Administrative Appeal in Spain: When and How to Challenge a Government Decisión

# Administrative Judicial Review (Recurso Contencioso-Administrativo) in Spain: A Complete Guide

The recurso contencioso-administrativo (administrative judicial review) is the procedural mechanism for challenging acts, decisions, provisions, and omissions of Public Administrations before the administrative courts (Tribunales del orden contencioso-administrativo). It is governed by Law 29/1998, of 13 July, regulating Administrative Jurisdiction (Ley reguladora de la Jurisdicción Contencioso-Administrativa, LJCA).

Scope of the Review

The following may be challenged through this procedure (Arts. 1 and 25 LJCA):

• Express administrative acts (decisions, sanctions, tax assessments).
• Deemed administrative acts arising from negative administrative silence (deemed rejection due to inaction).
• General provisions below the rank of statute (regulations, by-laws).
• Administrative inaction where the Administration has a duty to act.
• De facto conduct (vía de hecho): material actions taken without a prior administrative act.

The following cannot be challenged through this procedure: statutes and rules with the force of law (which fall within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Constitucional, the Constitutional Court), nor certain political acts of the Government in specified matters (Art. 2.a LJCA).

Preliminary Requirements: Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies

Before bringing a case before the courts, it is generally necessary to exhaust all available administrative remedies:

Administrative Appeals (Ley 39/2015, the Common Administrative Procedure Act)

1. Hierarchical appeal (Recurso de alzada, Art. 121 LPAC): against acts that do not conclude the administrative process, lodged with the hierarchically superior authority. Time limit: 1 month if the act is express; 3 months at any time if it is a deemed act. Resolved within 3 months (negative silence applies if no resolution is issued).

1. Optional reconsideration appeal (Recurso potestativo de reposición, Art. 123 LPAC): against acts that do conclude the administrative process, lodged with the same authority that issued the act. Time limit: 1 month. This appeal is optional, not mandatory, unless expressly required by law.

1. Economic-administrative claim (Reclamación económico-administrativa, in tax and customs matters): lodged before the TEAR (Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Regional, Regional Economic-Administrative Court) or the TEAC (Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central, Central Economic-Administrative Court). This is mandatory before bringing a tax-related judicial review claim.

Administrative Silence

If the Administration fails to issue a decisión within the prescribed period, the interested party may:

• Wait for an express decisión and then appeal it.
• Bring an administrative judicial review claim on the basis that the request has been deemed rejected by negative silence (the general rule) or deemed granted by positive silence (in specific cases, Art. 24 LPAC).

Competent Courts

Time Limits for Bringing a Claim

• General rule: 2 months from notification of the act concluding the administrative process (Art. 46.1 LJCA).
• Deemed acts by negative administrative silence: 6 months from the expiry of the deadline for the Administration to issue a decisión (Art. 46.1 LJCA).
• General provisions (regulations): 2 months from publication in the official gazette.
• Administrative inaction: 2 months from the expiry of the prior formal request period (Art. 29 LJCA).

*These time limits are strict limitation periods (caducidad, not prescripción*), cannot be extended, and failure to comply will result in the claim being declared inadmissible.

Ordinary Procedure (Arts. 45–77 LJCA)

1. Application to initiate proceedings* (Escrito de interposición*): filed with the relevant court, identifying the act being challenged and requesting the administrative file. At this stage, it is not yet necessary to set out the legal grounds.
2. Submission of the administrative file: the Administration has 20 days to send the file to the court.
3. Statement of claim (Demanda): within 20 days of receiving the administrative file, the claimant formally submits the claim, setting out the facts, legal grounds, and relief sought.
4. Defence (Contestación): the Administration and any co-defendants have 20 days to submit their defence.
5. Evidence phase (if there are disputed facts): up to 30 days to propose and gather evidence.
6. Submissions (Conclusiones, written or oral): the parties summarise their arguments and address the evidence adduced.
7. Judgment (Sentencia): to be issued within 10 days of submissions (in first-instance courts) or 15 days (in TSJ/AN/TS). In practice, actual timelines are considerably longer.

Abbreviated Procedure (Art. 78 LJCA)

This procedure applies where the amount in dispute does not exceed €30,000, or in appeals against traffic penalties and lower-value tax sanctions. The procedure concentrates all steps into a single oral hearing, with less formality.

Interim Measures

The claimant may apply for suspensión of the challenged act or other interim measures (Arts. 129–136 LJCA). The court may grant these where:

• Enforcement of the act would render the appeal futile (periculum in mora).
• No serious disruption to the public interest or third parties is identified.

In tax matters, automatic suspensión requires the provisión of security (bank guarantee or deposit). In other areas, the assessment of periculum is applied more flexibly.

Costs

If the claim succeeds, the defendant (the Administration) pays the costs. If it fails, the claimant pays them. However, where the court considers that the case raised "serious doubts of fact or law," it may decline to award costs against either party (Art. 139 LJCA).

Cassation Appeal Before the Tribunal Supremo

The 2015 reform (Organic Law 7/2015) transformed the cassation appeal into an appeal based on interés casacional (point of law of general importance): it is only admissible where the judgment under appeal contains legal doctrine that needs to be established, clarified, or developed. The appellant must demonstrate the "objective point of law of general importance" (interés casacional objetivo) of the matter.

Conclusion

Administrative judicial review is an effective mechanism for scrutinising the legality of administrative action, but it demands a precise understanding of the applicable time limits (which are strict limitation periods) and the preliminary requirement of exhausting administrative remedies. An error in timing or in identifying the correct challengeable act may result in the claim being declared inadmissible. Legal representation by a Lawyer is mandatory in all administrative judicial review proceedings.