Impact analysis of expanding administrative legal protection in Republic of North Macedonia

The implementation of the principles of good governance requires a platform consisting of four components: a) system of administrative procedures that completely regulates the processes of adoption of the administrative acts; b) a clearly structured organization of the public administration and its authorities in all administrative areas and territorial levels; c) professional, competent and independent staff; and d) system of effective judicial control. Each component is equally significant to establish an appropriate administrative process. A good system of administrative procedure protects the rights of citizens and encourages their participation. It avoids unnecessarily complex, formalistic and lengthy processes and improves the transparency and accountability of the administration. In the same time, it reduces the costs of citizens and government expenditures.

General administrative procedure addresses these issues in communication between public authorities, citizens and businesses. Several shortcomings and challenges were addressed in 2015 in Macedonia through new legislation (complicated economic activities, large administrative costs and costs for the business sector, slower economic development of the country, slower legal transactions and a porous legal protection system). But despite the expected direct and indirect impacts (as a result of change in a system law), one must foresee obvious risks in its implementation related to harmonization of the legal framework, inadequate capacities of the public sector and public service providers to apply the set standards consistently as well as insufficient material and financial resources to respect the obligations for inter-institutional electronic communication.

Using qualitative data analysis via in desk research of official records, legislation and existing scholarship, the paper addresses the novelties in GAP in relation to expected and actual impacts on stakeholders as well as risks related to implementation stemming from objective obstacles hindering public administration responsiveness in a modern democratic society. In order to assess those impacts, the paper analysis the documented data and data extracted from reliable surveys concerning citizens’ satisfaction of public services delivery and chances for legal protection.