Rethinking the conventionality control diffuse in the context of administrative sanction law

Rethinking the diffuse control of conventionality in the framework of administrative sanctioning law

Abstract

Conventionality control imposes on states the obligation to harmonize or make their domestic legal system and state practices compatible with the provisions of the inter-American corpus juris and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This control can be of two types: concentrated and diffuse. The first is the responsibility of the aforementioned supranational court. The second is mandatory for all authorities of the Mexican state within the scope of their respective competences. On the other hand, administrative sanction law is translated into a manifestation of the exercise of the state's ius puniendi, which gives the state the authority to impose administrative sanctions when individuals or entities commit an administrative offense previously established by law. In this context, from a proactive perspective, this work aims to analyze how conventionality control should permeate the field of administrative sanction law, with the purpose of adapting laws and administrative procedures to inter-American human rights standards, with a special emphasis on judicial guarantees and due legal process. From this perspective, we examine the possibility of applying the doctrine of the margin of national appreciation as a mechanism to conventionize administrative sanction law and cite a case of non-conventionality in an electoral sanction procedure, in order to illustrate why it is necessary to rethink the diffuse control of conventionality in administrative sanction law.