The Supreme Administrative Court in Iraq: the challenge and the time limit
The Supreme Administrative Court hears cassation within 30 days of notification or deemed notification, under the amended Article 7.
Read →State employees and official discipline
Challenging an administrative decision before the Administrative Judiciary Court: for individuals and companies, not only employees
In briefThe Administrative Judiciary Court reviews the validity of individual and regulatory administrative decisions issued by ministries, bodies not attached to a ministry and the public sector, where the law has not named another body to hear challenges, at the request of someone with an interest. An administration's refusal or failure to take a decision it is legally bound to take counts as a decision. The court may annul or amend the decision and award compensation, and its judgment can be taken to the Supreme Administrative Court within thirty days.
Most pages in this section are about public employees and their departments. But the Administrative Judiciary Court is not a court for employees alone. A shopkeeper whose shop was shut by an administrative order, a company whose licence application was turned down, a citizen whose paperwork a department simply will not complete: all of them may end up there. This page looks at that route from the point of view of someone who is not an employee. It works from article 7 of State Shura Council Law No. 65 of 1979 as rewritten by the Fifth Amendment Law No. 17 of 2013; the court now sits within the State Council under Law No. 71 of 2017. The Law Office of Ali Barakat, in Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, brings these challenges.
Which decisions can be challenged?
Paragraph four of article 7 defines the court's jurisdiction through three elements:
- An administrative order or decision, either individual (aimed at a named person) or regulatory (laying down a general rule).
- Issued by an official or body in a ministry, a body not attached to a ministry, or the public sector.
- With no other forum named by law for challenging it.
The third element is the one people tend to miss. Some statutes give their decisions a route of their own, and then the Administrative Judiciary Court is not the place. Two examples from this site: an income-tax assessment goes to objection, then the appeal committee, then a special cassation body (articles 33, 35 and 40 of the Income Tax Law); and decisions of the General Directorate of Industrial Development go to its appeals body within thirty days (article 15 of the Industrial Investment Law). Before anything else, ask whether the law under which the decision was made has a dedicated route.
Paragraph six widens the idea: when an official or body refuses, or fails, to make an order or decision the law requires of it, that counts as a decision. Silence in the face of a complete application can be challenged.
Who may bring a challenge?
The challenger must have a known and present interest. A possible future interest is enough where there is real reason to fear harm to the person concerned. A competitor hurt by a licence granted to someone else in breach of the conditions may, depending on the facts, have that interest.
On what grounds?
Paragraph five lists grounds in particular, which fall into three groups:
- Breaking the rule: breach of a law, regulation, instruction or internal regulation.
- A defect in how the decision was made: issued by someone without power, or flawed in form, procedure, subject-matter or reason.
- Misuse of power: misapplying or misreading the texts, or abusing power or bending it away from its purpose.
Good preparation starts with getting a copy of the decision and the date it was served, and identifying the text it relied on. The ground of challenge usually comes from comparing the two.
Grievance first, then the court
The challenge is not filed directly. It is preceded by a grievance to the competent administrative body within thirty days of service, and then the challenge within sixty days of the grievance being refused, expressly or by silence. The details are on the time limit for challenging a decision. Filing does not on its own suspend the decision; see stay of execution of an administrative decision.
Paragraph seven(b) preserves another right: missing the deadline does not stop the injured person from going to the ordinary courts for compensation for harm caused by the breach of law. What is lost is the request to have the decision itself set aside.
What can the court order?
Under paragraph eight the court may dismiss the challenge, annul the decision or amend it, and award compensation where the claimant asks for it and it is warranted. Its judgment may be challenged in cassation before the Supreme Administrative Court within thirty days of service; if it is not challenged, or once the Supreme Administrative Court has ruled, it is final and binding.
When this court is the wrong place
If the challenger is a public employee disputing a right arising from their service or a disciplinary penalty, the route is the Court of Employees' Judiciary, not the Administrative Judiciary Court; the difference is explained in the Court of Employees' Judiciary and the Administrative Judiciary Court.
Legal basis and sources
- Fifth Amendment Law No. 17 of 2013 to State Shura Council Law No. 65 of 1979, article 5 replacing article 7
- State Council Law No. 71 of 2017
- Industrial Investment Law for the Private and Mixed Sectors No. 20 of 1998, article 15
- Income Tax Law No. 113 of 1982, articles 33, 35 and 40
Frequently asked questions
The municipality closed my shop by administrative order. Where do I challenge it?
If the law under which the order was made names no special forum, before the Administrative Judiciary Court, after the grievance.
I applied for a licence months ago and have had no answer. Can I challenge that?
A failure to make a decision the law requires counts as a decision under paragraph six, though the grievance still comes first.
I missed the deadline. Is everything lost?
You can still claim compensation in the ordinary courts, but not the annulment of the decision.
Related topics and articles
- 01Time limit for challenging a decision before the Administrative Judiciary CourtTime limits for a grievance and a claim before the Administrative Judiciary Court: thirty days to grieve, thirty to decide, sixty days to file
- 02Stay of execution of an administrative decision in Iraqi lawFiling a claim does not automatically stay an administrative decision. Article 7 provides no automatic stay; civil procedure applies if no special text.
- 03The Court of Employees’ Judiciary and the Administrative Judiciary CourtThe Court of Employees’ Judiciary hears disciplinary penalty appeals; the Administrative Judiciary Court hears other administrative decisions.
- 04Iraq’s Council of State and the framework of its two courtsWhat Iraq’s State Council is after Law No. 71 of 2017, and how it relates to the Court of Employees’ Judiciary.
- 05Disciplinary penalties under the State employee discipline lawDisciplinary penalties in Law No. 14 of 1991, from a written reminder to removal (azl), and how each penalty affects promotion.
Grievance against an administrative decision in Iraq
A grievance is required before filing in the Administrative Judiciary Court: 30 days from notification, 30 days to decide, then 60 days to claim.
Read →When is a State employee referred to the courts under the discipline law?
Under the State employee discipline law, an investigation may stay in the department, or lead to referral if the act appears to be a job-related crime.
Read →