A part of state or federal government, created by the legislature, which has specific administrative duties and functions, often including regulation of a profession or industry. A state board of medical examiners, for example, is an administrative agency. There is a body of law (administrative law) which governs the powers of administrative agencies, the process of agency decision-making, and the procedures by which a party dissatisfied with a decision of an agency can challenge it. Ordinarily, any person who wishes to contest an administrative agency decision must go through all of the channels of appeal within the agency before challenging the decision in the courts.