Royal Decree 553/2004, of 17 April, for which the ministerial departments are restructured, issued under the authorisation granted to the President of the Government in Article 2.2.j of Law 50/1997, of 27 November, the Government, modified the organic structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in order to achieve the maximum effectiveness in its action and to enhance the capacity of the ministry in the international field. For its part, the Royal Decree 562/2004, of April 19, established the structure of the higher bodies and directors of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in order to strengthen the international projection of Spain. Royal Decree 1416/2004 of 11 June amending and developing the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, as amended by Royal Decree 755/2005 of 24 June 2005, has materialised the structure of the Current Ministry. The need to reflect this current structure of the Department, as well as the establishment of new management criteria, which seek to overcome the slowdown in the processing of certain types of files, advise to introduce some amendments to the current Order AEX/1001/2003 of 23 March 2003, of delegation of powers in the field of personnel, procurement and budgetary management and public expenditure, which is carried out by means of this Order. In its virtue, in accordance with the provisions of Article 13 of Law 30/1992 of 26 November 1992, of the Legal Regime of the Public Administrations and the Common Administrative Regime, in the additional provision of Law 6/1997, 14 April, on the organisation and operation of the General Administration of the State and on Article 20 of Law 50/1997 of 27 November of the Government, I have:

First. -Different paragraphs of Order AEX/1001/2003, of 23 March, of delegation of competence in personnel matters, procurement and budget management and public expenditure are amended. In particular, the wording of its fourth paragraph is amended; a new fifth paragraph is introduced; its current fifth paragraph, which becomes the sixth paragraph, is hereby renumbered, and the wording of point 4 thereof is also amended; and, finally, the sixth and next paragraphs which become seventh and next. All this, in the terms set out below: 1. The fourth subparagraph, first paragraph, the wording of which becomes as follows: ' Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraphs, for amounts less than EUR 300 000, delegate the powers relating to the authorisation of expenditure, as well as the organisation of payments and the approval of the accounts supporting the obligations satisfied, carried out by the fixed-box system and payments to be justified in the following Department organs: "

2. The fifth paragraph becomes "paragraph 6" and the wording of point 4 is amended, which shall be as follows:

" 4. In the Director General of the External Service, in respect of all personnel of the Department not covered by the above points. However, for such staff, the authorization of service commissions with a duration equal to or less than seven calendar days that do not correspond to Heads of Diplomatic Missions, Permanent Representations and Delegations and Consular Offices, may be authorised either by the Director-General of the External Service or by the Deputy Director-General of Personnel. '

3. A new "fifth paragraph" is introduced, with the following wording:

" Fifth. -Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraphs, it is delegated to the Deputy Directors-General of the Department, within its respective scope of competence, and for the appropriations to be managed in the 141M and 142A, the contracting authority in relation to the minor contracts referred to in Article 56 of the recast of the Law on Public Administrations Contracts, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 2/2000 of 16 June, including the approval of expenditure, as well as the recognition of obligations and appropriate payment proposals. "

4. The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth paragraphs of the order AEX/1001/2003, of 23 March 2003, become paragraphs 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively. Second. -References to the Department's Higher and Directive Bodies contained in Order AEX/1001/2003, of 23 March, must be understood as amended in the following sense: references to the "Minister of Foreign Affairs" should be References to the "Secretary of State for European Affairs" shall be understood as references to the "Secretary of State for the European Union"; references to the "Secretary of State for European Affairs" shall be construed as references to the "Secretary of State for European Affairs". "Foreign Affairs" should be understood as the " Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and for The references to the "Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Latin America" should be understood as references to the "Secretary of State for International Cooperation"; references to the "Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs", The references to the "Secretary-General for European Affairs" should be understood as references to the "Secretary-General for the European

Third. This Order will produce effects from the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of the State.

Madrid, 25 January 2006.

Moratinos Cuyaube