ضوابط حاکم بر مقرره‌گذاری اداری با تأکید بر هنجارآفرینی مستقل: تحلیلی بر رویه هیأت عمومی دیوان عدالت اداری

Administrative rulemaking is an essential mechanism for implementing legislation and administering public affairs. However, because of its subordinate nature, it cannot serve as an independent source of legal norm creation. Iranian law, nevertheless, provides no clear criteria for distinguishing the implementation of legislation from independent norm-creation. Furthermore, concepts such as ultra vires, lack of statutory authorization, and inconsistency with the law, which underpin judicial review of administrative regulations, are too broad to define the precise limits of administrative rulemaking authority. This study examines whether coherent criteria for identifying independent norm-creation and delimiting the scope of administrative rulemaking can be derived from the jurisprudence of the General Board of the Administrative Court of Justice. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach and an inductive analysis of the Court's decisions, the article clarifies the concept and legal foundations of the prohibition against independent norm-creation and reconstructs the governing principles reflected in judicial practice. The findings reveal that, although the General Board commonly invalidates regulations on grounds such as acting beyond statutory authority, lack of legal authorization, or inconsistency with the law, these grounds embody a broader underlying principle: any administrative regulation that creates a new legal status without a direct or reasonably inferable statutory basis constitutes independent norm-creation and therefore exceeds the lawful scope of administrative rulemaking. The study further demonstrates that this principle is manifested in four principal forms: the creation of new rights, the imposition of new obligations, the establishment of new institutions or legal powers, and the creation, expansion, weakening, or abolition of statutory enforcement mechanisms. By reconstructing this judicial framework, the article proposes a coherent theoretical and practical model for distinguishing lawful administrative rulemaking from administrative legislation, thereby promoting greater consistency in judicial review and providing guidance for administrative authorities in drafting legally sustainable regulations.