Legal Framework of Public Institutional Entities

Nature of the Enterprise Manager

Topic 5

1. The Enterprise Manager

Nature: They have a different nature and character than previously. They are not territorial administrations. In public corporations, the element is personal and professional; in public institutions, it is of an institutional nature in the service of a particular public purpose. These are legally separate entities with their own nature and a high degree of autonomy. These entities may exist at statewide, regional, and local levels.

Article 2: Scope of Public Law Entities

The Public Law Entities connected with legal personality or dependent on any government shall also be considered part of the Public Administration. These bodies hold their activity to this law when exercising administrative powers, while the rest of their activity is subject to their specific building standards.

Key Characteristics of Institutional Entities

Notes:

• They are part of the public administration (derivative and not original).
• They have full legal personality (independent of the state, regional, or local entity that creates these institutional entities).
• Territory is not an essential element.
• They are governed by the criterion of specialty.
• They are tested with respect to the creating entity through supervisory relationships, not hierarchy.

Classification of Public Bodies

Public bodies:

• Autonomous organs:
  • They depend on a Ministry.
  • They are governed by administrative law under a decentralization scheme.
• Corporate public entities:
  • They are dependent on a ministry or autonomous agency.
  • They are governed by private law, except regarding the formation of the will of its organs in the exercise of administrative powers.

At the regional level: Autonomous self-government bodies and commercial companies.

At the local level: Local autonomous bodies and local societies.

Article 41: Activities of Public Bodies

Public bodies are created under the dependency or linkage of the General State Administration to carry out any activity referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 2, whose characteristics justify its development through an organization and decentralization scheme.

Article 43: Classification and Assignment

Public bodies are classified as:

1. Autonomous organisms.
2. Corporate public entities.

Organizations rely on an autonomous ministry which is responsible for strategic direction, evaluation, and control of the results of its activity, through the body to which the Agency is attached.

Corporate public entities rely on a Ministry or an autonomous body, with corresponding functions as alluded to in the previous section regarding the relevant ministry or agency affiliation. Exceptionally, there may be public business entities whose statutes assign the role of leading or coordinating with other entities of the same or different nature.

Public Corporations and Partnership Basis

Notes:

• These are public bodies of an institutional nature.
• They have a partnership basis.
• Membership may be required (such as compulsory licensing).
• They are created to achieve the common interests of their partners.