The administrative act

AuthorCatalin-Silviu Sararu
ProfessionPhD, is Associate Professor at the Law Department of Bu-charest University of Economic Studies
Pages33-50
Chapter V
The administrative act
1. Definition
The administrative act is the unilateral legal act emanating from a public
authority or from private persons authorized by them, on the basis of public
power, on the basis and in view of the execution of the law1.
Administrative acts are the main legal form of the activity of public ad-
ministration authorities.
2. The features of the administrative act
The administrative act presents the following features:
a) The administrative act is a legal act. The legal act represents a mani-
festation of will made with the intention of producing legal effects, that is to give
birth, to modify or to extinguish rights and obligations. Therefore, the adminis-
trative act is, like any legal act, a manifestation of will intended to produce a
change in the existing legal reality2. The administrative act differs from such ad-
ministrative operations (notices, agreements, minutes of establishment, etc.
necessary for issuing the administrative act). We note that while administrative
acts directly produce legal effects on those to whom they are addressed, effects
that the public authority issuing the act envisages, administrative operations do
not produce legal effects by virtue of the will of the perpetrator, but these effects
they occur because the law provides (by law - ope legis)3. For example, a building
permit is an individual administrative act that produces the legal effects envisaged
by the issuing public authority with regard to the conditions that the respective
construction must fulfill. In order to issue the building permit, a series of notices
provided by Law no. 50/1991 regarding the authorization of the execution of the
construction works4. These opinions are administrative operations. In order to
1 For different definitions of the administrative act see Ion Corbeanu, op. cit. (Drept administrativ),
2010, p. 76; Rodica Narcisa Petrescu, op. cit. (Drept administrativ), 2009, p. 307; Antonie Iorgovan,
op. cit. (Trata t de drept administrativ), vol. II, 2005, p. 25; Verginia Vedina, op. cit. (Drept
administrativ), 2015, p. 95, 96; Alexandru Negoi, op. cit. (Drept administra tiv), 1996, p. 137;
Ioan Alexandru, op. cit. (Tratat de administraie public), 2008, p. 548; Anton Trilescu, Dr ept
administrativ, ediia 4, Editura C.H. Beck, Bucureti, 2010, p. 191; Dumitru Brezoianu, op.cit.
(Drept administrativ român), 1997, p. 137; Ilie Iovna, Dreptu l administrativ i elemente ale
tiinei administraiei, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House, Bucharest, 1977, p. 219.
2 Jean Rivero, Jean Waline, Droit administra tif, 15e édition, Dalloz, Paris, 1994, p. 79.
3 Dumitru Brezoianu, op.cit. (Drept administrativ r omân), 1997, p. 125; Alexandru Negoi, op.
cit. (Drept administrativ), 1996, p. 133; Ioan Alexandru, Mihaela Cruan, Ion Popescu, Drago
Dinc, op. cit. (Drept administra tiv), 2002, p. 255, 256.
4 Republished in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 933 of October 13, 2004, as subsequently amended.
34 Ctlin-Silviu Sr aru
obtain the building permit, the opinions provided by the law must be favorable.
The effect produced by these opinions is that the authorization depends on them,
an effect provided by law and which does not depend on the will of the adminis-
trative structure that gives the opinion1.
b) The administrative act is a unilateral manifestation of legal will
because it releases a single legal will, which comes from a public authority. For
the validity of an administrative act, it is not necessary the consent of the person
to whom it is addressed. Therefore, the character of the administrative act of be-
ing a unilateral manifestation of legal will distinguishes it from the contracts (bi-
lateral legal acts) of public law (administrative contracts) or private law (civil
law, labor law contracts, etc.). For example, for the issuance of a report on the
application of a contravention sanction against the person who committed the
contravention, it is not necessary to consent to the application of the sanction2.
Also the unilateral manifestation of will represented by the administra-
tive act is carried out under public law, which distinguishes it from the unilateral
act of private law (will, donation, etc.).
c) The administrative act is adopted by a public authority. Law of
the administrative contentious no. 554/2004 defines in art. 2 (1) letter b) the issu-
ing public authority as any state body or of the administrative-territorial units that
act, in regime of public power, for the satisfaction of a public interest.
Mainly administrative acts are adopted by public administration authori-
ties. But administrative acts can also adopt structures within the Parliament, as
well as the organs of the judiciary in their organizational activity or in concrete
execution of the law. Thus, for example, the order by which the Secretary General
of the Senate sanctions a parliamentary civil servant or the order by which the
president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice appoints or dismisses the
economic manager are administrative acts issued by public authorities within the
legislative or judicial power3.
Law of the administrative contentious no. 554/2004 provides in art. 2 (1)
letter b) the second thesis, the fact that, within the meaning of this law, the legal
persons of private law who have obtained the status of public utility or are au-
thorized to provide a public service, under public power, are assimilated to the
public authorities. Thus, for example, the General Association of Sport Hunters
and Fishermen (AGVPS) is a non-governmental association of public utility hav-
ing an exclusive competence, delegated by the state through normative acts, in
the field of hunting and sport fishing. In this capacity AGVPS can issue adminis-
trative acts.
1 See Dumitru Brezoianu, op.cit. (Drept a dministrativ român), 1997, p. 125, 126; Ioan Alexandru,
Mihaela Cruan, Ion Popescu, Drago Dinc, op. cit. (Drept administra tiv), 2002, p. 256.
2 See Ioan Alexandru, Mihaela Cruan, Ion Popescu, Drago Dinc, op. cit. (Drept administrativ),
2002, p. 258.
3 See Emanuel Albu, Dreptul contenciosului administrativ, Universul Juridic, Bucharest, 2008, p.
39.

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