Guide to Doing Business in Asturias 2024
The Principality of Asturias has hardly regulated any specific aspects regarding administrative procedures in its Law 2/1995 of 13 March on the legal regime of the Administration of the Principality of Asturias, so the most relevant regulations of the relations with those administered are the State ones. The two most important national regulations in this matter are Law 39/2015 of 1st October on Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations and Law 40/2015 of 1st October on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector.
These regulations impose the obligation, in the case of legal entities (such as companies, for example), to interact electronically with Public Administrations, through the different platforms and electronic offices created for this purpose.
In order to access and use these platforms or offices, it will be necessary to have an electronic or digital certificate, issued by the National Mint (FNMT)4. Its processing is also electronic, but you must have a Spanish NIF to do so.
This requirement to interact electronically with the Administrations must be complied with in any interaction with public organisations, whether submitting offers in public tenders, requests for aid or subsidies, filing appeals or requesting formal authorisations, inter alia.
Each Administration must make available an electronic office where interested parties can submit the documents in question and through which notifications relating to them will be sent. The electronic offices are operated associated with an e-mail address, which usually receives notices of any changes and notifications that occur in the files processed via said offices.
There is also a general electronic office, a General Electronic Registry, which may be used to file documents with any administrative body of the Spanish territory (regardless of its territorial level) in the event that it does not have its own electronic office or procedures for the submission of the specific document. This office is known as the SARA Network (Application Systems and Networks for Administrations) which consists of a set of communications infrastructures and basic services which connects the networks of Spanish Public Administrations and European Institutions, facilitating the exchange of information and access to services5.
Furthermore, there is also a Unique Enabled Electronic Address (DEHú) which facilitates access to notifications issued by Public Administrations that are integrated into this system.
It is important to bear in mind that, although there is this obligation to relate electronically with the Public Administrations for legal entities, in cases in which the procedure is initiated by the administrative body and is brought to the knowledge of the interested party, a legal entity (for example, in the case of a sanctioning file), this initial communication or notification must be carried out on hard copy to the physical address of the legal entity6, whilst the rest of the communications that may occur as a result of said first notification must be carried out by electronic media, including the response by the interested party to the first notification.
Finally, as regards the relationship with Public Administrations, they enjoy certain privileges or prerogatives. Of the latter, due to their importance, it should be highlighted that, if you wish to challenge an administrative act or decision, it is an essential requirement to have exhausted the prior administrative route , in other words, to have filed the administrative resources and/or appeals that may be applicable depending on the specific case before taking the legal route; otherwise, any possible appeal filed directly in court may be directly inadmissible and, if the period for the administrative challenge has already elapsed (which happens in the majority of cases), the act or decision would have become final.
(4) At the following link you can access the FNMT page and more information about digital certificates and how to obtain them: https://www.sede.fnmt.gob.es/certificados
(5) https://administracionelectronica.gob.es/ctt/redsara#.Y_ic_HbMKM8
(6) Royal Decree 203/2021 of 30 March which approves the Regulations for the action and operation of the public sector by electronic media.