Notification of administrative act

The Supreme Court (TS) has reviewed an interesting case; a Paraguayan citizen was expelled from Spain for an immigration offense, but he appealed arguing that the sanction was never properly notified to him. The Administration stated that they attempted to notify him twice at his residence, but he was not there, so they published a notice in the Official State Gazette. However, the notices left in his mailbox only included the file number, the sender, and his NIE, in other words, they did not clearly state what sanction it was about.

The TS has explained that, when the Administration attempts to notify an important resolution —such as an expulsion—, it is not enough to just record a file number. By law, several details must be included::

- the date of the attempt,

- the recipient's identity, and, above all,

- a clear reference to the essential content of the act being notified (for example, that it is an expulsion and the reason why).

It is not necessary to include the entire resolution, but it must be clear in the notice what is being notified.

In this case, since those essential details were not included in the notices, the TS has concluded that the notification was not done properly. This means that the sanctioning procedure expired and the expulsion is annulled. In summary, it is not enough to leave simple notices, the Administration must specify what act is involved for a notification to be valid and to avoid violating the rights of the affected party.

 

Consult our professionals in immigration matters, irregular situations, etc., for procedures and actions that may arise from such situations or disagreement with an administrative or judicial action in this regard