Digitization of administrative law in Germany and Taiwan

• Applicants: Privatdozentin Stefanie Egidy; Professor Dr. Matthias Knauff; Professor Dr. Meinhard Schröder
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528796849

Digitization has a global impact in almost all areas of life. As a result, legal systems worldwide are under considerable pressure to change. Public law, in particular administrative law, is no exception. However, comparable challenges do not necessarily result in uniform legal solutions. Different states often develop divergent approaches, which then determine the future legal development and also impact the functioning of states. This affects the balance within a separation-of-powers system, the significance and realization of individual rights, and the international competition for attracting businesses. In this respect, Germany and Taiwan face comparable challenges. At the same time, German and Taiwanese administrative law display a recognizable similarity due to the historical orientation of the Taiwanese legislature towards the German model, is not limited to legal texts, but extends to their interpretation and the corresponding methodology. A comparative analysis of legal solutions is therefore possible without any significant obstacles. Yet, the differences between the two administrative law systems are suitable to highlight the potential of the respective national administrative law to develop further. The project will focus on these differences, their backgrounds and effects - insofar as digitization is concerned - and provide mutual impetus for the further development of administrative law in Germany and Taiwan. This requires a systematic analysis of the development of law in both countries against the background of, among other things, constitutional peculiarities, the respective state of technological development (in general as well as subject-specific), the political willingness to and reasons for the use of IT in connection with the fulfillment of administrative tasks (e.g., pandemics or the simplification of mass administration). Concretely, the analysis focuses norms and legal acts pertaining to general as well as specific administrative law, which directly concern the functioning of the administration in the “digital state”. Moreover, the research will identify and address administrative (legal) challenges of digitization that have not yet been adequately solved in both legal systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Taiwan
• Partner Organisation: National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Chien-Liang Lee; Professor Dr. Chang-Yeh Lee; Professorin Yuh-May Lin