The General Council of the Judiciary is a constitutional collegiate, autonomous body, composed of judges and other jurists, who exercise government functions within the Judicial with a view to guarantee the independence of the judges during the exercise of the judicial function before everybody.

The Government function of the Council applies to issues such as appointments, promotions, and transfers; the inspection of the working of the Courts and Tribunals and disciplinary accountability of the members of the Judicial Career. This assignment of this type of powers to the Council allows avoiding that another power of the State, particularly the Executive, influence directly or indirectly the judicial independence.

It is important to point out that the performance of the General Council of the Judiciary does not have a jurisdictional character, since this type of activity is reserved, as it is stipulated in Article 117 of the Constitution, to Judges and Tribunals. The government task of the Council is comparable, to a large extent, to the administrative acts and -in the same way as these latter- its resolutions are subject to a legality control on the part of Judges and Tribunals of the contentious-administrative order.

The government function of the Judges and Courts is not an exclusive responsibility of the General Council of the Judiciary, since the Government Branches of the Supreme Court, the National High Court, and the High Courts of Justice also have powers in this matter, in spite of the fact that their resolutions may be revised by the Council in the last resort.

Th Council should watch zealously over the maintenance of judicial independence, and thus, if a Judge of Magistrate is disturbed or bothered during the exercise of the jurisdictional function, Article 14 of the Organic Act on the Judiciary enables the Council to put an end to this interference.

The defense of judicial independence does not end with the adoption of such measures, since the Council itself should be scrupulously respectful of such independence and, consequently, should refrain from making any type of indication, instruction, order or mandate addressed to the Judges and tribunals, regarding the way in which these have to interpret and implement the laws.

The management of the material and staff resources of the judicial system is incumbent on the Executive, mainly the Ministry of Justice or the Autonomous Communities which have assumed competence in such matter.

The Council elaborates, executes, and controls the compliance with the yearly budget through auditors. It reports on the liquidation of the budget to the Court of Auditors.

The General Council of the Judiciary has the obligation to submit to the Parliament the annual report on the state, functioning, and activities of the General Council of the Judiciary and of the Courts and Tribunals in Spain. Said report includes the needs which, as the case may be, exist in terms of staff, facilities, and resources for the appropriate performance of the functions conferred upon the Judiciary.

The Parliament may discuss the content of the report and claim, if need be, the appearance of the Chairman of the General Council of the Judiciary or of the member appointed by same. The Parliament Members may table motions and questions which should compulsorily answered by the Council.