Título II. Proceso contencioso administrativo

NATURE.

The contentious-administrative proceedings shall be of single instance and its filing shall lack suspensive effects, except for specific exceptional cases in which the tribunal decides otherwise, in the same decision that admits the claim for processing, provided that it considers it indispensable and that failure to do so would cause irreparable damage to the parties.

ADMISSIBILITY.

The administrative-litigation proceedings shall lie:

1)In case of dispute over acts and decisions of the administration and of the decentralized and autonomous entities of the State. 2) In cases of controversies derived from administrative contracts and concessions.

For the administrative-litigation proceedings to be initiated, it is required that the decision giving rise to it could not have been remedied by means of purely administrative remedies.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION.

To initiate these proceedings, the decision that ended the administrative procedure must meet the following requirements:

a)That it has become final. Decisions of the administration that decide the matter become final when they are not susceptible to challenge in the administrative avenue, because the administrative remedies have been decided; b) That it violates a right of the claimant, recognized by a law, regulation or prior decision.

If the proceedings are brought by the administration with respect to its acts or decisions, the indicated requirements need not concur, provided that the act or decision has been declared harmful to the interests of the State, in a Governmental Agreement issued by the President of the Republic in Council of Ministers. This declaration may only be made within the three years following the date of the decision or act giving rise to it.

INADMISSIBILITY.

Administrative litigation is inadmissible:

1.In matters relating to political, military, or defense order, without prejudice to any indemnities that may be applicable;

2.In matters relating to provisions of a general character on public health and hygiene, without prejudice to any indemnities that may be applicable;

3.In matters that fall within the jurisdiction of other tribunals;

4.In matters arising from denials of concessions of every kind, except as otherwise provided by special laws; and

5.In matters in which a law excludes the possibility of their being raised through contentious-administrative avenues.

STANDING.

In the contentious-administrative proceedings, the parties shall be, in addition to the claimant, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the centralized organ or the decentralized institution of the administration that heard the matter, the persons appearing with a legitimate interest in the corresponding administrative file and, where the proceedings refer to the control or audit of the public treasury, also the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts.

TIME LIMIT.

The time limit for the filing of the contentious-administrative proceedings is three months counted from the last notification of the decision that concluded the administrative procedure, from the expiry of the time limit within which the administration should have finally decided or from the date of publication of the Governmental Agreement that declared the act or decision harmful, as applicable.

CONSOLIDATION.

When several contentious-administrative proceedings have been brought in relation to the same matter, they shall be consolidated on its own initiative or at the request of a party, in order to resolve them in a single judgment.

LAPSE OF THE INSTANCE.

In the contentious-administrative proceedings, the instance lapses upon the passage of the time limit of three months without the claimant taking action, when action by a party is necessary to advance the proceedings. The time limit shall begin to run from the last judicial act.

The lapse of the instance must be declared on its own initiative or upon request of a party.

INTEGRATION.

Insofar as applicable, the contentious-administrative proceedings shall be supplemented with the provisions of the Law of the Judicial Branch and of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure.

APPEALS.

Except for the appeal, in these proceedings the appeals contemplated by the rules governing civil proceedings shall be admissible, including cassation, against the judgments and final orders that terminate the proceedings, which shall be conducted pursuant to such rules.

CONTENT.

The memorial of claim shall contain:

I.Designation of the Chamber of the Administrative Litigation Tribunal to which it is addressed.

II.Name of the claimant or his representative, indication of the place where he shall receive notifications and name of the attorney under whose direction and representation he acts;

III.If acting on behalf of another person, the designation of such person and the identification of the title of representation, which shall be attached in original or in legalized photocopy;

IV.Precise indication of the administrative organ against whom the claim is brought and the place where it may be notified;

V.Identification of the administrative file, of the decision being challenged, of the last notification to the plaintiff, of the persons appearing with an interest in the file and of the place where they may be notified, all where applicable;

VI.Statement of the facts and the legal grounds on which the claim is based;

VII.The offer of the means of evidence to be rendered;

VIII.The procedural and substantive petitions;

IX.Place and date;

X.Signature of the claimant. If he does not know how or is unable to sign, another person shall do so at his request, whose name shall be indicated, or the attorney assisting him; and

XI.Signature and seal of the directing attorney or directing attorneys.

DOCUMENTS.

The plaintiff shall attach the documents on which he bases his right, provided they are in his possession; otherwise, he shall indicate the place where they are located or the person who has them in his possession, so that the tribunal may require them in the decision admitting the claim for processing.

FILING.

The memorial of claim may be filed directly with the Chamber of the Administrative Litigation Tribunal to which it is addressed, or with a departmental First Instance Trial Court, which shall transfer it to the tribunal competent to hear it.

CORRECTION OF DEFECTS AND REJECTION.

If the memorial of claim presents errors or deficiencies that in the judgment of the tribunal are remediable, a time limit shall be set for the claimant to amend it.

If the claim presents errors, deficiencies or omissions that are irremediable in the judgment of the tribunal, it shall reject it outright.

RECORD.

If the claim contains the formal requirements, the tribunal shall request the records directly from the corresponding administrative organ, within the five working days following the filing thereof, under warning that in the event of non-compliance he shall be prosecuted for disobedience, and furthermore that the tribunal shall proceed to hear the appeal on the basis of the plaintiff's statement.

The requested administrative organ shall send the records, with a detailed report, within the ten working days following the day on which it received the request for transmittal. If the authority does not send them, the tribunal shall admit the claim for processing, without prejudice to the administration being able to appear at any procedural stage and submit the respective file.

ADMISSION.

Once the records are before the tribunal, it shall examine the claim in relation thereto and, if it finds it in accordance with the Law, it shall admit it for processing. The decision shall be issued within the three days following the day on which the records have been received or on which the time limit for their sending has expired.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES.

The plaintiff may request urgent or indispensable precautionary measures. The tribunal shall decide on the same at its discretion in the decision admitting the claim for processing.

SUMMONS.

In the procedural decision on the claim, a summons shall be served upon the defendant administrative organ or decentralized institution, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, persons appearing with an interest in the record and, where the proceedings concern the control and oversight of the public treasury, also upon the Comptroller General of Accounts, granting them an opportunity to be heard within a common time limit of fifteen days.

Public procedural subjects may not refrain from addressing the merits of the matter.

PRIOR DEFENSES.

Those summoned may assert, within the fifth day of the summons, the following prior defenses:

a)Lack of jurisdiction;

b)Lis pendens;

c)Defective claim;

d)Lack of legal capacity;

e)Lack of personality;

f)Lack of representation;

g)Lapse;

h)Limitation period;

i)Res judicata;

j)Settlement.

The prior defenses shall be processed in an incidental proceeding, which shall be heard in the same record of the main proceedings.

If the prior defenses are declared unfounded, the time limit to answer the claim shall be the five days following the notification of the decision issued in the incidental proceeding.

DEFAULT.

Upon expiration of the summons, the default of those summoned who have not answered the claim shall be declared, which shall be deemed answered in the negative.

ANSWER TO THE CLAIM.

The claim may be answered negatively or positively. If all the persons summoned acquiesce, judgment shall be rendered.

The acquiescence memorial may be filed with a legalized signature. Otherwise, it must be ratified.

The negative answer to the claim must be reasoned as to its grounds in fact and in law.

PEREMPTORY DEFENSES.

Peremptory defenses shall be raised in the answer brief denying the claim and shall be decided in the judgment.

COUNTERCLAIM.

In the cases referred to in subsection 2) of Article 19, the counterclaim may be raised in the same memorial of answer to the claim, in the same cases in which it may be raised in civil proceedings.

OPENING TO EVIDENCE.

Once the claim and the counterclaim, where applicable, have been answered, the proceedings shall be opened to evidence for a time limit of thirty days, unless the issue is one of pure law, in which case the opening to evidence shall be omitted, which shall also be omitted where in the judgment of the tribunal there are sufficient elements of conviction in the file. The decision by which the opening to evidence is omitted shall be reasoned.

EARLY EXPIRY.

The evidence period may be declared expired when all the offered means of evidence have been received.

HEARING.

Upon expiration of the evidentiary period, a day and time shall be set for the hearing.

ORDER FOR BETTER DECISION.

Once the hearing has concluded, the tribunal may, if it deems it necessary, issue an order for better decision for a time limit not exceeding ten days, to carry out such proceedings as may be necessary to determine the right of the litigants, indicating in said order those to be carried out, which shall be effected with summons to the party.

JUDGMENT.

The judgment shall examine in its entirety the lawfulness of the challenged act or decision, and may revoke, confirm or modify it.

*The provisional suspension of the phrase "without the tribunal being limited by what was expressly challenged or the grievance invoked" is decreed, by File Number 05-03-1997 on 21-03-1997

TRANSMITTAL OF ANTECEDENTS.

Once the decision that put an end to the proceedings is final, the file shall be returned to the administrative body with certification of what was decided.

COMPLIANCE.

The judgment shall set a prudent time limit for the corresponding administrative body to execute what was decided.

The judgment is enforceable by way of enforcement proceedings before the competent tribunals of the civil branch or before the economic-coercive jurisdiction, as applicable.