Administrative act

The administrative act is a manifestation or a decision issued by a Public Administration through which it imposes its will on the citizens. It is the externalization of the will of the administration.

Colloquially, only administrative acts are understood to be definitive. But it must be clarified that not only are these administrative acts, but also administrative acts of procedure. The final administrative acts are considered administrative resolutions.

Administrative acts provide a solution to a dispute either with a natural or legal person, these administrative resolutions create or modify a legal situation, what does it mean? This refers to changing some essential aspect for the administered. To understand it better we see an example.

A restaurant owner wants to open a terrace, but for this he must request authorization from the Public Administration, the decision he makes regarding the size of the terrace, the associated tax and finally the authorization or not, will be through an administrative act.

Changes the legal situation of the managed, making it worse by not allowing him to open that terrace or improving it by authorizing it.

The great difference between the administrative act and a private act (between individuals) is in its enforceability. The pact signed by two private parties will not be immediately enforceable, but must go through a judicial process, on the other hand, administrative acts do not need any judicial support.

Administrative act procedure

The procedure followed for the administration to issue the act is as follows:

Characteristics

The most outstanding features are:

• They must be based on facts and law.
• Executives are presumed. That is, they will be effective to be able to be executed in daily life. Without this characteristic they would lose their meaning, if they cannot be executed they would not create or modify any legal situation.
• They will be void if they violate fundamental rights or if they have content that is impossible to comply with or when the correct procedure to dictate them has been dispensed with.
• Administrative acts will be the sole responsibility of the Public Administration without any private entity being able to issue this type of resolution.
• These acts seek to defend the general interest.

Types of administrative acts

They can be differentiated between:

• Expressed or alleged: The express acts are those that are in writing and the presumed ones are those that are presumed without having been dictated. This type of act and its meaning is important to understand administrative silence.
• Favorable or unfavorable: They are considered favorable if they expand the rights or grant what is requested by the citizen or administered. The unfavorable can also be called tax and reduce some citizen's right as we have seen in the previous example if the terrace of the restaurant owner is denied.
• Definitive or processing: The definitive ones are those that fully resolve the controversy.
• Individual or collective.

Final or final administrative acts (which put an end to the administrative process) does not mean that they cannot be appealed to the body that issued it or their hierarchical superior.

Once the administrative remedies route has been exhausted without ensuring that the citizen has seen his claims satisfied, he only has one option, to resort to the judicial route.

Administrative acts can be appealed in court through contentious-administrative appeal.