Article 103.3 of the Spanish Constitution establishes that the law will regulate the status of public officials and its article 149.1.18th attributes to the State the competence on the basis of the statutory regime of public administration officials. These constitutional provisions culminated in the approval in 2007 of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee (now consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October), henceforth, EBEP, which has the nature of a basic law that needs further legislative development.

Article 6 of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees provides, in this regard, that the General Courts and the legislative assemblies of the autonomous communities shall approve, within the scope of their competences, the regulatory laws of the Public Service of the General Administration of the State and of the autonomous communities.

On the other hand, there is currently no single law that completely regulates the public service of the General Administration of the State, maintaining its validity –although without basic character, provided that they do not oppose the provisions of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, until the normative development is carried out in the field of the General Administration of the State– rules that, in some cases, are even partially repealed or temporarily maintained until the aforementioned normative development such as Law 30/1984, of August 2, on Measures for the Reform of the Public Service or the Civil Servants Law of February 315, by Decree 7.

The draft Law on the Civil Service of the General State Administration intends, for the personnel included in its scope of application, to complete the normative framework established by the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Civil Servant for the personnel in the service of the General State Administration, developing and updating its model of organization and management of the civil service.

Given the complex system of oversight provided by the EBEP, the adoption of a Public Service Law of the General State Administration would increase legal certainty, fill regulatory gaps and allow the implementation of those nuclear elements for the reform of the public service included in the Basic Statute that, due to lack of regulatory development, have not been able to be implemented within the scope of the General State Administration.

Since the entry into force of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, the need to develop it within the scope of the General Administration of the State, as prescribed by its article 6, has become clear.

Bearing in mind the need for such development, through the “Instructions for the application of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee in the field of the General Administration of the State and its Public Agencies”, approved by Resolution of 21 June 2007, of the General Secretariat for Public Administration (BOE No. 150, of 23 June 2007), the aim was to achieve coordinated and homogenous action by those responsible for the management of human resources, among other aspects in relation to the precepts of the public service regulations that remained in force until the approval of the Public Service Law of the General State Administration.

The approval of a Public Service Law of the General State Administration, on the other hand, has been a constant demand of both the most representative trade unions and the groups of public officials.

The future Law on the Public Service of the General State Administration is framed in the objective of carrying out a structural reform of the public employment system that involves an improvement in quality, effectiveness and efficiency and that guarantees the provision of public services in an open, plural and diverse society. This Law aims to be in line with an inclusive, agile, sustainable, proactive and innovative Administration, promoting a responsive and adaptable public service that is capable of solving current and future challenges and changing circumstances, that has professionals capable of serving general interests and contributing to satisfy the right of citizens to good administration.

In addition, this will be a Law of “Ordination” or Organization of the Public Service, which will adapt the EBEP to the General Administration of the State, establishing a balance between the rights recognized by this basic norm and the powers of self-organization of the Administration of the State and implementing the nuclear elements of that basic norm, among which the following should be highlighted:

• Regulation of professional public management.
• Regulation of performance evaluation.
• Regulation of the horizontal stroke.
• Redefinition of the remuneration system.

There is no alternative regulatory solution, since there is a mandate to develop the Basic Statute of the Public Employee for the Administration of the State that must be carried out through the law of the General Courts. The alternative non-regulatory solution would be the maintenance of the status quo, and the survival of a dispersed regulatory framework, which includes rules that, as has been pointed out, remain partially in force as long as such regulatory development occurs.

Text of the query

The purpose of this prior public consultation is to seek the opinion of the most representative subjects and organizations potentially affected by the future rule on:

• The problems that are intended to be solved with the initiative.
• The need and opportunity for its approval.
• The objectives of the standard.
• The possible alternative regulatory and non-regulatory solutions.

In compliance with the above and in accordance with the provisions of Order PRE/1590/2016, of October 3, which publishes the Agreement of Council of Ministers of September 30, 2016, by which instructions are issued to enable public participation in the process of elaboration of regulations through the web portals of the ministerial departments, citizens, organizations and associations that consider it, may send their comments on the future Law of Public Service of the General Administration of the State until March 23, 2020, through the following email: secretaria.consultoria@correo.gob.es.