The AGET is responsible for carrying out the activity of the State in a decentralized manner in the territory, with the Government Delegate responsible for its direction in the autonomous area and its coordination with the Administration of the Autonomous Community.

Law 40/2015, of 1 October, establishes a structure of the General Administration of the State in the Territory that provides for the integration of ministerial peripheral services in the Delegations and Subdelegations of the Government and Island Directorates, as well as the consequent elimination of the bodies whose services are integrated.

However, the non-integration of services is foreseen due to the uniqueness of their functions or the volume of management.

The General Administration of the State in the Territory has an essential and irreplaceable value in terms of effectiveness, information and representation of the State in the territory.

The Government Delegations exercise the direction and supervision of all the services of the General Administration of the State and its public agencies located in its territory (integrated and non-integrated services). They represent the Government in the territory of the Autonomous Community. According to Article 154 of the Spanish Constitution: “A Delegate appointed by the Government shall direct the General Administration of the State in the Territory of the Autonomous Community and shall coordinate it, where appropriate, with the Community’s own administration.”

Regulations

The Government Delegations are organically attached to the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, through the State Secretariat for Territorial Policy. Within this Secretariat of State, the General Secretariat for Territorial Coordination is the body responsible for coordinating the activity of the General Administration of the State in the Territory and assisting it. The General Secretariat for Territorial Coordination is responsible for the General Directorate of the General Administration of the State in the Territory, which is entrusted with the coordination and assistance of the Government ' s Delegations and Subdelegations.

They have the following organs:

• Government subdelegations in the provinces and Island Directorates.
• General Secretariat and, where appropriate, Deputy Secretary-General, on whom the common services and the bodies responsible for relations with territorial administrations and citizens depend, those exercising powers over citizens' rights, electoral processes, administrative authorisations, civil protection, aliens and asylum.
• Functional areasfor the management of the integrated services of Development, Industry and Energy, Health and Social Policy, High Inspection of Education, Agriculture and Fisheries and Labour and Immigration.
• Cabinet, as a body of support and immediate assistance to the Delegate.
• Territorial Assistance Commission, composed of the Government Subdelegates, the Island Directors as appropriate, the Secretary-General, the Chief of Staff, the Directors of the Functional Areas and those responsible for the non-integrated services that the Government Delegate determines.

There are currently 17 Government Delegations, corresponding to each of the Autonomous Communities, 2 Government Delegations in the Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and 44 Government Subdelegations in the provinces.