The Parliament of Catalonia has approved the bill amending Law 26/2010, on the legal and procedural regime of the public administrations of Catalonia. This is a text promoted by the parliamentary groups Socialists and United for Advancement, ERC and Comuns and agreed with the Government with the aim of guaranteeing more adequate attention to citizens, reinforcing the right to good administration and adapting administrative action to new models of public service provision.
Some of the modifications incorporated are the introduction of the right of people to rectify their errors before the Administration, the provision of proactive services and the legal abolition of the mandatory prior appointment.
Towards a proactive and personalized Administration
One of the outstanding innovations of this legislative reform is the regulation of proactive and personalized services. This figure, a pioneer in Catalan administrative law, represents a paradigm shift in the relationship between the Administration and the citizenry. Until now, the Administration functioned largely in a reactive manner: it only acted when the citizenry carried out a procedure or submitted a request. With this new approach, progress is being made towards an Administration that acts in an anticipatory, preventive and intelligent manner, that accompanies people and facilitates the procedures and the exercise of their rights.
The introduction of the right to error
Another innovative contribution is the recognition of the right of individuals to rectify their errors before the Administration. Thus, mechanisms are foreseen to avoid the imposition of sanctions derived from material or formal errors committed in a non-fraudulent manner, which allows individuals to point out the error and, therefore, rectify it in the corresponding steps of the administrative procedures.
Until now, only the Administration had the power to rectify its errors through the revocation of its acts, but this possibility was not recognized for citizens. Now, this right is recognized for the first time, which is already regulated by law in countries such as France or Poland and which transforms the relationship that the Administration maintains with society, moving from the traditional mistrust to trust in the people who interact with it.
The abolition of the mandatory prior appointment
Another important change is the incorporation of the express prohibition of imposing prior appointments as a mandatory requirement to access face-to-face services of the Administration. In this way, prior appointments can only be used as a measure to improve efficiency and attention to people, but never as a requirement.
The elimination of the mandatory prior appointment was already part of the emergency plan of immediate measures that accompanied the Government Agreement to promote the reform of the Administration. Now, a further step is taken by including the removal of the obligation in a regulation with the rank of law, so that it is applicable to all public administrations in Catalonia. The measure aims to guarantee the right to adequate care and protect vulnerable groups and those affected by the digital divide.
These measures are part of the process of reforming the Administration and improving public services launched by the Government with the aim of building a more efficient, proactive and people-centred public sector. This is the first legislative initiative to move forward inspired by the work of the Expert committee for the definition of the transformation strategy of the Administration of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the improvement of public services (CETRA), which this Monday delivered their certificates to the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa 50 proposals to transform the public sector.
(Image source: Parliament of Catalonia)
