Article 149
1. The State holds exclusive jurisdiction over the following matters:
i) regulation of the basic conditions guaranteeing the equality of all Spaniards in the exercise of their rights and in the fulfilment of their constitutional duties;
ii) nationality, immigration, emigration, status of aliens, and right of asylum;
iii) international relations;
iv) defence and the Armed Forces;
v) Administration of justice;
vi) commercial, criminal and penitentiary legislation; procedural legislation, without prejudice to the necessary Special applications in these fields derived from the peculiar features of the substantive law of the Autonomous Communities;
vii) fabour legislation without prejudice to its execution by the agencies of the Autonomous Communities;
viii) civil legislation, without prejudice to the preservation, modification and development by the Autonomous Communities of their civil rights, "fueros" or special rights, whenever these exist; in any event the enactments relative to the application and effectiveness of legal provisions, legal-civil relations arising from the forms of marriage, the keeping of records and drawing up of public instruments, bases of contractual obligations, rules for resolving conflicts of law and determination of the sources of law in conformity, in this last case, with the rules of the "fueros" or with those of special laws.
ix) legislation on intellectual and industrial property;
x) customs and tariff regulations; foreign trade;
xi) monetary system: foreign currency, exchange and convertibility; bases for the regulations concerning credit, banking and insurance;
xii) legislation on weights and measures, determination of the official time;
xiii) bases and co-ordination of general planning of economic activity;
xiv) General Finances and the State Debt;
xv) promotion and general co-ordination of scientific and technical research;
xvi) external health measures; bases and general co-ordination of health matters; legislation on pharmaceutical products;
xvii) basic legislation and financial system of the Social Security, without prejudice to the implementation of its services by the Antonomous Communities;
xviii) the bases of the legal system of Public Administrations and the statutes of their public officials which shall, in any case, guarantee that all persons under said administration will receive equal treatment; the common administrative procedure, without prejudice to the special features of the Autonomous Communities' own organizations; legislation on compulsory expropriation; basic legislation on contracts and administrative concessions and the system of liability of all Public Administrations;
xix) sea fishing, without prejudice to the powers which, in the regulations governing this sector, shall be conferred on the Autonomous Communities;
xx) the Merchant Navy and the registering of ships; lighting of coasts and signals at sea; general purpose ports; general-purpose airports; control of the air space, air traffic and transport; meteorological services and registration of aircraft;
xxi) railways and land transport passing through the territory of more than one Autonomous Community; general system of communications; motor vehicle traffic; Post Office services and telecommunications; air and underwater cables and radiocommunications;
xxii) legislation, regulation and concession of hydraulic resources and development when the waters flow through more than one Autonomous Community, and authorization for hydro-electrical installations when their development affects another Community or when energy transport leaves its territorial area;
xxiii) basic legislation on environmental protection, without prejudice to the powers of the Autonomous Communities to establish additional protective measures; basic legislation on woodlands, forestry, and cattle trails;
xxiv) public works of general benefit or whose execution affects more than one Autonomous Community;
xxv) bases of the organization of mining and energy;
xxvi) system of production, sale, possession and use of arms and explosives;
xxvii) basic rules relating to the organization of the press, radio and television and, in general, all the means of social communication, without prejudice to the powers vested in the Autonomous Communities relative to their development and implementation;
xxviii) protection of Spain's cultural and artistic heritage and national monuments against exportation and despoliation; museums, libraries and archives belonging to the State, without prejudice to their management by the Autonomous Communities;
xxix) public safety, without prejudice to the possibility of the creation of police forces by the Autonomous Communities, in the manner to be laid down in their respective Statutes and within the framework to be established by an organic law;
xxx) regulation of the conditions relative to the obtaining, issuing and standardization of academic degrees and professional qualifications and basic rules for the development of Article 27 of the Constitution, in order to guarantee the fulfillment of the obligations of the public authorities in this matter;
xxxi) statistics for State purposes;
xxxii) authorization for popular consultations through the holding of referendums.
2. Without prejudice to the jurisdiction which may be assumed by the Autonomous Communities, the State shall consider the promotion of culture a duty and an essential function and shall facilitate i cultural communication between the Autonomous Communities, in collaboration with them.
3. Matters not expressly assigned to the State by virtue of the present Constitution may fall under the jurisdiction of the Autonomous Communities by virtue of their respective Statutes. Matters for which jurisdiction has not been assumed by the Statutes of Autonomy shall fall within the jurisdiction of the State, whose laws shall prevail, in case of conflict, over those of the Autonomous Communities regarding all matters over which exclusive jurisdiction has not been conferred upon the latter. State law shall, in all cases, be supplementary to that of the Autonomous Communities.
