Prescription of sanctions in the social order after appealing against the sanctioning decision

This article deals with the problems caused by the expiry of the sanctioning procedure and the prescription of offences and sanctions in the social order. It analyzes those sanctioning procedures initiated ex officio in which, once the proposal for a sanction has been formulated and notified to the administrated party, the latter appeals it and, once the statute of limitations for the infraction and the sanction has expired, the Administration issues an express resolution rejecting the appeal that empowers it to collect the sanction imposed. This way of acting by the Administration, leaving the appeal without a resolution, without executing the sanction and prolonging this situation for years, means that the administered party is submerged in the most absolute legal uncertainty. This article reconsiders this unjust jurisprudential criterion in the light of the new Law 39/2015.