The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with its central structure, in Spain, has a series of organs and institutions abroad, which are set out in Article 36 of Law 6/1997, of 14 April, of the Organization and Operation of the General Administration of the State, and which are attached to this Department.

In view of the great complexity of the management carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and for reasons of economic and territorial nature, as well as in order to increase the speed of the different management procedures, it seems It is advisable to redistribute the exercise of the management functions between the various organs and institutions of the Department, through the mechanism of the delegation of competences.

Consequently, whereas it is necessary to delegate the exercise of powers in matters of personnel, procurement and budgetary management and public expenditure, in the use of the power conferred on me by Article 13 of Law 30/1992, Article 20 of Law 50/1997 of 27 November 1997 of the Government and of the additional provision of Law No 6/1997 of 14 December 1997, of the Law of the European Communities of 14 December 1997, of the April, Organization and Functioning of the General Administration of the State, and, unless To the contrary expressly, in respect of all the organs of the Department that are not dependent on the Secretaries of State of Foreign Policy and for the European Union and for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America, I have:

First. -Delegate in the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs the following general competencies:

1. In the field of personnel, those attributed to the Minister as head of the Department in paragraphs 5 to 10 of Article 13 of Law 6/1997, of 14 April, of the Organization and the Functioning of the General Administration of the State.

2. The resolution of the appeals against the decisions of the authorities of the Department, when such faculty is legally or legally assigned to the holder of the Department.

3. The dispatch and resolution of all files and matters that, whatever their nature, are attributed to the holder of the Department by legal or regulatory precept and are not delegated to other authorities.

Second. -Within the framework of the competences in matters of procurement and budgetary and patrimonial management attributed to the holder of the Department by paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Article 13 of Law 6/1997, of 14 April, Organisation and functioning of the General Administration of the State, delegate to the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in any case, and the Director-General of the Foreign Service, for expenditure of less than 50,000,000 pesetas, the following:

1. Article 2 of Royal Decree 612/1997 of 25 April 1997 concerning the allocation of the obligations of previous financial years as well as those necessary for the approval of the financial year's files closed exercises of the different concepts.

2. The approval of the files of credit modifications in cases in which the same corresponds to the holder of the Department, as well as the authorization and remission of the proposals for modification of credits whose authorization corresponds to the Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance.

3. Those attributed to it by Law 13/1995, of 18 May, of Contracts of Public Administrations, as well as the conclusion and signature of any other contracts and agreements.

4. The administration of the appropriations for expenditure of the Department's budgets, including the contracting of economic obligations in the name or on behalf of the State and the approval of the Department's own expenses.

5. The authorization and disposal of the Department's own expenses, with the consequent faculty of hiring, as well as the interest of the Ministry of Economy and Finance the management of the corresponding payments.

6. For expenditure the payment of which is made using the fixed cash advance payment systems and payments to be justified, the arrangement of payments and the approval of the supporting accounts of the obligations satisfied.

7. Request from the Ministry of Economy and Finance the affectation or lease of the buildings necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes of the services to his office.

8. The granting of aid and public subsidies.

Third. -Without prejudice to the provisions of the previous paragraph, for expenditure of less than 25,000,000 pesetas, the powers relating to the authorization of expenditure are delegated, as well as the management of the payments made by the fixed cash advance system and payments to be justified, within their respective scope of competence in the following departments of the Department:

1. For expenses incurred in Spain, without distinction in the Directors-General, Deputy Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General of the Department.

2. For expenditure incurred abroad, in the Heads of Diplomatic, Permanent or Special Missions, Permanent Representations or Missions, Delegations, Consular Offices and public institutions and bodies of the General Administration of the State, which are set out in Article 36 of Law 6/1997 of 14 April, of the Organization and the Functioning of the General Administration of the State, which are dependent on this Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on those who plan to exercise their functions, with the following limitations:

(a) They may be exercised only within the geographical scope of their jurisdiction.

(b) They shall be exercised within the budgetary limits of the authorised appropriations and under the conditions which, in addition to those legally in force, may be established for each type of expenditure under the specific internal rules of the Department.

c) They shall be limited to expenditure and payments which are not subject to prior intervention in accordance with Article 95 of the recast text of the General Budget Law or, if submitted, the approval of the relevant file, following its audit of conformity.

d) In the case of assistance to nationals abroad and repatriation, they may be exercised only after strict compliance with the requirements laid down in the rules for each type of aid.

Fourth. -The delegation by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of the powers relating to the designation of the commissions of service set out in Article 4 of Royal Decree 236/1988 of 4 March, of 4 March, is approved. on compensation for the service, in the following departments of the Department:

1. In the Secretary-General for Foreign Policy and for the European Union, with regard to the staff assigned to the Secretariat of State for Foreign Policy and the European Union and the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union, in Brussels.

2. In the Deputy Director-General of the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Latin America, with respect to the staff assigned to the Secretariat of State.

3. In the Director General of the Foreign Service for all personnel of the Department.

4. In the Heads of Diplomatic, Permanent or Special Missions, Permanent Representations or Missions, Delegations, Consular Offices and public institutions and agencies of the General Administration of the State, which are established in the Article 36 of Law 6/1997 of 14 April of the Organization and the Functioning of the General Administration of the State, which are dependent on this Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on those who plan to carry out their duties in respect of the (a) the movement to be carried out by the staff assigned to them within the geographical scope of their competition, and always within the budgetary limits of the available appropriations.

Fifth. -The delegation of powers referred to in this Order is without prejudice to the fact that, at any time, the body delegating to itself the exercise of those powers.

Sixth. -In the acts or resolutions that are issued in the exercise of the delegations established in this Order, this circumstance shall be expressly stated, indicating the date and the number of the official bulletin of its publication, as dictated by the delegating authority.

7-The Order of 31 August 1989, which provides for the delegation of the Minister's powers in the field of personnel, economy and procurement, as amended by 1 March 1990, is hereby repealed.

Eighth. This Order shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the "Official State Gazette".

Madrid, 11 March 1998.

MATUTES JUAN