Administrative Documents

The administrative documents are a reflection of the administrative activity carried out by the Public Administration in the exercise of the functions and competences that are its own.

They have two main functions:

• Constancia: ensure the preservation of the Administration ' s acts, provide proof of their effects and guarantee the right to access and consult them.
• Communication: they serve as a means of communicating the actions of the Administration to the citizen and other public bodies.

They contain a declaration of will from an organ of the Administration.

Two categories are distinguished:

• Agreement: sets out the decisions of an administrative body during the course of an administrative procedure and always prior to the decision of the administrative body.

• Resolution: Collects decisions of an organ of the Administration and terminates an administrative procedure.

They communicate the existence of acts or facts.

There are two classifications:

1. For the relationship that exists between the issuer and the recipient of the information:
   • Interns: Issuer and recipient are organs or units belonging to the same administrative organization.
   • External: the addressee is a citizen, a private entity or an administrative body belonging to a Public Administration different from that in which the issuer is integrated.
2. For his Content:
   • Notification: Notifies the interested party in an administrative procedure of a resolution or agreement that affects his/her interests and rights.
   • Publication- to inform the person concerned in an administrative procedure of the action of the Administration by publishing it in an official journal, bulletin board or information medium.
   • Communication: intended to inform citizens of facts or circumstances of an administrative procedure.

They are intended for the accreditation of acts, facts or effects.

Depending on subject of accreditation , these can be classified into three categories:

• Minutes: They are documents that prove facts, circumstances, judgments or agreements. An example in the administrative activity is found in the minutes of the meetings of the collegiate bodies.
• Certificate: They are documents that attest to a fact, to the content of a document or to the circumstances that appear in a file or registry, for example.
• Certificates produced by administrative silence: These are documents issued by an administrative body competent to issue an express act in an administrative proceeding and which attest to the existence and effects of an administrative act produced by administrative silence.

Its purpose is to provide administrative bodies with advice, data, assessments and opinions necessary for decision-making.

Trial documents are generally referred to as “reports.”

There are different classifications according to the criteria used:

1. For the Obligation to request them:
   • Reports prescriptive: These are mandatory reports because they are required by a legal provision.
   • Reports optional: are those that the administrative body competent in an administrative procedure requests, without being obliged to do so and whose purpose is to obtain advice, data and opinions on any aspect of it.
2. For the link to its content:
   • Reports binding: They are the reports that oblige the administrative body to resolve in the sense of the content of the information.
   • Reports non-binding: These are the reports that advise the administrative body that requests it but do not oblige it to resolve in the sense of the content of the report.
3. For the organ that issues them:
   • Reports interns: are those issued by the same Administration of which the organ requesting them is a member.
   • Reports external: are those issued by an Administration other than that of the requesting body.