The consultation deals with the possibility of internal promotion from Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A1. In particular, it is pointed out that in a local entity resources have been proposed by some officials belonging to Subgroup C1, who intend, based on the third transitional provision of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October (hereinafter, TRLEBEP), to access directly by internal promotion to Subgroup A1 without passing through Subgroup A2.

The local entity understands that the internal promotion from Subgroup C1 only belongs to Subgroup A2 but not to A1 and therefore requests the interpretation of the third paragraph of the Third Transitional Provision of TRLEBEP.

In this regard, it should be noted that Article 3.1 of the TRLEBEP provides that “the civil servants of the local authorities are governed by the applicable State legislation, of which this Statute forms part, and by the legislation of the autonomous communities, with respect to local autonomy”.

According to Article 16.3 (c) of this same rule, the term “internal promotion” means:the promotion from a body or scale of a Subgroup, or Professional Classification Group in the event that it does not have a Subgroup, to a higher one, in accordance with the provisions of Article 18”.

For its part, the third paragraph of the third transitional provision states that, “officials of Subgroup C1 meeting the required qualification may promote Group A without having to pass through the new Group B, in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of this Statute”.

This provision must be interpreted, in any case, in accordance with the general rules provided for in Article 3 of the Civil Code, according to which, “The rules shall be interpreted according to the meaning of their words, in relation to the context, the historical and legislative background, and the social reality of the time in which they are to be applied, paying particular attention to the spirit and purpose of the rules.”.

In accordance with the above, following the express reference made by the third transitional provision, it is necessary to refer to Article 18, which sets out the bases of the right to internal promotion applicable to all Public Administrations, guaranteeing, among others, the constitutional principles of equality, merit and capacity. In particular, the second paragraph of that article states the following:

“Officials shall have the requisites for admission, have a period of at least two years of active service in the lower Subgroup, or Professional Classification Group, in the event that it does not have a Subgroup and pass the corresponding selective tests.”

As a general rule, in the light of the above, the vertical promotion is carried out from the immediately lower Subgroup, except in the case of the current Group B which does not have a Subgroup, to the immediately higher Subgroup.

However, this general rule allows an exception provided for, precisely, in the third transitional provision, which allows access by internal promotion from Subgroup C1 to Group A, without the need to pass through the new Group B and in accordance with the provisions of Article 18. The express reference to the latter precept implies interpreting this exceptionality as closely as possible to the rule governing internal promotion, that is, as the possibility of promoting from Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A2 exclusively.

By virtue of the foregoing, it is therefore considered that it is not possible to access Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A1 by internal promotion, but that Subgroup C1 could promote “the immediately higher Subgroup”, i.e. Subgroup A2.

All of the above is without prejudice to remember that, according to the regime of competences of this management center, the answers to queries issued by this general directorate are merely informative and, consequently, do not have the character of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor do they imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. In addition, since they are not mandatory or binding, the bodies to which such replies are addressed may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The answers to queries contained in this bulletin deal with the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that these answers may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial resolutions.