Cuba has a new Administrative Procedure Law

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 19 (ACN) The National Assembly of People's Power (Parliament) approved today the Law on Administrative Procedure, without regulatory precedents in the country, which aims to regulate and systematize administrative actions in a general way.

In the presence of Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the country, Oscar Manuel Silvera Martinez, Minister of Justice, explained to the deputies that this legal instrument is supplementary to other special procedures in view of the singularities of some sectors.

The Constitution of the Republic of Cuba enshrines the right of every person to enjoy due process, both in the judicial and administrative spheres, which constitutes a guarantee against administrative actions, an expression of legal certainty and a requirement of legality, he emphasized.

It also recognizes the right to address complaints and petitions to the authorities and the obligation of the latter to process them and provide timely, pertinent and well-founded responses within the established period of time, the Minister noted.

Silvera Martinez commented that the law unifies the functioning of the public administration and the subjects that exercise some public function before the population, concentrates in one norm contents that are dispersed in other provisions and provides greater protection and legal certainty to the people.

It also corrects negative practices such as the failure to comply with terms, the requirement of unnecessary documentation and the failure to provide citizens with participation and access to administrative files, he added.

He emphasized that it reduces the risks of judicial litigation between individuals and the structures that carry out the administrative activity, and contributes to the elimination of bureaucracy in the administrative processing.

On the third day of the 3rd Ordinary Session of Parliament, in its 10th Legislature, Silvera Martinez emphasized that the new regulation must be complied with by the dependencies of the Council of Ministers; the agencies of the Central Administration of the State, its entities and territorial delegations or representations, as well as by the national, provincial or municipal entities and companies that provide public services.

It includes the structures of the provincial governments and those of the municipal administration, and any other administrative entity of a public nature, he pointed out.

It also applies to any other entity or person providing public services or exercising administrative functions or powers.

In presenting the decision of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament, Jose Luis Toledo Santander, its chairman, said that the drafting of this project was carried out in compliance with the indications of the State's leadership in order to unify the procedures in this important branch of the Government, for greater efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in its management.

The regulation contributes to combat bureaucracy and becomes an effective mechanism against corruption, Toledo Santander affirmed.