Amendments to the Regulation on Administrative Procedures

Decree 695/2024 was published in the Official Gazette on August 5, 2024, approving as Annex I the implementing regulations of "Title II – State Reform" of the Law Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentine People 27742.

Chapter III of the Decree introduces a series of amendments to the Regulation on Administrative Procedures approved through Decree 1759/1972 (as amended in 2017) (RPA), implementing the reforms provided for in the Bases Law to the Administrative Procedure Law 19549 (LPA).
 

The main changes introduced to the RPA include:
 

• Extension of legal standing in administrative proceedings. The need to invoke a "subjective right or legitimate interest" is replaced by the need to invoke a "legally protected right or interest" (articles 3, 39, 74, and 84 of the RPA).

 

• Application of the Principle of Gratuity. The Decree establishes that the procedures within the framework of appeals, claims, and other challenges provided for in the LPA and the RPA are free of charge, unless specific regulations require paying a fee or sum of money to carry out and organize such specific and concrete state activity (article 3 bis of the RPA).

 

• Request of access to administrative paper files. It is established that the rule providing for the suspension of all time limits from the moment the request of access is filed and for the period set for the access--which may not be less than ten days--will apply “provided  that the petitioner requests the setting of a time limit for the access” (article 38, paragraph a) of the RPA).

 

• Request of access to administrative electronic files. To request access to entail suspensive effects of the proceedings processed by electronic means, the interested party or attorney must expressly request it (article 38, paragraph b) of the RPA).

 

• Invalidity and ineffectiveness of notifications. Notifications will be invalid and ineffective if they omit to indicate the administrative challenges that may be filed against the act being notified, their deadlines, and whether the administrative instance is exhausted, as well as if they are made in contravention of the provisions of the RPA (articles 40 and 44 of the RPA).

 

• Regulation of positive silence. The Decree clarifies that the positive silence occurs when the administration does not resolve the request within the established term, allowing the interested party to move forward with the request as if it had been approved (article 65 to 65 quinques of the RPA). Regarding positive silence:
  • "Administrative authrization" is defined as the act that enables the exercise of a pre-existing right of the private party, once the conditions for its issuance have been verified.
  • A psitive silence does not apply to permits, understood as administrative acts that exceptionally grant a right in the face of a regulatory prohibition.
  • Prcedures for obtaining an authorization must be processed entirely in digital format through TAD or the IT platform the agency uses for such purposes.
  • Said IT platfrms will indicate the conditions necessary to obtain the authorization, the application of the silence with positive effect, and the term for it to be considered as established. The lack of such indication will not prevent the invocation of the effect of the positive silence under the terms of the LPA.
  • Psitive silence will not apply to specific cases the Executive Branch determines, upon request of the Office of the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers, with a substantiated report from the competent areas.
     

Decree 695/2024 provides that, within 15 days of its entry into force, the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers approves the schedule for implementing the positive silence in the administrative procedures in which the granting of an administrative authorization is being processed and for the procedures that open after then.

Administrative Decision 836/2024 was published in the Official Gazette on August 26, 2024.  Accordingly, the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers decided that such implementation will operate as of November 1, 2024 for the departments of the Central Public Administration, and as of December 1, 2024 for the Decentralized Agencies of the Federal Public Administration.

 

• Claim for damages. The Decree introduces a claim for damages caused to the interested party for the revocation, substitution, or suspension of an administrative act, for reasons of opportunity, merit, or convenience, at the option of the interested party, through administrative channels or directly through the courts (article 82 bis of the RPA).

 

• Extension of time periods for administrative appeals. The deadlines filing administrative appeals have been extended. The deadline for reconsideration challenge is increased from 10 to 20 days and the deadline for hierarchical challenge and for the administrative challenge filed against final administrative acts of autarchic entities (“alzada”) is increased from 15 to 30 days. In all cases, the deadlines are counted in administrative working days (articles 84, 90, and 94 of the RPA).

 

• Review challenge. The Decree reintroduces the appeal for review against final administrative acts. This appeal was previously provided for in the LPA until the Bases Law reformed it. Further, the term for filing and resolving it is defined as 30 days (article 100 of the RPA).

 

• Elimination of the reconsideration challenge against decisions that exhausted the administrative instance. The Decree eliminates the reconsideration challenge against final or binding decisions issued by the Executive Branch, the Chief of Cabinet, the Ministers, or the Secretaries of the Presidency in administrative challenges that exhaust the instances of such challenges.