Silencio administrativo (whether positivo or negativo) is frequently translated literally as “administrative silence,” and this may perhaps be understood by “insiders” from jurisdictions in which the expression is used. Nevertheless, I have never been able to find this literal rendering in any truly Anglo-American legal source (US or UK government or court websites, etc.). It’s always found in translations from Spanish or in English texts that explain what “administrative silence” is by rendering it literally. In fact, it is often obvious that many Internet articles devoted to “administrative silence” were originally written in Spanish and then simply run through Google Translate.

So what is silencio administrativo and, more importantly, how can the concept be reasonably rendered in English? Briefly, silencio administrativo denotes a governmental agency or other authority’s failure to respond to a request, petition or appeal, and that failure to respond constitutes a decision in itself: in situations governed by silencio administrativo positivo, failure to respond is deemed a positive response, while under silencio administrativo negativo failure to respond is tantamount to a “no.”

In view of the above and depending on the context, silencio administrativo positivo may be translated as “constructive grant/consent/approval, etc.,” while silencio administrativo negativo may be rendered as constructive denial/rejection/refusal, etc., since this is really what these expressions mean. Here’s a simple example with a possible translation: Una vez vencido el plazo de contestación que las normas establezcan para los expedientes de autorización, se entenderá otorgado el mismo por silencio administrativo positivo (Once the legally-established term for responding to applications for authorization has expired, failure to respond shall be deemed a constructive grant of authorization).