Promote transparency

The fulfillment of the advertising objective is materialized through two closely related contents: the advertising of the calls and the advertising of the concessions. Of obvious practical use is the publication, in a single repository, of all the calls offered at all times by all public administrations, so that they are accessible to all potential recipients who aspire to see them, simplifying the search for information.

On the other hand, the publicity of concessions is an important reinforcement of transparency in subsidy management. The information related to the state subsidies granted, indicating the call, the program and budgetary credit to which they are attributed, beneficiary, amount granted and objective or purpose of the subsidy with expression of the different subsidized programs or projects is accessible since December 2014 in the National Subsidy Advertising System.

Since January 1, 2016, subsidies and public aid granted by the remaining public administrations (autonomous communities and local entities) have also been published in the National Subsidy Advertising System.

Serve as an instrument for public policy planning

The National Subsidies Database represents an important advance in the coordination model between the different public administrations for the establishment of public policies that have as their objective the promotion of an activity of public utility or social interest or the promotion of a public purpose, by facilitating the design of strategic subsidy plans that maintain the necessary coherence to guarantee the maximum effectiveness of the public action that is developed through subsidies.

Improve public management

The functionalities offered by the BDNS have a positive impact on various aspects of the management of subsidy acts: the control of the accumulation of aid, of aid subject to the minimis rule, of refunds, of natural or legal persons disqualified from obtaining subsidies, of fictitious applicants, etc.

Collaborate in the fight against subsidy fraud

The National Subsidy Database is an essential instrument for controlling the accumulation and concurrence of subsidies, collaborating decisively in the fight against subsidy fraud. Likewise, in order to collaborate in the fight against tax fraud, data of a subsidy nature are transferred to the State Tax Administration Agency.

The BDNS is a federated and mandatory information system. It is federated because each body that participates in it makes the information on its subsidies and public aid available to the rest of the participants - bodies managing subsidies and public aid, and in exchange, accesses all the information from all the other bodies.

This shared experience of information is critical to achieving the objectives imposed by the LGS.

On the other hand, its use is not voluntary. It is not voluntary to register the information on calls, concessions and other data in it, since all public administration bodies that manage public aid are obliged. It is not enough to publish a call on a notice board, in a newspaper, or on a website. It must be in BDNS, as well as concessions and other subsequent acts.

But in addition, consultation is mandatory in the administrative processes of aid management, since the grantor must examine, by legal imperative, the suitability or eligibility of the aid applicant before he or she can access the status of beneficiary.

The BDNS contains information on subsidies and also on the following public aid:

a) Monetary deliveries without consideration contemplated in article 3 of Law 38/2003, General Subsidies.

b) Aid in kind contemplated in the fifth additional provision of Law 38/2003, General Subsidies.

c) Guarantees and other guarantees, loans, risk financing contributions, repayable advances and other financial measures that represent an economic advantage in favor of their beneficiaries, except when they are directed to the public administrations contemplated in article 3.1 of Law 38/2003, General of Subsidies.

d) Tax benefits and benefits in Social Security contributions that are considered state aid because they imply an economic advantage of a selective nature, provided that they exceed the minimum thresholds required by European standards.

e) Subsidies and other aid to political parties.

f) Any other non-fiscal aid that is considered, for the purposes of European Union Law, as state aid in accordance with the provisions of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the regulations that develop it.

They are obliged to provide information to the National Subsidies Database on subsidies and public aid granted by the bodies of:

• - The General Administration of the State.

• - The entities that make up the local administration "Local Administration (Spain)").

• - The administrations of the autonomous communities.

• - Public bodies and other public law entities with their own legal personality linked to or dependent on any of the public administrations to the extent that the subsidies they grant are a consequence of the exercise of administrative powers.

• - Consortia, associations or other public entities created by various Public Administrations and organizations or entities dependent on them to the extent that the subsidies they grant are a consequence of the exercise of administrative powers.

• - Public sector foundations.

Contenido

La Ley General de Subvenciones, en su artículo 18, establece un sistema especial para la publicación de las convocatorias de subvenciones, que parte del principio de que todas ellas han de publicarse a través del Sistema Nacional de Publicidad de Subvenciones. No obstante, a efectos de conservar el papel de los diarios oficiales como soporte de su eficacia administrativa, la Ley prevé en su artículo 20.8 que la BDNS remita un extracto/anuncio al diario oficial correspondiente para su publicación.

Para garantizar el derecho de los ciudadanos a conocer todas las subvenciones convocadas en cada momento y para contribuir a los principios de publicidad y transparencia, la Ley General de Subvenciones establece que la convocatoria de una subvención sin seguir el procedimiento de publicidad de la convocatoria indicado, será causa de anulabilidad de la convocatoria.

National Advertising System for Public Subsidies and Aid

The General Subsidies Law, by virtue of the reform carried out by Law 15/2014, of September 16, on the rationalization of the Public Sector and other administrative reform measures, establishes that the National Subsidies Database will operate as the National Subsidies and Public Aid Advertising System.

The SNPSAP Portal shows all the calls approved by the General Administration of the State, administrations of the autonomous communities and entities of the Local Administration, as well as linked or dependent organizations and entities, as well as consortia, associations and public foundations.

Likewise, the Portal shows all the concessions registered in the BDNS by the granting bodies from all Spanish public administrations, except for the exceptions provided for in the regulations on the protection of personal data.

All information is offered on the Portal under the open data paradigm. Precisely this contribution to the culture of open data has been the reason why the General Intervention of the State Administration has received, on December 12, 2024, the ASEDIE 2024 Award.

Las principales entidades de información recogidas en la BDNS son las siguientes:.

Organs

The Resolution of December 7, 2015 of the General Intervention of the State Administration,[5]​ which regulates the registration and accreditation process of Bodies and Users in the National Subsidies Database, establishes in its article:

Currently (2024), almost 6,500 public organizations from all Spanish public administrations federate their contents in BDNS, thus contributing to a powerful instrument for meeting the objectives set by the LGS and article 7.1 of the aforementioned Royal Decree 130/2019:.

Calls

According to the LGS, the call is the first administrative act of granting subsidies and aid. A call is an abstraction necessary for the functioning of the BDNS. The “call” for the purposes of the BDNS must be clearly differentiated from the legal instrument through which it is materialized. Therefore, although in most cases it will materialize in an administrative act, in other cases it may be embedded within regulatory bases or another general provision. "Then "call" is simply the call for the presentation of candidatures for a specific subsidy. The publicity of this call is carried out through the SNPS by legal imperative, and may optionally be carried out by other means if the convening body so decides.

In the BDNS, every subsidy or aid must have its call, even if legally it does not exist.

That is why in the BDNS the calls are classified, from least to greatest complexity of data, into the following categories:

1. • instrumental calls. An instrumental call is a technically (and legally) non-existent, fictitious call. We are referring to those situations contemplated in article 22.2 of the LGS, of direct concession subsidies, nominative subsidies, etc., in which the call is not perceptible. The BDNS needs to generate an instrumental call, even if it does not exist in reality, to link a granting body with a concession, and collect data attributes that are associated with this information entity.

2. • canonical calls. A canonical call is a call that follows the special advertising schemes established in the LGS, its concessions are awarded in competitive competition and its extract is compulsorily published in the Official Gazette of reference, thus following the specific advertising scheme established in article 20 of the LGS.

Concessions

A concession is a formal act of the competent body to resolve the allocation of subsidies or public aid to beneficiaries. In budget management, the concession entails the commitment of the expenditure"). In the BDNS, each granting body registers a different concession when the content of any of the attributes that form the identification of the concession (granting body, identification of the call, beneficiary, discriminator and aid instrument) is different.

The concessions may be affected by various European Regulations. Thus there may be concessions characterized as:

1. • State aid is concessions associated with measures classified as such in accordance with the provisions of article 107 et seq. of the Founding Treaties of the European Union. For these State Aids, a prior notification and authorization procedure is generally established before the European Commission. However, Regulations EU 651/2014,[6]​ EU 702/2014[7]​ and EU 1388/2014[8]​ establish exceptions to the general principle of prior authorization. In any case, whether it requires prior notification or is exempt from that duty, it must be registered in the BDNS, and by order of the Commission they will require the completion of specific information.

2. • De minimis aid. Grants of small amounts of aid, with limited accumulation per beneficiary in each three-year period. They are currently regulated in Regulations EU 1408/2013,[9]​ EU 717/2014,[10]​ EU 2023/2831[11]​ and EU 2023/2832.[12]​.

Payments

One or more cash provisions made by the granting body in favor of the beneficiary of a grant or public aid grant.

Returns

A “refund” occurs when a beneficiary of a subsidy returns, voluntarily without any action by the administration (convener, manager or controller), all or part of the amount of a previously collected concession. They are regulated in article 90 of Royal Decree 887/2006 and include interest that accrues until the moment of payment.

Refunds

Cash refunds made by a beneficiary with a prior request from the Administration, due to any of the cases assessed in article 37 of the LGS. These refunds are accompanied by late payment interest "Default (Duty)") that accrues until the date of the refund resolution, as indicated in article 38 of the LGS.

Violations and Sanctions

Infringements and administrative sanctions in matters regulated by the General Law of Subsidies.

Disqualifications

Disqualifications from receiving subsidies and aid, either by a final judicial ruling or by administrative sanction under laws other than the General Subsidies Law (e.g. Public Sector Contracts Law[13]​).

All this is summarized graphically and in a very simplified way:.

• - National Advertising System for Public Subsidies and Aid.

• - General Law of Subsidies.

• - Regulations of the General Law of Subsidies.

• - Transparency Law, access to information and good governance.

• - Law 15/2014 on rationalization of the Public Sector and other administrative reform measures.

• - Article about the BDNS Archived September 23, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Article about the SNPS Archived January 18, 2017 at the Wayback Machine.

Promote transparency

The fulfillment of the advertising objective is materialized through two closely related contents: the advertising of the calls and the advertising of the concessions. Of obvious practical use is the publication, in a single repository, of all the calls offered at all times by all public administrations, so that they are accessible to all potential recipients who aspire to see them, simplifying the search for information.

On the other hand, the publicity of concessions is an important reinforcement of transparency in subsidy management. The information related to the state subsidies granted, indicating the call, the program and budgetary credit to which they are attributed, beneficiary, amount granted and objective or purpose of the subsidy with expression of the different subsidized programs or projects is accessible since December 2014 in the National Subsidy Advertising System.

Since January 1, 2016, subsidies and public aid granted by the remaining public administrations (autonomous communities and local entities) have also been published in the National Subsidy Advertising System.

Serve as an instrument for public policy planning

The National Subsidies Database represents an important advance in the coordination model between the different public administrations for the establishment of public policies that have as their objective the promotion of an activity of public utility or social interest or the promotion of a public purpose, by facilitating the design of strategic subsidy plans that maintain the necessary coherence to guarantee the maximum effectiveness of the public action that is developed through subsidies.

Improve public management

The functionalities offered by the BDNS have a positive impact on various aspects of the management of subsidy acts: the control of the accumulation of aid, of aid subject to the minimis rule, of refunds, of natural or legal persons disqualified from obtaining subsidies, of fictitious applicants, etc.

Collaborate in the fight against subsidy fraud

The National Subsidy Database is an essential instrument for controlling the accumulation and concurrence of subsidies, collaborating decisively in the fight against subsidy fraud. Likewise, in order to collaborate in the fight against tax fraud, data of a subsidy nature are transferred to the State Tax Administration Agency.

The BDNS is a federated and mandatory information system. It is federated because each body that participates in it makes the information on its subsidies and public aid available to the rest of the participants - bodies managing subsidies and public aid, and in exchange, accesses all the information from all the other bodies.

This shared experience of information is critical to achieving the objectives imposed by the LGS.

On the other hand, its use is not voluntary. It is not voluntary to register the information on calls, concessions and other data in it, since all public administration bodies that manage public aid are obliged. It is not enough to publish a call on a notice board, in a newspaper, or on a website. It must be in BDNS, as well as concessions and other subsequent acts.

But in addition, consultation is mandatory in the administrative processes of aid management, since the grantor must examine, by legal imperative, the suitability or eligibility of the aid applicant before he or she can access the status of beneficiary.

The BDNS contains information on subsidies and also on the following public aid:

a) Monetary deliveries without consideration contemplated in article 3 of Law 38/2003, General Subsidies.

b) Aid in kind contemplated in the fifth additional provision of Law 38/2003, General Subsidies.

c) Guarantees and other guarantees, loans, risk financing contributions, repayable advances and other financial measures that represent an economic advantage in favor of their beneficiaries, except when they are directed to the public administrations contemplated in article 3.1 of Law 38/2003, General of Subsidies.

d) Tax benefits and benefits in Social Security contributions that are considered state aid because they imply an economic advantage of a selective nature, provided that they exceed the minimum thresholds required by European standards.

e) Subsidies and other aid to political parties.

f) Any other non-fiscal aid that is considered, for the purposes of European Union Law, as state aid in accordance with the provisions of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the regulations that develop it.

They are obliged to provide information to the National Subsidies Database on subsidies and public aid granted by the bodies of:

• - The General Administration of the State.

• - The entities that make up the local administration "Local Administration (Spain)").

• - The administrations of the autonomous communities.

• - Public bodies and other public law entities with their own legal personality linked to or dependent on any of the public administrations to the extent that the subsidies they grant are a consequence of the exercise of administrative powers.

• - Consortia, associations or other public entities created by various Public Administrations and organizations or entities dependent on them to the extent that the subsidies they grant are a consequence of the exercise of administrative powers.

• - Public sector foundations.

Contenido

La Ley General de Subvenciones, en su artículo 18, establece un sistema especial para la publicación de las convocatorias de subvenciones, que parte del principio de que todas ellas han de publicarse a través del Sistema Nacional de Publicidad de Subvenciones. No obstante, a efectos de conservar el papel de los diarios oficiales como soporte de su eficacia administrativa, la Ley prevé en su artículo 20.8 que la BDNS remita un extracto/anuncio al diario oficial correspondiente para su publicación.

Para garantizar el derecho de los ciudadanos a conocer todas las subvenciones convocadas en cada momento y para contribuir a los principios de publicidad y transparencia, la Ley General de Subvenciones establece que la convocatoria de una subvención sin seguir el procedimiento de publicidad de la convocatoria indicado, será causa de anulabilidad de la convocatoria.

National Advertising System for Public Subsidies and Aid

The General Subsidies Law, by virtue of the reform carried out by Law 15/2014, of September 16, on the rationalization of the Public Sector and other administrative reform measures, establishes that the National Subsidies Database will operate as the National Subsidies and Public Aid Advertising System.

The SNPSAP Portal shows all the calls approved by the General Administration of the State, administrations of the autonomous communities and entities of the Local Administration, as well as linked or dependent organizations and entities, as well as consortia, associations and public foundations.

Likewise, the Portal shows all the concessions registered in the BDNS by the granting bodies from all Spanish public administrations, except for the exceptions provided for in the regulations on the protection of personal data.

All information is offered on the Portal under the open data paradigm. Precisely this contribution to the culture of open data has been the reason why the General Intervention of the State Administration has received, on December 12, 2024, the ASEDIE 2024 Award.

Las principales entidades de información recogidas en la BDNS son las siguientes:.

Organs

The Resolution of December 7, 2015 of the General Intervention of the State Administration,[5]​ which regulates the registration and accreditation process of Bodies and Users in the National Subsidies Database, establishes in its article:

Currently (2024), almost 6,500 public organizations from all Spanish public administrations federate their contents in BDNS, thus contributing to a powerful instrument for meeting the objectives set by the LGS and article 7.1 of the aforementioned Royal Decree 130/2019:.

Calls

According to the LGS, the call is the first administrative act of granting subsidies and aid. A call is an abstraction necessary for the functioning of the BDNS. The “call” for the purposes of the BDNS must be clearly differentiated from the legal instrument through which it is materialized. Therefore, although in most cases it will materialize in an administrative act, in other cases it may be embedded within regulatory bases or another general provision. "Then "call" is simply the call for the presentation of candidatures for a specific subsidy. The publicity of this call is carried out through the SNPS by legal imperative, and may optionally be carried out by other means if the convening body so decides.

In the BDNS, every subsidy or aid must have its call, even if legally it does not exist.

That is why in the BDNS the calls are classified, from least to greatest complexity of data, into the following categories:

1. • instrumental calls. An instrumental call is a technically (and legally) non-existent, fictitious call. We are referring to those situations contemplated in article 22.2 of the LGS, of direct concession subsidies, nominative subsidies, etc., in which the call is not perceptible. The BDNS needs to generate an instrumental call, even if it does not exist in reality, to link a granting body with a concession, and collect data attributes that are associated with this information entity.

2. • canonical calls. A canonical call is a call that follows the special advertising schemes established in the LGS, its concessions are awarded in competitive competition and its extract is compulsorily published in the Official Gazette of reference, thus following the specific advertising scheme established in article 20 of the LGS.

Concessions

A concession is a formal act of the competent body to resolve the allocation of subsidies or public aid to beneficiaries. In budget management, the concession entails the commitment of the expenditure"). In the BDNS, each granting body registers a different concession when the content of any of the attributes that form the identification of the concession (granting body, identification of the call, beneficiary, discriminator and aid instrument) is different.

The concessions may be affected by various European Regulations. Thus there may be concessions characterized as:

1. • State aid is concessions associated with measures classified as such in accordance with the provisions of article 107 et seq. of the Founding Treaties of the European Union. For these State Aids, a prior notification and authorization procedure is generally established before the European Commission. However, Regulations EU 651/2014,[6]​ EU 702/2014[7]​ and EU 1388/2014[8]​ establish exceptions to the general principle of prior authorization. In any case, whether it requires prior notification or is exempt from that duty, it must be registered in the BDNS, and by order of the Commission they will require the completion of specific information.

2. • De minimis aid. Grants of small amounts of aid, with limited accumulation per beneficiary in each three-year period. They are currently regulated in Regulations EU 1408/2013,[9]​ EU 717/2014,[10]​ EU 2023/2831[11]​ and EU 2023/2832.[12]​.

Payments

One or more cash provisions made by the granting body in favor of the beneficiary of a grant or public aid grant.

Returns

A “refund” occurs when a beneficiary of a subsidy returns, voluntarily without any action by the administration (convener, manager or controller), all or part of the amount of a previously collected concession. They are regulated in article 90 of Royal Decree 887/2006 and include interest that accrues until the moment of payment.

Refunds

Cash refunds made by a beneficiary with a prior request from the Administration, due to any of the cases assessed in article 37 of the LGS. These refunds are accompanied by late payment interest "Default (Duty)") that accrues until the date of the refund resolution, as indicated in article 38 of the LGS.

Violations and Sanctions

Infringements and administrative sanctions in matters regulated by the General Law of Subsidies.

Disqualifications

Disqualifications from receiving subsidies and aid, either by a final judicial ruling or by administrative sanction under laws other than the General Subsidies Law (e.g. Public Sector Contracts Law[13]​).

All this is summarized graphically and in a very simplified way:.

• - National Advertising System for Public Subsidies and Aid.

• - General Law of Subsidies.

• - Regulations of the General Law of Subsidies.

• - Transparency Law, access to information and good governance.

• - Law 15/2014 on rationalization of the Public Sector and other administrative reform measures.

• - Article about the BDNS Archived September 23, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.

• - Article about the SNPS Archived January 18, 2017 at the Wayback Machine.