Administrative Agreement between the European Commission and the Kingdom of Spain
Date: 2005-12-21
Institutions: European Commission, Spain
Subjects: European Commission, Spain, administrative cooperation, exchange of information, official language, use of languages

C 73/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

25.3.2006

ADMINISTRATIVE AGREEMENT

BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN

(2006/C 73/06)

The European Commission, of the one part, and the Kingdom
of Spain, of the other part,

Having regard to the conclusions adopted by the ‘General
affairs and external relations’ Council of the European Union,
meeting on 13 June 2005, with regard to the official use of
additional languages in the Council and, where appropriate, in
other institutions and bodies of the European Union,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

The efforts made to bring the Union closer to its citizens
require that, as far as possible, both they and their repre-
sentatives are able to communicate with the institutions
in their mother tongue, which is an important factor in
strengthening their identification with the Union's poli-
tical project.

In the Union there are languages other than those
referred to in Council Regulation No 1/1958 whose
status is recognised by the Constitution of a Member
State in the whole or a part of its territory or whose use
as a national language is authorised by law,

AGREE to conclude this ADMINISTRATIVE AGREEMENT
to allow the official use in the European Union of, in addition
to Spanish or Castilian, the other languages which in Spain
enjoy a status recognised by the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

Article 1

Spanish citizens, or any other natural or legal person residing
or established in Spain, shall be entitled, under the terms of
Spanish law and in accordance with the conclusions of the
Council of 13 June 2005, to address their written communica-
tions to the European Commission in any of the languages
which, under the Spanish Constitution, have official status
within Spanish territory.

1.1. When the language used is not Spanish/Castilian,

this
option shall be exercised by means of the following proce-
dure:

— The citizen shall address his written communication to
the competent body designated by Spanish law, which
will send it
to the European Commission together
with a certified translation into Spanish/Castilian done
by that body.

— The date of receipt of the communication, particularly
in cases where the Commission has a time limit for
sending a reply to the citizen, shall be that on which
the Commission receives the certified translation from
the said body.

— The European Commission shall draft

its reply in
Spanish/Castilian and send it to the abovementioned
competent body.

— This body shall send to the person concerned, as soon
as possible, the Commission's reply together with its
certified translation into the language of the original
document.

— If

the competent departments of

the Commission
decide to reply in the language of the original docu-
ment, they may do so and send their reply directly to
the person concerned.

— The Commission shall not be held liable for any errors
of
translation into a language other than Spanish/
Castilian or for any misinterpretation of the reply as a
result of such errors. This condition shall be stated
explicitly in the text of the translations.

1.2. Unless the Commission's departments are able and willing
to do the translation themselves, the Commission shall
return to the sender any communications that it receives
in languages other than Spanish/Castilian which in Spain
enjoy a status officially recognised by the Spanish Consti-
tution of 1978 and that are not accompanied by a certi-
fied translation into Spanish/Castilian.

In such cases, the Commission shall
inform the person
concerned that the exercise of his right to address this
institution and to obtain a reply in the language of his
choice must be done by sending the communication in
the said language to the body designated for this purpose
by Spanish law.

send its

1.3. When the citizen who is the author of the communication
has a time limit for acting on the Commission's reply and
notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1.1.,
the
reply in Spanish/Castilian
Commission shall
directly to the citizen at the same time as to the compe-
tent body. In its reply, the Commission shall remind the
citizen that the time limit for acting on the reply will start
from the date of receipt of the reply in Spanish/Castilian.
The Commission shall send a copy of its reply to the
competent body so that the latter can provide the citizen
with a translation thereof in the language of the commu-
nication; in its reply, the Commission shall also draw the
citizen's attention to this fact. The Commission shall not
under any circumstances be held liable for these transla-
tions. This condition shall be stated explicitly in the text
of the translations.

1.4. If the Commission has to reply within a given period, this
shall begin from receipt of the original document accom-
panied by a certified translation into Spanish/Castilian.
This period shall end once the Commission has sent its
written reply in Spanish/Castilian to the competent body
designated by Spanish law or from the time when the
Commission sends directly to the person concerned its
reply in the language of the original document.

25.3.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 73/15

1.5. The parties to this administrative agreement undertake to
adopt the necessary measures to maintain at all times the
confidentiality of the communications referred to herein,
particularly as regards the translation done by the compe-
tent body designated by Spanish law.

Once a year, the competent departments of the Commission
shall apply to the Spanish authorities for reimbursement of the
expenditure incurred, calculated as a lump sum, on the basis of
the number of pages translated by them in accordance with the
procedure provided for in this agreement.

Article 2

The Spanish Government shall bear the European Commis-
sion's direct or indirect costs arising from the application of
this administrative agreement.

Final provision

This agreement shall enter into force once the Spanish Govern-
ment has notified the Secretariat-General of the Commission of
the bodies designated by Spanish law as the competent bodies
for making the translations referred to in Article 1.

Brussels, 21 December 2005.

The Commission of the European Communities and the Kingdom of Spain

Carlos BASTARRECHE

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Catherine DAY

Secretary-General