Study of the revocation of administrative acts

Abstract

This paper refers to the interesting and also problematic matter of the revocation of administrative acts. The development that the revocation phenomenon has had in Spanish administrative law represents an incentive to think of it in the context of Chilean administrative law, now that it has been incorporated in article 61 of Law Nº 19.880. The author begins with a description of the theory of the revocation of administrative acts, with the purpose of examining the concept and its basis and of distinguishing revocation from other causes of extinction of administrative acts. He then analyses the specific problem of revocation of favourable administrative acts or of acts that declare rights. Regarding these kinds of administrative acts, the author examines with special interest the harming effects their revocation may have on the legal position of citizens. This possibility makes the author to declare the existence of some limits that revocatory acts must respect, among which the author emphasizes the principle of legitimate reliance.