Protection against unlawful interference

An action against unlawful interference is also a new type of legal action in Czech administrative law. Section 82 of the Code of Administrative Justice, states that anyone who claims that they have been directly prejudiced in their rights by an unlawful interference, instruction or coercion exercised by an administrative authority, which is not a decision and which is aimed directly against this person, may seek protection before an administrative court.

The concepts of interference with individual rights refer to a broad scale of administrative authorities' activities, e.g. an unlawful police intervention, etc.

Protection against unlawful interference is a complementary; it can only be invoked against some types of administrative authorities' activities, which do not result in the issuance of a formal decision that could be challenged.

Logically speaking, unlawful interference is also distinct from the failure to act. In a certain sense, the protection against unlawful interference creates a "left-over" category, where a person can challenge activities of administrative authority that encroach upon individual rights, but which cannot be subsumed under the definition of decision or failure to act.

There is a strict time limit for filing such an action, namely within two months from the day the petitioner became aware of the interference (the "subjective" time limit), or at the latest within two years from the day the interference took place (the "objective" time limit).

Should the action be successful, the court will order the administrative authority to discontinue violating the petitioner's rights or will confirm the unlawfulness of the interference. It will further order the restoration of the status quo which prevailed prior to the interference.