Annotation

The article examines the legal nature of electronic citizens’ appeals within the administrative process in the context of the digitalization of public administration. Based on the analysis of current legislation, doctrinal approaches, and law-enforcement practice, the author substantiates the conclusion that an electronic appeal cannot be reduced to a mere разновидность of the written form. For the first time, a systemic model of the legal attributes of an electronic appeal is proposed, integrating technological characteristics ‒ digital form, metadata, and the potential for automation ‒ into the structure of the administrative-procedural legal fact. The author’s concept demonstrates how these attributes transform traditional conceptions of citizens’ appeals in the public-law sphere by modifying the mechanism of emergence of procedural legal relations, the procedure for fixing legally significant circumstances, and the evidentiary framework. Particular attention is paid to the role of authentication and metadata in ensuring the legal validity of electronic appeals, as well as to their impact on procedural time limits, liability, and the transparency of administrative procedures, which makes it possible to develop a coherent theoretical basis for modernizing legislation on citizens’ appeals, elaborating uniform standards of law-enforcement practice, and enhancing the level of legal protection of participants in electronic administrative interaction.