Understanding Administrative Acts: Legal Framework and Procedures
Administrative Act: Definition and Elements
An administrative act is a declaration of intention, knowledge, or opinion rendered by the Public Administration in the exercise of its administrative power. This declaration will legally affect the administered. The objective element is the conduct of a person or other administrative body, a given good, and a legal situation. The statement must be lawful, being subject to the law, and possible. The formal element requires a particular procedure; administrative acts shall be in writing.
Motivation and Notification
Motivation is the reason why the Administration dictates an act. It must be motivated when acts limit rights or legitimate interests, resolve complaints or appeals, agree to the suspension of acts previously dictated, agree to the extension of timing, and in discretionary acts where the Administration is given leeway.
Notification is required to inform stakeholders of decisions affecting their rights. Without notice, the act is not effective, as if it had not been delivered.
Types of Notification
- Personal: Notification is executed at the residence of the applicant. The person performing the notification must record the receipt.
- Non-personal: Used when stakeholders are unknown or do not state their address. The notice is posted on the bulletin board of the City Council or the corresponding official bulletins.
The notice must contain the full text of the administrative act, be motivated, and specify whether an act can be appealed, the deadline for such an appeal, and the body to which the appeal should be directed.
Defects and Their Consequences
An act may have a defect. The defect affects the right. Null and void acts may be declared null if they adversely affect fundamental rights and freedoms recognized in the Constitution, are dictated by an incompetent court (territorially or functionally), have an impossible content, or are enacted without following the legally established procedure. Voidable acts violate the law and cause helplessness to the person concerned.
Classes of Administrative Acts
Classification by the Issuing Body
- Simple: Dictated by a single body.
- Complex: Dictated by several bodies.
Classification by the Extension of Effects
- Single: Affects one person.
- General: Affects a plurality of people.
Classification by Place in the Administrative File
- Definitive: Ends the administrative file.
- Procedural: Reflects any stage of the procedure.
Classification by the Administration’s Margin of Maneuver
- Regulated: The Administration must act strictly as directed by law.
- Discretionary: The Administration has a margin to act.
Classification by the Manner of Externalization
- Express: The Administration’s will is in writing.
- Presumed: The Administration does not respond specifically to requests, complaints, or appeals. In these cases, there is administrative silence.
The Administrative Procedure
Stakeholders in the administrative procedure are those who initiate it as holders of rights or legitimate interests and those who, prior to the beginning of the procedure, have rights that may be affected by the decision adopted.
Phases of the Procedure
Initiation
It can be initiated automatically by the Administration’s initiative or by application at the initiative of the interested party. Principles include: officers, equity, speed and efficiency, accountability, and guarantee of individuals.
Instruction
All acts and formalities required to understand and verify the data in the underlying request are performed. This includes arguments of the parties, evidence, reports, hearing of the parties, and public information.
Termination
This can occur through resolution, withdrawal, resignation, expiration, or conventional termination.
Administrative Resources
An administrative resource is a request made by a citizen to a public administration requesting the amendment or cancellation of an administrative act or a general provision on the grounds that it violates or harms their rights.
Principles of Resources
These include the subject appellant, the act under appeal, the letter of application, time limits for filing and processing, and the effects of taking action. The Administration is expressly obliged to resolve all resources and cannot delegate this competence. The proceedings do not suspend the enforcement of the measure being appealed unless requested by the appellant.
Types of Administrative Resources
- Appeal: Against decisions that do not put an end to the proceedings, procedural acts, or acts that prevent further administrative proceedings. The deadline is one month.
- Replacement: Against acts that terminate administrative proceedings. It should be brought before the body that dictated the act.
- Review: Against acts that end the administrative proceeding or those that have not been challenged on time, within three months.