Administrative reflections of the administrative impartiality principle

Abstract

The text analyzes how administrative impartiality, here raised to the level of principle, conditions the agent’s performance in each phase of the administrative procedure, which for study purposes is divided into two issues, instruction and decision, with the necessary subdivisions to implement them. Impartiality must be present in the performance of internal acts, prior to disclosure, during the collection of information, inquiries and organization, for the evaluation of interests to be considered, in which it is called a positive aspect and, when applied on removal of irrelevant interests, is called a negative aspect, organizing evaluations of controversial issues. In addition to the subjective exemption rules, publicity of acts, formal contact with the public and standardization of administrative procedures are fundamental elements in guaranteeing impartiality. Thus, the anticipation of what the decision could be, disclosed in the public hearing procedure as a platform to be defended and implemented, exercises the function of control and submission to the public, providing information on relevant and contrasting interests that will inform the weighing process, proper to any decision that admits discretion. These procedures, although They do not eliminate hidden participation and external pressures, nor is Them immune to the adversities inherent in the consideration of conflicting interests, have the characteristic of bringing publicity to the issues, giving a more democratic character to the administrative procedure, insofar as allows the control of the material aspects of the decision, as it conditions the formal foundation of the decision-making act, organizing the expository rationality and the measurement of the impartiality bonds in the administrative procedure and, in particular, in the decision-making act, by verifying the compatibility with the externalized acts throughout the process.