Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE)
Official State Gazette
Published by: Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE)
(Official State Gazette National Agency)
Avenida de Manoteras, 54 — 28050 Madrid
Spain
Tel. +34 911114000
Fax +34 91114270
E-mail: info@boe.es
Website: http://www.boe.es
Official journal / legal gazette
The State Official Gazette is called the “Boletín Oficial del Estado” (BOE). It publishes legislation as well as legal notices and other official texts, mainly issued by the State, but also by the regional and local authorities.
It is published daily, except on Sundays.
First edition
The Gazette was founded in 1661 (under the name of Gazeta) as a medium of general information. It became an official government publication in 1762.
The publication in the Gazeta has been required for legislation to come into force since 1836.
The current name “BOE” dates back to 1936.
First online edition
The BOE has been available on the internet since 1995, when it had just an informative purpose. Since 2009, the electronic version became the authentic one.
Paper edition
Since 1/1/2009, there is no longer a paper edition available to the public, since the official edition is the electronic one.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to print five copies in paper of the electronic edition, but only for archive purposes.
Online edition
www.boe.es Available texts
XML since 1960
PDF since 1961 Access and price
Free Legally binding
Since 1/1/2009
CD/DVD edition
A CD or DVD edition is not required, since the Gazette is available all the time on the internet.
Section I (General provisions): organic laws, laws, international treaties and conventions, royal legislative decrees and royal decree-laws, laws passed by the legislative assemblies of the Autonomous Communities (Regions), regulations and other general provisions, regulations issued from the Governments of the Autonomous Communities.
Section II (Authorities and personnel): appointments, situations and public competitive examinations and selection processes.
Section III (Other provisions): provisions of compulsory publication with no legal character or apply to other sections: for example grants and subsidies, collective agreements, curricula, scholarships, UNE standards, environmental impact assessments, mortgage market interest rates.
Section IV (Administration of justice): edicts, notifications, summons and announcements from the courts and tribunals.
Section V (Announcements): calls for tenders(VA), other official announcements (VB) and private announcements (VC).
Section TC (Constitutional Court), includes the Constitutional Court sentences
The Gazette also includes two specific Supplements: the "Notifications Supplement" and the "Supplement of the Single Judicial Notice Board".
The BOE is published in Spanish; however, it also contains four supplements that publish the main legal texts in the co-official languages of the Autonomous Communities.
Legal basis
Law 39/2015, of October 1 of the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations establishes electronic publishing of Official Gazettes.
In accordance with this law, Royal Decree 181/2008 of 8 February, on arrangements governing the Boletín Oficial del Estado
Legally binding
Effective 1/1/2009, the BOE electronic edition has official and authentic status and produces legal effects.
Financing
The BOE is financed mainly by announcements, calls for tenders and procurements published in the BOE and in the Boletin Oficial del Registro Mercantil, “BORME” (Official Gazette of the Register of Companies).
Other gazettes
A thematic gazette is also electronically published by the Official State Gazette National Agency: Boletín Oficial del Registro Mercantil (BORME), (Official Gazette of the Register of Companies).
In addition and according to the decentralized political organization of Spain, there are 17 autonomic (regional) Official Gazettes and 45 Official Gazettes for the local authorities. All of them have electronic editions
Since 1/1/2009, the electronic BOE has an official (and authentic) status and produces legal effects. It includes a digital signature and a time stamp.
Archiving
The BOE IT Department is responsible for archiving, complying withall the requirements needed to guarantee long-term preservation and availability.
Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado (AEBOE)
(Official State Gazette National Agency)
Form and nature
Governmental agency. Independent organisation reporting to the Ministry of the Presidency
Basic tasks
Pre-press: yes
Printing: yes
Dissemination/distribution: online
Legal gazette online: yes
Legislation database: yes
Consolidation: yes
Other services offered
“MyBOE” Service: alert system that informs subscribers about legal news they are interested in. This is a free of charge service
Data bases services about contents published in the BOE and the Official Journal of the European Union DOUE (Legislacion data base): free of charge
The four pillars of the European Law identifier (ELI) have been implemented.
Data base service about contents published in the BORME: free of charge
Other data bases about legal issues, such as the Constitutional Court sentences, Doctrine of the Public Prosecutor, Doctrine of the Advisory Council of State and Doctrine of the State Legal Services
Digital legal library, completely available and free of charge that includes:
-Electronic publications of legal compilations (“Electronic Codes”). These compilations are permanently updated and available free of charge. There is a specific collection for University students and another one for recruitment competitions.
-E-books: legal studies, historical texts…etc that are available free of charge and can be ordered on paper too.
Panhispanic Dictionary of Legal Spanish of the Royal Spanish Academy
Ministerial staff from different departments edit the first drafts of legislation.
Regarding the text processing system, at the moment there is a pilot development based on LEOS working in some departments
Concerning the Supplements of notifications and Single Judicial Notice Board , there is a text processing system based on xml, which is used by authorities of all levels: State, regional and local
Workflow
Transmission of texts is done electronically in 95% of the documents. The work flow is based on digital signature.
The workflow for the Supplements of Notifications in Single Judicial Notice Board is 100% electronic
Publishing
The Official State Gazette National Agency is responsible for the electronic publication of texts. Any amendment, from the first draft to the final version concerns the different ministerial departments or the parliament.
State primary and secondary legislation; Autonomic primary legislation. International agreements and conventions.
The consolidated version is complemented with a selection of relevant case law issued by the Supreme Court
The users can check the meaning of terms appearing in consolidated texts by looking them up in the Panhispanic Dictionary of Legal Spanish of the Royal Spanish Academy, that is directly available in the consolidated text
Status of the
consolidated texts
Consolidation is only for informative purposes
Deadline for
consolidation
Consolidations tasks are carried on a daily basis, so that the updated texts can be available the same day the amendment takes place or the following day
In accordance with the Royal Decree 1495/2007, the Official State Gazette website (https://www.boe.es) is the official legislative portal. Concerning the Autonomous Communities, the corresponding Official Gazette website is the main official legislative portal. The links to all these portals are available in the Official State Gazette Website www.boe.es.
The Official State Gazette National Agency website offers other official data bases, with the collaboration of different institutions: Doctrine of Public Prosecutor, Opinions of the Advisory Council of the State and Opinions of the Spanish legal Service. Along with this, the BOE´s website offers the historic collection of the Gazettes since 1661.
Regarding the Autonomous Communities, each of them manages their own legal information system, with their own official databases.
