Administrative Acts and Procedures: Key Elements and Phases

Posted on Jan 5, 2025 in Physical Education

Administrative Acts: Definition, Elements, and Types

Concept

An administrative act can be defined as a declaration of will, knowledge, or judgment dictated by the Public Administration in the exercise of administrative activities that legally affects the administered. It can also be defined as a declaration of will, knowledge, or judgment issued by the Public Administration in the exercise of administrative activities that legally affects the administered.

Key Differences from Other Acts

  • It is a legal act that must be differentiated from a material act.
  • The acts are dictated by the administration as an administration subject to administrative law.

Elements of the Administrative Act

Subjective Element

This refers to the person or body that has the power to issue the act. For such an act to be valid, it is necessary that it:

  • Comes from the Administration.
  • Comes from the competent body, that is, it must be empowered to dictate that act.

In relation to competence:

  • Territorial Competence: Depends on the territory.
  • Hierarchical Competence: An act will not be valid if given by a secretary when it should be dictated by the minister.
  • Functional Competence: An act cannot be dictated by a body that is not competent in the matter in question.
  • The body that dictates the administrative act must be in legal possession of the office, meaning it must fulfill the legal requirements for it.
  • The person dictating the act must be fair, that is, they must have no particular interest in the case.

Objective Element

This includes:

  • The behavior of a person or other administrative body.
  • A particular asset.
  • A status.

The declaration made by the administration on it must be:

  • Subject to the law.
  • Possible or determinable.

Final Element

Every act of the Public Administration must pursue a public interest.

Formal Element

The administrative acts are written. Two elements that must be fulfilled by the acts of the administration are:

  • Motivation: The reason why the administration dictates a certain act. The following acts must be motivated:
    • Those that limit rights or legitimate interests.
    • Those that resolve claims or resources.
    • Those that agree to the suspension of previously dictated acts.
    • Those that agree to a modification of discretionary acts where the administration has a certain margin of action.
  • Notification: The administration has the obligation to notify the interested parties whose rights and interests are affected by their resolutions. These can be of two types:
    • Personal: The person of the interested party is searched at their address. Proof of the notification must be left, with the date and content, signed by the interested party or their representative. If the interested party or their representative refuses the notification, this circumstance will be recorded in the file and the procedure will continue.
    • Non-personal: When the interested parties are unknown or their address is unknown, the notification must be published in public notices and on the notice board of the City Hall of their last known address, as well as in the corresponding official gazettes. The notification must contain the full text of the administrative act, including the motivation, if applicable, and specify if any action can be taken against the act, the deadline for doing so, and before which body it must be done.

If any of these elements are missing or flawed, the act is considered defective. If the defect or flaw is very important, it will result in the invalidity of the act. Invalid acts are:

  • Those that injure fundamental rights and freedoms recognized in the Constitution.
  • Those dictated by an incompetent body, either territorially or functionally.
  • Those with impossible content.
  • Acts dictated without respecting the legally established procedure.

If the flaw is not very important, the act is voidable (acts that violate the legal system).

Classes of Administrative Acts

By the Body that Issues the Act

  • Simple Act: Dictated by a single administrative body.
  • General Act: Dictated by several administrative bodies.

By the Extent of its Effects

  • Definitive Act: Puts an end to the administrative file.
  • Procedural Act: Reflects any of the phases of the procedure.

By the Margin of Action of the Administration

  • Ruled Act: The administration must act strictly as the law indicates.
  • Discretionary Act: When the administration has a margin to act, although it must respect the law.

By the Way of Externalizing the Act

  • Express Act: Expressed in writing or any other medium that leaves proof.
  • Presumed Act: When the administration does not expressly respond to the requests, complaints, resources, or inquiries of the interested parties. In these cases, administrative silence is said to occur. It can be positive if the administration agrees with the request, or negative when the silence of the administration implies the denial of the request.

The Administrative Procedure

The administrative file is called a procedure. Interested parties are understood as:

  • Those who initiate the procedure.
  • Those who, without having initiated the procedure, have rights that may be affected by the decision adopted in it.

Phases of the Procedure

Initiation

The procedure can be initiated:

  • Ex officio, that is, by the administration’s own initiative.
  • By the initiative of the interested party.

If the procedure is initiated at the request of the interested party, the following information must be included:

  • Name, surname, and National Identity Document of the interested party.
  • Address of the interested party.
  • Facts on which the interested party bases their request and the legal reasons on which it is based.
  • Place, date, and signature of the interested party.
  • Administrative body or unit to which it is addressed.

The procedure is guided by the following principles:

  • Order: The administration must complete the following procedures once the previous ones have been completed.
  • Equality: The order of receipt of the files must be respected in their processing, preferably by date of entry.
  • Speed and Efficiency: It is agreed to carry out in a single act all those procedures that can be carried out jointly.
  • Responsibility: Officials will be responsible for the processing of files.
  • Guarantee of Individuals: Interested parties may allege defects or errors that occur during the procedure so that, if the law allows it, they can be corrected before the administration issues the final resolution.