Bill 497.

Summary.

The bill governs proceedings conducted by state agencies and offices in the exercise of administrative functions. Its rules would fill gaps in special procedures. It establishes principles including good faith, promptness, the right to be heard, due process, legality, impartiality, procedural flexibility and transparency, and defines the acts, participants, steps and remedies used in a proceeding. It recognizes the right to submit petitions and receive a response within thirty (30) working days, subject to statutory exceptions. An authority must identify an applicable special procedure, forward petitions outside its jurisdiction, and certify both receipt and failure to respond. Breaches of petition rights may lead to disciplinary penalties. Agencies must enable real time consultation of case progress through electronic file systems. The bill allocates responsibility for moving proceedings forward between petitioners and officials and regulates termination for inactivity.

Administrative acts would retain a presumption of legality and could be annulled only on specified grounds. The bill distinguishes absolute from relative nullity, assigns declarations of absolute nullity to the Third Chamber (Sala Tercera) of the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia), and permits the validation of certain relative defects. It requires preservation of procedural steps unaffected by a defect and provides for investigation of an official’s responsibility where appropriate. It also sets grounds for revoking final acts that recognize rights. Administrative revocation is excluded for acts issued in compliance with orders of a court, the Public Prosecution Service (Ministerio Público) or other independent official bodies, unless the underlying order is changed, revoked or annulled.

Proceedings may begin on an agency’s own initiative or on application by someone with an individual right or legitimate interest. Requirements outside the law or its implementing regulations are prohibited, and the bill sets rules for calculating and suspending time limits. Procedural steps must be placed in a physical or electronic case file, subject to rules on pagination, access, custody, transfer, correction and reconstruction. Each institution would regulate electronic files in coordination with the Government Innovation Authority (Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental). Constitutional objections are referred to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Justice (Pleno de la Corte Suprema de Justicia); illegality objections go to the Third Chamber. The proceeding continues until ready for a decision while the referral is pending.

The bill sets filing requirements for petitions, administrative consultations, complaints and reports of violations. Consultations would be answered within thirty (30) working days. A complaint leads to an investigation and an appealable decision; a report may be anonymous, and its outcome cannot be appealed by the reporting person. The text regulates personal notice, notice by posted edict, electronic notice, notice at the door and notice inferred from a party’s conduct, together with summonses and public notices requiring appearance. Incidental applications address ancillary and preliminary issues. Disqualification and recusal rules remove an authority from a matter when a ground affecting impartiality applies.

Before the evidentiary stage, the authority would convene the parties and interested third persons to simplify the proceeding. The bill regulates the submission, admission, taking and assessment of evidence, including electronic documents and technological means. It prohibits asking petitioners for documents already held by the Administration. For testimony, it refers to the Criminal Code (Código Penal) provisions on false testimony and provides for interpreters when needed. After evidence is taken, interested persons may inspect the file and submit arguments. Individual administrative acts must contain essential elements, and decisions must state their legal basis, operative terms and available appeals. Acts of general application would take effect upon publication in the Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial), unless a later date is specified. Failure to state reasons is a ground of absolute nullity.

A proceeding may end by decision, withdrawal, settlement, agreement, acceptance of a claim, administrative silence or termination for inactivity. Negative administrative silence arises after two (2) months without a response; positive silence requires an express special provision. The bill governs reconsideration and appeal, their filing requirements, evidence, time limits and suspensive effect, as well as exhaustion of administrative remedies. Final provisions address supplementary rules, earlier proceedings, publication of regulations, repeals and the revised title of Law 38 of July 31, 2000. By subject matter, the bill concerns the Supreme Court of Justice, the Public Prosecution Service, the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) and the Office of the Attorney General for Administration (Procuraduría de la Administración), and would affect public bodies, petitioners, lawyers and economic or social sectors that undertake administrative procedures.