JOHN CARLOS I,

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand,

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following Organic Law:

PREAMBLE

The Constitution conforms to the Spanish political regime as a parliamentary Monarchy and, therefore, as a representative democracy. The popular participation in the State Government and in the management of the public thing is basically directed, therefore, through the election of popular representatives in the governing bodies that reaches its maximum expression in the elections. legislative, in which the people appoint their representatives in the General Courts.

This is not an obstacle to the fact that, following the trend of the most modern democratic states, the Constitution proposes, as stated in Article 9 (2), to intensify the participation of citizens and groups in the public life. For this purpose, the fundamental rule articulates a number of forms of direct participation of citizens, such as participation in the administration of justice, public administration or the management of sustained teaching centres. with public funds.

In this same vein, the Constitution also provides for the direct participation of citizens in the normative production process, setting up the people, through the presentation of 500,000 signatures, as the subject of the initiative. legislation. This constitutional recognition of the popular legislative initiative allows, on the one hand, to implement the direct participation of the holder of the sovereignty in the task of elaboration of the norms that govern the life of the citizens, and it allows, another part, the opening of avenues to propose to the legislative power the approval of norms whose need is widely felt by the electorate, but which, however, do not find an echo in the political formations with parliamentary representation.

The constitutional regulation of the popular legislative initiative also includes the limitations of this institute, derived from the historical teachings, which demonstrate the ease with which the use of the It can serve as an easy channel for demagogic manipulations or, even, to try to legitimize with a supposed popular consensus, which is not in substance but the antidemocratic imposition of the will of a minority. Hence, the Constitution, in addition to excluding particularly sensitive normative fields from the popular initiative, entrusts the legislature with the task of regulating, by means of Organic Law, the concrete form of exercise of the popular initiative. It was therefore necessary to respond to the constitutional mandate and proceed with the elaboration of the Organic Law of the Popular Legislative Initiative.

The Organic Law tries to collect with the utmost fidelity and simplicity the constitutional mandate, regulating the exercise of the initiative in such a way that, while respecting the institutional role of the political parties as The Commission is also responsible for the development of the European Community's activities in the area of the European Community, in particular in the context of the European Union. Thus, it is excluded from the popular legislative initiative not only the subjects that are expressly provided by article 87.3 of the Constitution, but also those whose regulatory initiative reserves the fundamental norm to organs State concretes.

The implementation of the procedure requires, in order to avoid any vagueness, dispersions or internal contradictions, the presentation of an articulated text with a substantive unity, a text that must be presented by a Promoter Commission. It is established, in order to avoid unnecessary expenditure and efforts, an examination of the admissibility of the text, which is carried out by the Bureau of the Congress, against whose decision the Commission may decide to make an appeal before the Court Constitutional. In this way, it is ensured, and before any effort or effort is made, the full certainty that the text enjoys the necessary technical cleanliness and the precise adaptation to the Constitution. Hence the parameters of the admissibility judgment are, in addition to the already mentioned substantive unity, the articulated text and the logical adaptation of the subject matter of the initiative to the constitutional requirements, the non-existence of a The first, because it would render the initiative useless; the second, because, in addition to the same futility, it would be the juxtaposition of the initiative to the mandate conferred on the executive by the popular representatives.

Once the Proposition has been accepted, the procedure for collecting the 500,000 signatures constitutionally required is initiated, for which a maximum period of six months is established, since it is evident that the The process is open for an indefinite period. The guarantee of the regularity of the procedure of collection of the signatures is entrusted to the Central Electoral Board, assisted by the Provincial Boards. This is due to the relative similarity between the electoral process and the collection of signatures and computation of the same, as well as the infrastructure, which covers the entire Spanish territory, which the Electoral Boards have. The inscription of the signatory in the Electoral Census, which must be shown accompanying certification, is also due to the same reasons given in the electoral process, as are, for example, crediting the ability of the signatory and to avoid a possible multiplicity of signatures for the same citizen. The signatories, for their part, are assured of the knowledge of the text that they support by means of the obligation to incorporate the signatures of signatures, which are sealed and numbered by the Central Electoral Board. Finally, the authentication mechanism of the firms is made considerably easier by allowing the Promoter Commission to add, to those who usually give the public faith, special fedarios that can, with total freedom of movement, dedicate themselves to the exclusively to the authentication work.

The required signatures are collected, the parliamentary procedure is initiated. In this respect, it should be noted that the decay of the current parliamentary work which is the result of the dissolution of the Chambers may not, for obvious reasons, affect the popular initiative already in parliamentary proceedings, although it is possible restart is if the Chambers so agree.

Finally, a state compensation is established for the costs incurred, provided that the number of signatures required for the initiative to prosper is reached. This is intended to prevent the exercise of a form of participation in public life recognised in the Constitution.

Article first. Purpose of this Organic Law.

Older Spanish citizens who are registered in the Electoral Census can exercise the legislative initiative provided for in Article 87.3 of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of this Organic Law.

Article 2. Subjects excluded from the popular legislative initiative.

The following subjects are excluded from the popular legislative initiative:

1. Those that, according to the Constitution, are themselves of Organic Laws.

2. Those of a tax nature.

3. Those of an international character.

4. Those concerning the prerogative of grace.

5. Those referred to in Articles 131 and 134.1 of the Constitution.

Article 3. Popular initiative requirements.

1. The popular initiative is exercised by the presentation of proposals of law signed by the signatures of at least 500,000 voters authenticated in the form that determines this Law.

2. The submission shall contain:

a) The articulated text of the Proposition of Law preceded by an explanatory statement.

(b) A document detailing the reasons that advise, in the judgment of the signatories, the processing and approval by the Chambers of the Proposition of Law.

c) The relationship of the members of the Promoter Commission of the initiative, with the expression of the personal data of all of them.

Article 4. Procedure initiation.

The procedure will be initiated by the presentation to the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies, through the General Secretariat, of the documentation required in the previous article. If the initiative is presented outside the parliamentary session, the time limits shall begin to be computed in the period following the submission of such documentation.

Article 5. Admission procedure for the initiative.

1. The Bureau of the Members ' Congress shall examine the documentation submitted and shall take a decision within 15 days of its admissibility.

2. They are causes of inadmission of the proposition:

(a) Having for object one of the subjects excluded from the popular initiative by Article 2. °

(b) The requirements of Article 3 have not been fulfilled. However, if it is a subsable defect, the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies shall communicate it to the Promoter Commission to proceed, if appropriate, to the (

) a period of time.

c) The fact that the text of the proposition is seen on different subjects lacking homogeneity among themselves.

d) The previous existence in Congress or the Senate of a bill or proposal of law to be seen on the same subject of the popular initiative and that, when it is presented, in the process of amendments or other more advanced.

e) The fact that it is a reproduction of another popular initiative of equal or substantially equivalent content presented during the current legislature.

f) The previous existence of a non-law proposal approved by a House to be seen on the subject matter of the popular initiative.

3. The resolution of the Bureau of the House shall be notified to the Promoter Commission, and shall be published in accordance with the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the Congress of Deputies.

Article 6. Amparo before the Constitutional Court.

1. Against the decision of the Congress of Congress not to admit the proposal of Law, the Promoter Commission will be able to file before the Constitutional Court of appeal, that it will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Title III of the Organic Law 2/1979 of 3 October of the Constitutional Court.

2. If the Court decides that the proposal does not incur any of the causes of inadmissibility provided for in Article 5 (2), the procedure shall continue.

3. If the Court decides that the irregularity affects certain provisions of the proposal, the Bureau of the Congress shall inform the promoters, in order to make them manifest if they wish to withdraw the initiative or to keep it once they have carried out the corresponding modifications.

Item seventh. Initiation of the signature collection procedure and deadline for the procedure.

1. The proposal will be accepted by the Congress Bureau, which will inform the Central Electoral Board, which will guarantee the regularity of the procedure for collecting signatures.

2. The Central Electoral Board shall notify the Promoter Commission of the acceptance of the proposal, in order to ensure that the required signatures are collected.

3. The procedure for collecting signatures must be completed with the delivery to the Provincial Electoral Boards of the signatures collected, within six months of the notification referred to in the previous paragraph. This time limit may be extended for three months when the Congress Bureau has appreciated the most important cause. Exhausted the deadline without being delivered from the collected signatures, will expire on the initiative.

Article 8. Signatures for the collection of signatures.

1. Received the notification of admission of the proposal, the Promoter Commission will present before the Central Electoral Board, in the role of trade, the necessary documents for the collection of signatures. These specifications will reproduce the full text of the proposal.

2. If the text of the proposal exceeds the three sides of each statement, it shall be accompanied by separate documents, which shall be joined to the purpose of collecting the signatures, so that they cannot be separated, sealed and numbered, in accordance with the provided in the following section.

3. Upon receipt of the documents by the Central Electoral Board, it shall, within forty-eight hours, seal, number and return to the Promoter Commission.

Article ninth. Authentication of signatures.

1. The name, number of the national identity document and the municipality in which the electoral lists are registered shall be indicated together with the signature of the voter.

2. The signature must be authenticated by a Notary, by a Judicial Secretary or by the Municipal Secretary corresponding to the municipality in whose electoral census the signatory is registered.

The authentication must indicate the date and may be collective, specification of specifications. In this case, the number of signatures contained in the specification must be entered together with the date.

Article 10. Special Fedatarios.

1. Without prejudice to the above, the signatures may also be authenticated by special fedarios appointed by the Promoter Commission.

2. The Spanish citizens who, in full possession of their civil and political rights and lacking criminal records, can be sworn in or prometan before the Provincial Electoral Boards may acquire the status of special fedarios. authenticity of the signatures of the signatories of the proposed Law.

3. Special fedarios shall, in the event of falsehood, incur the criminal liability provided for in the Act.

Item 11th. Referral of the documents to the Provincial Electoral Boards and auxiliary paper of the same.

1. The documents containing the signatures collected, each of which will be accompanied by a certificate stating the registration of the signatories in the electoral census as old, will be sent to the Provincial Electoral Board for their initial check and count. The Provincial Electoral Board, within 15 days, shall forward them to the Central Electoral Board.

2. The Central Electoral Board may request from the Provincial Boards the necessary assistance for the accreditation of the signatures.

3. The Promotional Commission may collect at any time from the Provincial Electoral Boards the information it considers relevant to the number of signatures collected.

Article twelfth. Signing, checking, and counting signatures.

1. Once the documents have been submitted to the Central Electoral Board, the Central Electoral Board shall proceed to its final verification and counting.

2. Firms that do not meet the requirements of this Law will be declared invalid and will not be counted.

3. Verified that the requirements required for the valid presentation of the proposal, the Central EIectoral Board will raise to the Congress of the Deputies accreditative certification of the number of valid signatures and will proceed to destroy the Signatures of signatures in their possession.

Article 13th. Parliamentary proceedings.

1. Having received the notification that the number of signatures required has been met, the Bureau shall order the publication of the proposal which shall be placed on the agenda of the plenary session for consideration.

2. The debate shall be initiated by means of the reading of the document referred to in Article 3 (2) (b) of this Organic Law.

Article 14. No expiry of the proposals in case of dissolution of the Chambers.

The popular legislative initiative that was being handled in one of the Chambers, when it dissolves, will not decline, but it will be able to be rolled back to the procedure decided by the Chamber's Bureau, without any need to present new certification certifying that the minimum number of signatures required has been met.

Item 15th. State compensation for expenses incurred.

1. The State will compensate the Commission for the costs incurred in the dissemination of the proposal and the collection of signatures when it reaches its parliamentary procedure.

2. Expenditure shall be duly justified by the Promoter Commission. The state compensation will in no case exceed 30 million pesetas. This amount will be reviewed periodically by the General Courts.

ADDITIONAL DISPOSITION

The Government is authorised to issue relevant provisions for the development and enforcement of this Organic Law.

REPEAL PROVISION

As many rules are repealed, they are opposed to the provisions of this Organic Law.

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this Organic Law.

Palacio de la Zarzuela, Madrid, 26 March 1984.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

FELIPE GONZÁLEZ MARQUEZ