Discretion lies at the heart of administrative law systems and of different legal and academic traditions on the relative role of courts and administrations in each constitutional system. The boundaries of different types of administrative discretion have also shifted as administrative systems evolved and expanded into new socio-economic areas. In different fields, procedures, norms and institutions directed at steering and controlling the exercise of administrative discretion are now fundamentally shaped by EU law, in composite systems created to advance or sustain European integration. We have gathered scholars whose work has dealt with administrative discretion, either as a focus or through their analysis of national or sectoral law, to bring together different perspectives on current forms which discretion might be taking, how legal systems may be adapting and on current debates on the relationship between law and discretion from their legal systems or fields of research.
9:00-9:15. Welcoming remarks
Overcoming the Divided Nature of Administrative Discretion in Germany
Discretionary power in France: past, present, and future of an aporie
Searching for a balance: the judicial control of discretionary powers in Italy
11:20-13:30. Sectoral perspectives
Judicial review of Commission discretion in setting fines for breaches of EU competition rules – the limits of unlimited jurisdiction
Discretion in environmental matters: what balance between assessment of complexity and development of procedural requirements?
Discretions and options in Banking Union
Daniel Sarmiento (University Complutense of Madrid)
14:30-16:30.Rethinking administrative discretion
The rule governing (administrative) action and the rule governing (judicial) control
Discretionary powers in administrative action: the impossibility of dogmatic distinctions
“Administrative discretion”, “power of appraisal” and “margin of appraisal” in judicial review proceedings before the General Court