The last statement of the State Bar Association The Madrid Court of Justice’s Instruction No. 41 states that there is no government regulation requiring a specific qualification for persons responsible for validating or signing documents in Spanish public universities, which has implications for investigations Begoña GomezWife of Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government. The report defines the current legal framework and emphasizes the full autonomy of each academic institution to organize internally the management of its official documentation.
This legal opinion reiterates that responsibility for the procedures for signing and validating documents is solely the responsibility of the respective university, whose own governing body decides on the applicable requirements and processes. According to the text it is public universities Keep that Self-management ability are recognized both by the Constitution and by Law 9/2017 on Public Sector Contracts, which allows them to adapt, modify or delete their own criteria depending on the organizational specificities of the Center. The report makes it clear that this power will only be affected if a future state reform introduces uniform criteria for all universities in the country.
In the document submitted to the court, the State Bar Association argues that there are currently no specific professional qualification requirements in national legislation for those who sign these documents in the public university environment.
Furthermore, the analysis argues that the possible introduction of uniform requirements for the validation of university documents throughout Spain would only be possible through a legislative change at national level, which excludes any possibility of general application through simple administrative instructions. Until the state pushes forward a reform in this sense, the regulatory autonomy of the universities will remain, provided they act within the framework of the law and their own statutes. Therefore there is an obligation to do so recognize a degree A particular provision is enforceable only if it is expressly provided for in the statutes or internal regulations of a particular center, without the possibility of extending it to others.
The opinion shared with the Madrid Justice Authority serves as a reference for the interpretation of the current regulations, although Europa Press points out that the document does not address any specific ongoing case, such as the recent controversy over the validation of documents carried out by Begoña Gómez in 2011 Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). The report sets out a general interpretative framework and seeks to strengthen legal certainty around the powers and procedures of universities and to distinguish them from those of the rest of the public sector. “The responsibility for determining these requirements lies exclusively with the center’s governing bodies, unless there are clear internal rules on professional conditions,” the text expressly states.
The report states that this approach is consistent with the principle of university autonomy, which has a constitutionally recognized status and is supported by current higher education laws. In this sense, the criterion states that any potential reform aimed at enforcing common conditions at national level necessarily requires that it be processed and approved within the relevant legislative process.
The State Bar Association clarifies in its statement that its purpose is to inform both universities and judicial authorities about the extent of university autonomy in this matter and the limits established by the current regulations. The existing differentiation between the internal functioning of university bodies and the general regime applicable to the rest of public administration is also highlighted, emphasizing that this sector has much greater scope for self-organization in the absence of explicit government regulation.
Regarding the internal procedures for confirming or validating documentation at the University, the legal opinion reiterates that it is appropriate to define them only by the statutes and organizational decisions of each academic center. The opinion emphasizes that these requirements only apply if there is an internal standard setting out specific professional requirements mandatoryand not before. This positioning remains throughout the text to support the idea that the autonomy of universities determines the current model for the management of official documents.
The State Bar Association therefore takes the position that any intervention to establish individual criteria for the signing and validation of university documents will be subject to the changes in the law adopted by the State. Now it is full competition every institution on this topic. In this way, one of the questions related to the Begoña Gómez case will be clarified, one of the questions that the government and its entourage have faced in these months because of alleged corruption.
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