History and missions

The idea of forming an association between the high administrative courts of the world was strongly expressed during the congress of the International Institute of Administrative Science (IISA) held in Madrid in July 1980, with the aim of strengthening the rule of law through the exchange of ideas and experiences between magistrates and promoting studies relating to administrative jurisdictions and public law.

In close collaboration with the IISA, the project was successfully completed. At the invitation of the French Council of State, the founding congress of the International Association of Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions (IASAJ) was held in Paris on 8 and 9 December 1983.

This unparalleled association is open to the courts of all states and to international organizations which, whatever their name, settle in the last resort disputes which may arise from the activities of public administrations. In 1983, the 25 founding members of the association were Belgium, Benin, Burundi, Colombia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mexico, Portugal, Senegal, Sweden, Togo and Tunisia. Some States have also had the opportunity to attend the events of the association with the observer status. 

The Association's headquarters are established in Paris, at the French Council of State, and English and French are its working languages, as decided when the Association was created.

Since 1983, the Association has organized every three years a Congress to study a specific legal issue. In order to make the lessons learned from these events accessible to as many people as possible, the work carried out during the Congress is published by the Association and is now available online.

Established nearly 40 years ago, the International Association of Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions has adapted its functioning and diversified its activities.

In order to overhaul and facilitate its functioning, the Association proceeded to the revision of its statutes. The new statutes, approved during the 2013 Cartagena Congress, aim to improve the governance of the Association and to ensure a better geographical representation of the members within the Board and the Management Committee.

The Association has developed and expanded its activities. In addition to its triennial congress, since 2013 the Association has been holding a thematic seminar every time its Board meets. These seminars, which are open to all members, have focused in particular on the ethics of judges, the reduction of delays in judgments, the access to the judge and the Internet. The summaries of the seminars are available on the website.

Since 2015, the Association has implemented an annual international exchange program for judges, enabling more than ten judges every year to spend two weeks in one of the Association's member jurisdictions.

The Association currently comprises 62 members spread over all continents.