Ley General de la Administracion Publica (Ley N.º 6227) - Administrative Remedies, Positive Silence, State Liability

The Ley General de la Administracion Publica (General Law of Public Administration, Ley N.º 6227, of May 2, 1978) is the law governing how the Costa Rican State operates internally: how the Administration acts, how to challenge its decisions, and when it must be held liable for damages. It is the most frequently cited law in procedures involving any public institution. This summary covers the most frequently consulted topics (the complete law has over 400 articles).

Who it applies to (Articulo 1): to the entire Public Administration — the State and other public entities (autonomous institutions, municipalities, etc.).

Positive administrative silence (Articulos 330-331): when someone applies for a permit, license, or authorization and the institution fails to respond, the silence is deemed POSITIVE (in favor of the applicant) after ONE MONTH from the date the agency received the complete application with all legal requirements. Once positive silence has occurred, the Administration can no longer deny the application later, except in the cases and forms provided for by law. Note: this applies to permits/licenses/authorizations — not to every procedure (for example, it does not apply in the same way to requests for money or financial/property benefits).

Administrative remedies — how to challenge a decision (Titulo Octavo, Articulos 342-353):

• Types: revocatoria (motion for reconsideration) (or reposicion) and apelacion (appeal) are ordinary remedies; revision (extraordinary review) is extraordinary and only applies to acts that are already final in special cases (e.g., clear error of fact).
• Which one to use: if the decision was issued by a lower body, an apelacion lies before the superior authority; if it was issued by the jerarca (the highest authority of the institution), a revocatoria applies.
• Deadline to file: 3 days to appeal the final decision, 24 hours for all other acts within the procedure — counted from the last communication of the decision.
• No special formalities (Articulo 348): specific legal drafting or formal claims are not required; it is sufficient that the text makes clear a request to review the decision.
• Response deadline: the Administration must resolve the revocatoria within 8 days, and the apelacion within 8 days from receiving the file.
• It is optional to use one or both ordinary remedies; if both are used at the same time, the revocatoria is resolved first and then, if it does not succeed, the apelacion is processed.

Exhaustion of administrative remedies (Articulos 126-127): before being able to sue a public institution in court (via contencioso-administrativa), it is generally necessary to first exhaust all available administrative remedies — that is, to reach the final decision within the institution itself. This can also occur through administrative silence.

Nullity of administrative acts (Articulos 165-173):

• Absolute nullity: when one or more elements of the act are completely missing — it cannot be cured through remediation or validation, and its declaration has retroactive effect to the date of the act (without affecting rights acquired in good faith).
• Relative nullity: when an element of the act is flawed but not entirely absent.
• When the absolute nullity of an act that already granted rights to someone is "evident and clear," the Administration itself can declare it directly (without going to court), but it requires a prior, mandatory, and binding opinion from the Procuraduria General de la Republica (or from the Contraloria General if the act involves budgets or government contracting).

Liability of the Administration for damages (Articulos 190-198):

• The State is liable for ALL damages caused by its operation, whether lawful or unlawful, normal or abnormal — except in cases of force majeure, fault of the victim, or an act of a third party.
• It is also liable for lawful acts (proper conduct) when they cause special harm to someone due to the small size of the affected group or the intensity of the injury — in that case, compensation covers actual damages but not lost profits.
• The statute of limitations (deadline) to claim compensation from the Administration expires in 4 years from the event that gave rise to it. If the affected person was a minor, the deadline begins to run once they reach legal age.

Note: this sheet summarizes the most frequently consulted mechanisms of a very extensive law (administrative organization, jurisdiction, procedure, public contracts, and more are excluded from this summary). The judicial procedure to sue the State (once administrative remedies are exhausted) is governed by a separate law, the Codigo Procesal Contencioso-Administrativo (Ley N.º 8508) — not yet covered in this database. For an actual case, it is best to consult an attorney specializing in administrative law.