350 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies N. 6 / 2015 In relation to this, the area for developing socially responsible initiatives in the field of transparency could be considered even broader within the Armed Forces due to them being excluded from the scope of the Transparency Act which covers activities subject to administrative law carried out by The Household of HM The King, the Parliament, the Senate, the Constitutional Court and the General Council of the Judiciary, the Bank of Spain, the State Council, the Public Defender, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Council and the corresponding autonomous institutions, which are all bound entities. In fact, the Armed Forces are excluded from legislation on public and transparent information, although of course there is nothing stopping them from developing the principle of active promotion along the same lines as the institutions mentioned above, within the limits of national security and defence. From a constitutional perspective, neither does article 105 EC regulating access to archives and registers within the limits of State security and defence impose upon the Spanish Armed Forces a duty of accessibility to public information, covering, as it does, only administrations. Nonetheless, the conversion of military archives into public services means that they can be considered similar to administrative archives, meaning military documentation is available to citizens. “With the adoption of the Military Archives Regulation in 1998 (RD 2598/1998 from the 4 December), the new situation of Armed Forces archives has been normalised and these archives are now included in the Defence Archival System”. Furthermore, the restrictive interpretation of the reasons for refusal of public information of a general character and the criteria of public interest could guide a type of proactive transparency from the side of the Armed Forces considering their commitment to Public Social Responsibility. And so, the Army has publicly called for “transparency” as well as “merit, that should lead and does lead the activities of the Armed Forces”, seeing as the only limitation to transparency are in issues “that are directly related to national defence, the conduct of military operations or the privacy of military personnel and their families”, highlighting the “complete willingness” of the Armed Forces to “maintain a true, timely and transparent information flow”. As a consequence then, accessibility to public information and openness towards citizens promote citizen participation, and for this reason the Armed Forces CSR Reports refer to public control through telephone contacts and new technologies. 3.5. Other socially responsible activities Overseas operations and humanitarian and peace-keeping missions involve a commitment to the values of solidarity and protection of human rights, offering assistance following earthquakes, floods and numerous other international activities that contribute to upholding a reputation for excellence. http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
Revista del IEEE 6
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