The Public Administrations (PA) must guarantee that interested persons can relate to them by electronic means.
They are also obliged to assist in the use of electronic media to people not obliged to the electronic relationship.
For these purposes, the regulations determine that the PAs must have a register (or equivalent system), which allows them to record the officials qualified to:
- Make authentic copies , so as to guarantee that these have been properly issued; and/or,
- Identify and sign electronically on behalf of the person concerned , using the signature mechanism that the official has. In this case, it will be necessary for the interested person to identify himself to the official and give his express consent for the specific action, which must be kept for record in cases of discrepancy or litigation.
To deploy this obligation, the PAs must:
- Use an existing system, such as the Skilled Officials Register module of EACAT, or create your own system where public employees with these functions are identified (it can be a database).
- Approve this registration by means of a Mayor's decree (or the corresponding one), which includes, at least, the employees of the assistance offices in matters of registration. The qualification of the Secretary of the Corporation as a member of this register can also be assessed.
- Manage the authorizations and integrations with other records (this action is not necessary if you use the EACAT module).
- Publish the information so that it can be consulted by interested persons and other APs.
User organizations of EACAT have at their disposal the module of the Registry of Skilled Officials in order to comply with this obligation. For more information, you have at your disposal the Manual of the Registry of qualified officials in EACAT.
By consulting the Register of Skilled Officials of EACAT, I can find out:
- Name and surname of the official
- us
- Dates of registration and cancellation of the qualification
- Roles (support and/or copy roles)
- Administrative unit (it is a free and optional field).
For more information, see How does the qualified civil servant finder work?
Apart from the regulatory framework, the PAs have a wide margin of practical action to take initiatives that fit with the assistance to citizens.
From the AOC we highlight some examples of Catalan administrations that have taken innovative initiatives to expand the channels of assistance to citizens:
- Video attention : the relationship between the interested person takes place at a distance through electronic video conferencing platforms. There are different degrees of assistance (only informative, guided processing or processing by the authorized official). Some PAs that use this assistance channel are: the Generalitat de Catalunya and Barcelona City Council.
- Self-service points : many OAMRs and OACs have computers for public use so that citizens can use them to process electronically. In addition, on most occasions the staff of these offices also offer help in processing and even obtaining electronic signature and identification mechanisms.
- Face-to-face assistance with a personal device: an assistance option offered by Mataró City Council consists of allowing citizens to go to the municipal OAC with a personal laptop, where they are assisted in a similar way to self-service points. The difference, in this case, is that the device is that of the person concerned. You will find more information on the Mataró Town Council website.
- Use of chatbots: taking advantage of current technology, the AOC has put into operation a guided assistance service for the completion of registration procedures.
Please note that an appointment is usually required to use these support mechanisms.
Law 39/2015: art. 12 and 27
RD 203/2021: art. 4