How Spain's central state administration is organized and runs

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law regulates the organization and operation of the state's general administration and the public bodies linked to or depending on it.
2. The administration acts with a single legal personality, and its bodies follow principles such as hierarchy, effectiveness, transparency and effective service to citizens.
3. The administration is organized into ministries, with superior bodies (Ministers and Secretaries of State) and directive bodies (Undersecretaries, General Secretaries, Technical General Secretaries, Directors General and Deputy Directors General).
4. It abolishes the figure of the Civil Governors and creates that of Government Subdelegates in the provinces, who report to the Government Delegates in the Autonomous Communities.
5. Government Delegates represent the Government in each Autonomous Community, direct and supervise state services in the territory, and coordinate information for citizens.
6. The state's territorial services are integrated into the Government Delegations to simplify the peripheral administration and avoid duplication.
7. Public bodies are classified into autonomous bodies (subject to administrative law) and public business entities (governed by private law, with exceptions).
8. Creating a public body requires a law, with statutes approved by Royal Decree of the Council of Ministers and an initial action plan.

Who it affects

• Citizens in general: They have the right to quality public services, information and assistance by phone, computer and online means.
• Public employees: Senior directive officials are appointed from civil servants with higher degrees and are personally accountable for their management.
• Public bodies and state entities: They must adapt to the new types of autonomous body or public business entity within a maximum of two years.
• Administration abroad: Ambassadors and permanent representatives direct the state administration outside Spain and coordinate its activity.

Words worth knowing

Organismo autónomo (autonomous body)

A public entity created by the state that carries out administrative tasks and is governed by administrative law.

Entidad pública empresarial (public business entity)

A public entity that provides services or produces goods for payment, generally governed by private law.

Descentralización funcional (functional decentralization)

Splitting tasks among specialized bodies with some autonomy instead of concentrating them in one body.

Personalidad jurídica única (single legal personality)

The administration acts as one legal person, even though it is made up of many bodies.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries