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Date of entry into force of original text |
December 18, 2014 |
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Date of Text (Adopted) |
November 26, 2014 |
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Type of text |
Law /Ley Ordinaria |
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Level |
State level |
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Enacted by |
Parliament |
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Reference to the Constitution |
Articles 93 to 96, related to International Treaties; Article 97: “The Government shall conduct domestic and foreign policy, civil and military administration and the defence of the State. It exercises executive authority and the power of statutory regulations in accordance with the Constitution and the laws”; Article 149.1.3: “The State shall have exclusive competence over the following matters: International relations”. |
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Subject area |
International Relations and International Treaties. |
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If the act implements a source of EU Law: cite the relevant EU legal source |
No |
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Comment |
Aware of recent changes that have rendered Spain’s current legislation in this area largely obsolete, this law offers a new regulatory framework in the field of International Treaties and Agreements. Considering its growing importance, the "Joint Arrangements" that the EU signs with third countries deserve specific attention. Also, the law includes provisions relating to the following types of agreements: Firstly, the "Administrative international agreements", which focus on the implementation of international treaties and are of a highly technical and executive nature. Secondly, the "Non-normative international agreements", known as "Memorandum of Understanding" (MoU), which are an expression of political commitments; consequently, as their name indicates, they lack normative content. Another important aspect of this law refers to the regulation of the power of the Autonomous Communities in the field of “external action”. It is recognized, for the first time in (State-level) Spanish legislation, that the country’s regions are entitled to subscribe “Administrative international agreements” and “Memorandum of Understanding”, but only concerning matters within their area of competences. Regarding International Treaties properly speaking, the following powers are granted to the Autonomous Communities: a) Possible participation in Spain’s delegations; b) Duty of the central government to report on the negotiations of International Treaties related to autonomous competence; c) The regions’ right to submit comments to the central government in relation to those Treaties. |
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Available Text |