The Royal Decree 1173/1993, of July 13, of restructuring of ministerial departments, creates the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment, assigning to it the functions that until now have been carried out by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 576/1991 of 21 April, establishing its basic structure, and expressly incorporating in its name the competition in the environment.

The basic organic structure of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport resulted from the merger of the Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism and the Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Communications. The experience gained since then advises to introduce some modifications in this structure which, in turn, highlight the special importance that environmental policies must have in the configuration of the territory, the habitat and the protection of the public domain.

On the other hand, the process of drawing up the Infrastructure Director Plan, one of the main objectives for which the General Secretariat of Planning and Territorial Concertation was created, has revealed the the need for territorial policy to integrate the planning of hydraulic infrastructures, which today constitute one of the most important instruments for the structuring and management of the State's territory. For this reason, the Directorate General of Hydraulic Works is integrated into the General Secretariat of Territorial Planning and Concertation.

This General Secretariat is thus set up as the integrated planning body for the territory through the hydraulic and transport infrastructure, in all its modes, and the impetus of the consultation with the Territorial administrations, especially in large urban concentrations, to develop integrated urban planning and transport actions, such as those of Bilbao Ria 2000, the Green Belt of Oviedo or the Airport City of Madrid. This General Secretariat will promote, under the Minister's top management, the elaboration of the Plan Director of Infrastructures and the National Hydrological Plan. It will also collaborate with the General Secretariat for Land Transport Infrastructure and its dependent management centres in the preparation of the sectoral plans developed by the Director Plan.

The integration of the hydraulic infrastructure in the General Secretariat of Planning and Territorial Concertation allows the territorial policy to be addressed through all its components and investment policies, coordinating the investments necessary to ensure the supply of a basic natural resource for the various uses of the territory with the transport infrastructure necessary for its development.

As a consequence of this new organizational structure, all investments in infrastructure are subject, within a homogeneous organic structure, to the assessment of their environmental impact made by the Ministry responsible for environmental policy and human habitat.

Moreover, the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment has attributed a set of policy lines that are characterized, in general terms, as areas of responsibility in which the The Commission has also been responsible for the implementation of the general rules of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Communities on the implementation of the Treaty on European Union. international coordination and representation.

On many occasions, these lines of political action have a major impact on economic activity and social welfare, as is the case for urban land policies or housing. In others, it is up to the General Administration of the State to respond to compliance with Community environmental policy directives or to develop powers of surveillance and protection of the public domain, both in the hydraulic and in the land-land, which demand coordinated and concerted actions with Autonomous Communities and Local Corporations. In view of this common denominator, and in order to promote the necessary inter-administrative cooperation, these policies have been grouped together in a Secretariat of State for Environment and Housing, which is entrusted with the powers of the State in these areas. The development of these areas, whose development requires collaboration among all relevant administrations, as the only way to achieve effective results in such complex and far-reaching aspects of our society.

The relationship between environmental policy and housing, understood to be in the broad sense of "human habitat", must be guided by environmental considerations related to the standards of building, wastewater treatment, selective collection of urban waste, energy consumption in domestic heating and integration in the city of natural spaces. Therefore, housing policy cannot be just a policy of financing access to housing in property or rental, but a basic element of a comprehensive policy of urban ecology, in which the quality of the building is enhanced and respect for the environment in the context of urban development.

The Hydrographic Confederations of the Intra-Community basins are configured in this new scheme as organs of great political importance in which they coincide, in their respective territorial frameworks, the management and protection of the Water management, water management as a natural resource subject to environmental and economic imperatives, hydrological planning and the execution and management of hydraulic infrastructures. For this reason, they become organically framed in the Ministry's Secretariat, maintaining a double functional dependency of the General Directorate of Water Quality and the Directorate General of Water Works, for the purpose of their respective competences.

The rest of the Ministry's structure remains unchanged, although the Directorate-General of the National Geographic Institute, by reason of the horizontal nature of its functions, is to be integrated into the Secretariat of the Department, And the Directorate General for Territorial Policy and Urbanism becomes functionally dependent on the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing in terms of its functions in the area of urban regulations.

In its virtue, at the initiative of the Minister of Public Works, Transport and the Environment, at the proposal of the Minister for Public Administrations and after deliberation of the Council of Ministers at its meeting of 24 September of 1993,

D I S P O N G O:

Article 1. Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing.

1. The Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing is hereby established, and the Secretariat of State for Water and Environment Policy has been abolished.

2. It is up to the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing, under the top leadership of the Minister, to develop the following functions:

a) The design of a national environmental strategy in the perspective of sustainable development and the rational use of natural resources, as well as the coordination of environmental policy actions of the Administration General of the State.

b) The elaboration of the basic regulations on the environment, the coasts and the waste, as well as their application in the field of the General Administration of the State.

(c) The analysis and proposal of the objectives to which the Community Cohesion Funds should be applied in the field of the environment.

d) Coordination and concerted action with the Autonomous Communities in the field of environmental policy and water treatment and purification, as well as the relationship between Spain and the EEC in these areas.

e) The performance of studies assessing the environmental impact of infrastructures, equipment and facilities, competence of the General Administration of the State, and making corresponding declarations.

f) The protection, management and administration of public domain and water-based public domain goods.

g) The proposal of the state policy and regulations on urban land, housing, architecture and its consultation with the Autonomous Communities.

(h) The integration of environmental and human habitat policies in the urban area, especially as regards standards of building, air and noise pollution, collection and disposal of solid waste, urban waste water treatment, ecological architecture, integration of coastal and hydraulic public domains in urban development and soil policy plans.

3. The structure of the current Secretariat of State for Water Policies and the Environment is maintained without further modifications than those resulting from the provisions of the following paragraph of this article and in the following articles of this Royal Decree.

4. The Directorate-General for Housing and Architecture, retaining its current structure and functions, is integrated into the Secretariat of State for the Environment and Housing.

Article 2. Subsecretariat of Public Works, Transport and the Environment.

1. The Directorate-General of the National Geographic Institute and the Autonomous Body of the National Center for Geographic Information, of the dependent, are dependent on the Subsecretariat of Public Works, Transport and Environment, maintaining the functions they were assigned.

Corresponds to the Assistant Secretary for the Presidency of the Geographic Superior Council.

2. They are attached to the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and the Environment, through the Secretariat, the Hydrographic Confederations, without prejudice to their functional dependence of the Directorates General of Water and Water Quality. Water, in relation to the performance of its own functions in the competition matters of each of those.

Article 3. General Secretary for Planning and Territorial Concertation.

1. The General Directorate of Hydraulic Works, the Machinery Park and the Commonwealth of the Taibilla Channels are integrated into the General Secretariat of Territorial Planning and Concertation, maintaining its current structure and functions.

2. The Directorate-General for Territorial Policy and Urbanism, in terms of its functions in the field of urban regulations, becomes functionally dependent on the Secretary of State for the Environment and Housing.

Single additional disposition. Presidency of the Inter-ministerial Commission on the coordination of the transport of dangerous goods.

It is for the Secretary-General for Transport Services to chair the inter-ministerial committee for the coordination of the transport of dangerous goods.

Single repeal provision. Regulatory repeal.

As many rules of equal or lower rank are repealed, they oppose the provisions of this Royal Decree.

Final disposition first. Powers of development.

The Minister of Public Works, Transport and the Environment is authorized to dictate, after compliance with the procedures that are mandatory, how many provisions are necessary for the development and implementation of the provisions of the Royal Decree.

Final disposition second. Budgetary adjustments.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance will make the necessary budgetary modifications and credit ratings necessary for the fulfillment of the provisions of this Royal Decree.

Final disposition third. Entry into force.

This Royal Decree will enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the State.

Given in Madrid on September 24, 1993.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The Minister for Public Administrations, JERÓNIMO SAAVEDRA ACEVEDO