The General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies (DGPCE) of Spain is the governing body of the Ministry of the Interior "Ministry of the Interior (Spain)"), attached to the Undersecretariat, responsible for promoting, planning and coordinating the different actors that participate in the field of Civil Protection, both national and international.

The first measures regarding civil protection in Spain were taken in 1941 when the National Headquarters of Passive and Territorial Defense was created for the protection of the population and the country's resources and wealth. This Headquarters depended directly on the Presidency of the Government and was headed by a general officer of the Army "Ejército de Tierra (Spain)").[2]​.

However, the true origin of this governing body is found almost two decades later, in May 1960. This year it was reformed, the Headquarters was abolished and a General Directorate of Civil Protection was created with the main objective of creating a body with the same name that was used internationally. Its functions, presidential dependency and military character remained intact. With this reform, delegations began to be created in each province, chaired by civil governors. The local delegations chaired by the mayors "Alcalde (Spain)") depended on these in turn.[3]​.

In 1967, the general directorate was relegated to the general subdirectorate and integrated into the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, which since 1943 had some services destined for these functions. In this way, the civil protection functions were assigned to the scope of the Ministry of the Interior "Ministry of the Interior (Spain)").[4]​ The 1968 decree structured and granted powers to the subdirectorate, based on those already existing of the general directorate. In addition, it developed and regulated the various services, maintained the service in its entirety, guaranteed the dissemination of the media, reinforced cooperation with the Civil Guard and respected the municipal character "Municipality (Spain)") and provincial "Province (Spain)") traditionally recognized for the fight against emergencies.[5] Since 1976 the general subdirectorate became dependent on the General Directorate of Internal Policy.[6]​.

Already in 1980, under the mandate of the minister "Minister of the Interior (Spain)") Juan José Rosón, the civil protection system was strengthened with the creation of a collegiate body to coordinate the action of the rest of the departments "Ministry (Spain)"), administrations and organizations, both public and private. This body was the National Civil Protection Commission. Likewise, the General Directorate of Civil Protection was recovered, structured through a general secretariat and information, operational coordination and mobilization services. The civil governors assumed the provincial coordination and direction of civil protection.[7]​ On September 14, 1981, the civil protection badge was created.[8]​.