administrative disputes as a type of controversy excluded from arbitration. It is indeed easy to raise strong arguments against alternative dispute resolution when public administration is implicated. Nevertheless, none of the objections usually raised seems to be unbridgeable. Consequently, the article aims to critically analyse the main arguments against the power of arbitrators to rule on public conflicts. Presently, the Portuguese law allows administrative arbitration in a wide range of areas, from conflicts relating to administrative contracts to conflicts over the legality of administrative authority acts. The assessment of this regime makes it clear that the enlargement of the objective scope of administrative arbitration has to be accompanied by rules, which offer a response to the specific requirements of administrative law and a safeguard of public interest. In this sense, the analysis offers a critical review of the solutions of Portuguese law, which can be also used in comparable legal regimes of other European countries. https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20531alternative dispute resolution, administrative arbitration, arbitration procedure, objective arbitrability, Portugal
spellingShingle Marta Portocarrero
Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
Central European Public Administration Review
alternative dispute resolution, administrative arbitration, arbitration procedure, objective arbitrability, Portugal
title Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
title_full Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
title_fullStr Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
title_full_unstemmed Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
title_short Arbitration in Administrative Affairs: The Enlargement Scope of Ratione Materiae in Portugal
title_sort arbitration in administrative affairs the enlargement scope of ratione materiae in portugal
topic alternative dispute resolution, administrative arbitration, arbitration procedure, objective arbitrability, Portugal
url https://journals.uni-lj.si/CEPAR/article/view/20531
work_keys_str_mv AT martaportocarrero arbitrationinadministrativeaffairstheenlargementscopeofrationemateriaeinportugal