In this section, we will review the concept of notification from a legal point of view, and we will see what are the specific characteristics of notification when it is practiced by electronic means, that is, when we make an electronic notification. We will also see what is the regulatory framework that regulates electronic notification, and we will analyze what are the benefits and potential savings for administrations, citizens and companies by using the electronic medium.
1. The notification in the administrative procedure
The general regulation of notifications is contained in articles 40 to 46 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on common administrative procedure of public administrations.
This contains: the concept of notification, the conditions of validity and content, the relationship between effectiveness and notification, cases in which it is mandatory to practice it by electronic means, the deadline for completing it, its minimum content and the effects of defective notifications.
It establishes that the resolutions and administrative acts that affect their rights and interests must be notified to the interested parties, and they must be carried out within 10 days from the date on which the act is issued (article 40.2 of the same law).
All notifications must contain at least:
- The full text of the resolution.
- Ground of appeal: with an indication of whether or not it is final in the administrative process, the expression of the appeals that are appropriate, the body before which the possible appeals must be presented and the deadline for interposing the appeals (without to the detriment of the interested parties being able to exercise, if applicable, any other they deem appropriate).
The elements for the validity of the notification are listed in the following section.
2. Characteristics of electronic notification
We can define electronic notification as the practice of notification by electronic means, with the same legal effects as traditional paper notification.
Its specific characteristics are:
| Preference electronic media | All notifications that are made on paper must be made available to the interested parties at the organization's electronic headquarters, so that they can access them voluntarily (article 42.3 Law 39/2015). |
| Mandatory | Article 14.2 Law 39/2015 lists the subjects obliged to relate electronically with the Public Administrations. In the same sense, it provides that, by regulation, they may compel other groups to communicate using only electronic means (due to their economic or technical capacity or other accredited reasons, they have guaranteed access and availability of the necessary technological means). |
| consent | It is required that the non-obligated interested party indicates this means as preferred or has consented to its use. |
| Reliable accreditation | The notification system must allow proof of sending or making available, receipt or access by the interested party (or their representative), of the dates and times, of the complete content and of the reliable identity of the sender and the recipient .
Accreditation of the notification, which will include all these elements, will form part of the administrative file. |
| Sending notices | It will be necessary to send a notice to the interested party informing him that he has a notification available at his electronic headquarters. This will be an SMS or email, as long as this data is recorded.
-Practice of the notification: The notification is understood to be implemented for all legal purposes at the time when access to its content occurs. |
| Rejection of notification | Having evidence of the provision of the notification, if 10 calendar days pass without its content being accessed, it must be understood that it has been rejected, unless ex officio or at the request of the recipient the technical or material impossibility to access it. The effects of considering that the notification has been rejected are in accordance with what is established in article 41.5 Law 39/2015, which will be recorded in the file (specifying the circumstances of the notification attempt) , the procedure will be considered completed and the procedure can continue. |
3. Normative framework for electronic notification
From a legal point of view, electronic notification – as well as its characteristics – are regulated in the following regulatory framework:
- Law 39/2015, of October 1, on common administrative procedure of public administrations
- Articles 41 and 43 → Regulation of the general conditions for the practice of notifications and the practice of notifications by electronic means
- Article 42.1 → Making available at the electronic headquarters all the notifications made on paper
- Law 26/2010, of August 3, on the legal and procedural regime of Public Administrations in Catalonia
- Articles 43, 56 and 57 → Regulation of electronic communications, the practice of notification and the necessary technical requirements
- Law 29/2010, of August 3, on the use of electronic media in the public sector of Catalonia
- Article 13 → Right of citizens and companies to a personalized space where they can access communications and notifications sent by the administration
- Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts
- Article 151 → Regulation of the resolution and notification of awards
- Additional Provision 15a. → Regulation of the means of communication usable in the procedures regulated by the Law
- Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of 30 October, approving the revised text of the Law on traffic, movement of motor vehicles and road safety
- Article 60 → Domicile and Electronic Road Address (DEV) of the holders of an administrative authorization
- Article 90 → Practice of the notification of the complaint
- Royal Decree 203/2021, of March 30, approving the Regulations for the performance and operation of the public sector by electronic means
- Article 41 – Specifies the core of procedural information that must be sent in administrative communications to interested parties by electronic means.
- Article 42 – Aspects of the practice of notifications through electronic means are detailed.
- Article 43 – Completes the regulation of the notice of provision of the notification enabling the creation of electronic contact databases.
- Articles 44 and 45 - Material and operational aspects are specified in relation to the practice of notification through the DEHU and the notification-and its-e or its associated e-sue, both in relation to the procedure and the effects and validity of the same
4. Benefits and savings with electronic notification
Electronic notification offers us the possibility of gaining in efficiency and effectiveness compared to traditional paper notification.
The efficiency problems of paper notification, which makes the deadlines for practicing notification longer than would be desirable, are the following:
- The interested party is not always at home
- When the interested party is not at home, you must retry the notification again at a different time, during the 3 days following the first attempt
- If the notification cannot be made, it must be published in the corresponding notice board and Official Gazette
Regarding the problems of the effectiveness of paper notification, in many cases it is not possible to make the interested party aware of the notified act, because despite the fact that the publication on the edict board or Official Gazette serves the administrative procedure to consider notification as practiced, the reality is that many interested parties will not be aware of the existence of the notification and therefore the content of the notification will not be known to the interested parties.
In this section we will see how electronic notification allows us to improve efficiency - saving time and money - and gain in greater effectiveness of notification.
4.1. Improved efficiency and effectiveness
Electronic notification allows public administrations to gain in efficiency and effectiveness when it comes to making notifications, since they get a greater number of interested parties to learn about the content of the notification and at the same time save time and money in the process, as we explain below.
Time saving
Substantial reduction in the resolution time of administrative procedures
- Immediacy in the notification, and also in its acceptance or rejection, due to the fact that the interested party can access its content from anywhere and at any time
- Temporal limitation to a maximum of 10 days for the acceptance or rejection of a notification. It is no longer necessary to make retries or subsequent publications in official bulletins in case of not being able to practice the notification
Direct and indirect cost savings
- Approximate savings of between 3 and 6 euros per notification
- The costs of office supplies (paper, printer, ink, etc.) are eliminated.
- Fees associated with certified mail are eliminated
- It saves the time of the people in the organization
- When the e-NOTUM service is used to make electronic notifications, the Catalan public administrations save themselves the cost of maintaining the system, given that the AOC Consortium takes care of this expense
Greater reporting efficiency
The administration manages to practice notification in a greater number of cases compared to traditional paper notification
- The interested party receives informal notices by e-mail and SMS informing him that he has an electronic notification
- Easy access to the content of the notification, due to the fact that the interested party can access it from anywhere and at any time
4.2. Savings for citizens and businesses
Although electronic notification represents an opportunity for public administrations to save time and money by increasing their efficiency and effectiveness in the practice of notifications, as we have seen in the previous point, it should also be borne in mind that the use of the electronic channel to access the notifications means a series of benefits for citizens and companies, which are as follows:
Reduction of the time in which the citizen and/or the company learns about the content of the notification
This is because when the administration generates the electronic notification, the citizen learns about it through an e-mail and/or SMS warning, which allows him to access the notification almost immediately after it has been generated This is particularly interesting in the case of traffic fines, as bonuses of up to 50% are usually established if paid within a relatively short period of time from the moment of notification.
Saving time and money in travel
In paper notification, it is common not to find the recipient of the notification at his usual address and the postman often leaves a piece of paper in his letterbox for him to pick up the notification at the Post Office in a certain time slot. This involves a waste of time on the part of the citizen, who must find time inside or outside working hours to be able to collect it, and it can also involve an economic cost if the trip to the Post Office has to by car or public transport. With the electronic notification, on the other hand, the citizen can access its content from anywhere and at any time from the moment the notification is generated, without the need to travel.