COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM ACTIVITIES 243 Therefore, no other conclusion can be reached, except by way of a previous legal reform, so there is no legitimate possibility that the National Consumer Commission decides the opening of an administrative procedure without informing beforehand any interested party that so requires it. It is important in this last aspect to clarify the openness that the law admitted in terms of legitimacy, which the rule expressly indicates when referring to the possibility that the procedure be opened ‘by virtue of a complaint by any consumer or person, without necessarily being the aggrieved party by the denunciation act’. This legal opening responds to the development that has been obtained due to the acceptance of the concept of diffuse and / or collective interest, different from the traditional personal, legitimate and direct interest that refers to criteria of administrative legitimization of a strictly subjective and non-objective nature. In this way, it is a widely accepted doctrinal criterion to consider the matter of consumption, as one presenting criteria of legitimacy that are protected by objective and not subjective legal situations. As indicated in the following Spanish doctrine: “The doctrine is peaceful on this point and, in principle, it seems that nothing is against considering the interest of consumers as a diffuse interest”2. For its part, the national doctrine states: “(...) the less rigid legitimation derived from these ‘diffuse’ interests founded on subjective but shared situations, has arisen especially in certain areas of social life in which a ‘diffusion’ of the tutored interests becomes more apparent – as in those of the consumers or of the conservation and improvement of the environment”3. By recognising the diffuse character of the consumer’s interest, it should be possible to obtain clarity regarding the possibility of knowing and resolving a complaint from a consumer that is not directly affected by the denounced facts. It should also be said that, in terms of consumption, it is necessary to distinguish two clearly defined aspects, namely: “collective and individual. All this shows that the protection of these interests should be determined by the interest of the person as a consumer and also by the interest of the consumers”4. This way, the discussion on consumption issues that arise in the administrative way may involve a clearly identifiable individual consumer interest, – lack of 2 ACOSTA ESTEVEZ, José B, La Tutela Procesal De Los Consumidores, Barcelona, José María Bosch (Ed.), 1995, p. 50. 3 PIZA ESCALANTE, Rodolfo, Legitimación Democrática En La Nueva Justicia Constitucional De Costa Rica, In Homenaje Al Profesor Eduardo Ortiz Ortiz, Fundación Santo Tomás De Aquino, 1st Ed., 1994, p. 672. 4 ACOSTA ESTEVEZ, Op. Cit., p. 52.
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