Administrative Disputes, which arises between public administration agencies and private parties, is one of the areas which belong to administrative process. In most cases procedure starts by conducting internal reviews. However practice shows that internal reviews are just a beginning of long administrative procedure, which finally finishes in administrative courts. Such a long procedure is one of the reasons why society distrusts government agencies and court system. Therefore, in order to change current situation, state have to search for the alternatives means to traditional administrative complaint hearings. The solution of this problem, could be mediation, which main features such as flexibility, cost-effective, confidentiality, restoration of social and legal peace, would change current situation. Mediation in solving administrative disputes between private parties and public administration agencies is popular in United States. However, in continental Europe, mediation as an alternative to traditional administrative disputes resolution, is viewed with caution. Lithuania is not exception to continental Europe countries. However because of the changes in public needs and the caseloads in administrative courts, ability of using mediation in Lithuanian Republic administrative process, has to be analyzed by making comprehensive scientific research. Mediation is popular in resolving civil law disputes, where the civil law principles and mediation principles perfectly interact with each other. Meanwhile, when dispute arises in administrative process, parties must use administrative law and process principles. It is not clear, whether mediation principles or its advantages could prevail. Also it is not clear, whether mediation could be used in disputes, which arises concerning individual and general administrative acts. [...]

Legal entities are among the most active participants of the social relations in modern society, but they also are becoming one of the main sources of environmental risks. With the growing negative intervention of the economic activities of legal entities into environment, legal regulation of relations of economic activities to environment should not be oriented towards application of state enforcement mechanism solely. Compliance with the environmental law and prevention of its breaches can be ensured efficiently through implementing alternative environmental protection measures, having a preventive character and based on a voluntary basis. However, a command and control mechanism, based on applying enforcement procedures to legal entities, which do not comply with the requirements of environmental law, still prevails in Lithuania. In this context, experience of other countries enables justified assuming that various environmental programmes, grounded on voluntary bases rather than on enforcement can be significantly more efficient for ensuring compliance of legal entities with the requirements of environmental regulations. This article, through experience of the United States, analyses importance of voluntary environmental programmes in guaranteeing compliance of legal entities with the requirements of environmental law, and examines implementation of those programmes within the European Union and Lithuania.

One of the measures which is able to ensure the implementation of sustainable development aims is the institute of legal entities' environmental legal liability and its effective application. Three sorts of legal entities' legal liability can be applied in Lithuania, namely, civil, criminal and administrative liability. Evaluating from the prospect of implementation of sustainable development aims, the potentially effective sorts of legal liability in the environmental sphere are legal entities' administrative and criminal liability. Legal entities violating the norms of environmental law set economic aim above social and environmental aims, hence legal EEntities also encroach on sustainable development and do not allow for a striving towards the combinability of environmental, economic and social societal aims. This circumstance presupposes the demand to supplement the conception of the object of environmental law violation by both human health and life and sustainable development categories. This article tries to answer the questions as to whether administrative or criminal liability should be applied to the legal entities for offences against the environment, and to which liability – criminal or administrative – a legislator should render priority in protecting the environment from illegal actions of the legal entities.