Judge Michal Matulník discussed at the ACA- Europe seminar in Leipzig on the topic of limiting judicial review in disputes of a highly technical nature
Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic JUDr. Michal Matulník, PhD. participated in the seminar of the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig on February 2, 2026. Topic of the given seminar was “Redefining the terms and limitations of judicial review focusing on disputes of a highly technical nature”.
The starting point of the discussion was the fact that the right to access to justice imposes on the courts the obligation to discuss and review the facts of the case and to apply legal norms to the established facts, which in some cases, especially if they are of a highly technical nature, can present extraordinary challenges for the court: challenges in understanding issue in facts and challenges in understanding scientific or technical answers to problems. It regards many areas of law, for instance environmental, telecommunications or public procurement law. The purpose of the seminar was to provide a space for comparing reliable practices to facilitate the retrieval of additional knowledge and skills by judges. The seminar dealt with issues of gathering technical and scientific expertise, involvement of experts in the proceedings, application of technical norms. The subject of the discussion was also the question of the free discretion of authorities in technical evaluations.
The first part of the seminar was dedicated to individual types of expert participation in the decision-making activities of courts, with a special focus on the nature of the courts in which the so-called expert judges, courts that are staffed by employees with professional expertise and courts that base their decisions on the expertise of independent experts. Judges from Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland also presented their contributions.
The second block concerned specific disputes of a highly technical nature with a focus on the rules of the so-called BAT (Best Available Technique). In this block, judge Matulník contributed with an entry opening the discussion to the presentation of the judge of the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, dr. Tegethoff. Later, judges from Estonia and Slovenia also presented their contributions.
The ACA-Europe seminars are a stimulating platform for the exchange of experiences of European judges and mutual inspiration in very specific situations that judges deal with daily. “It was interesting to perceive the pros and cons of different approaches to the highly technical moments of court proceedings that were the subject of discussions,” concluded Michal Matulník.
Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court Michal Matulník at the ACA-Europe seminar at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. Photo © ACA-Europe.