The «Term» of Administrative Procedure: Economic Analysis and Protection of Citizens

The institute of the term — from which results a temporal relation between private individuals and the public administration — can affect socio-economic relations when it subjects the administration to a predetermi- ned time limit (however fixed in its upper limit) that serves to give «temporal certainty» to the private parties that intend to begin activities in the public domain. It is in this sense that the quantitative dimension of the duration in time of the administrative action can be considered as a qualitative compo- nent; that is, the moment in which it achieves the effective and timely realization of the citizens’ and the community’s interests. The thesis founding this paper, insofar as it offers an interpretation of the provisions regulating the relationship between the administration and citizens, aims to demonstrate how the interaction between the certainty/timeliness temporal poles of administrative action — which necessarily and continually requires a comparison of the various interests involved — can only be resolved with the congruity of the time of action; that is, in the identification of the appropriate or correct time at which every procedure must be done. Similarly, the development of the dialectical relationship between citizens and the administration requires certain and stable rules to guarantee the same tem- poral congruity of administrative action.