It was a possible and foreseeable option that, finally, will be real: the Supreme Court, through its 3rd Chamber (contentious-administrative), will rule on the legality of the relationship between the citizen and the Public Administration , exclusively, through the electronic channel.
The order of the Chamber of May 25, 2022, known a few days ago, admits the appeal of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors against the ruling of the National Court of June 8, 2021, and will examine the conformity a Right of the Ministerial Order that in 2019 imposed on all citizens the obligation to submit the personal income tax return through electronic means.
As the Supreme Court itself points out, the legal issue underlying the appeal is related to the problem of the so-called “digital divide” and the repercussions that it has had, for example, in the banking sector, in which, Unfortunately, many citizens have seen their accessibility to basic services impaired.
The decision of the High Court can only be celebrated and will allow, at least, that there is a clear judicial pronouncement on what is the fit of the mandatory nature of the electronic relationship in the space of the provision of certain public services. The matter is not minor. Since 2015 and up to the present, with the coronavirus pandemic also acting as an accelerator, the legal-administrative regulation has been leaning in the direction of turning what is optional into imperative, that is, in placing the citizen before the obligation to interact with Administration electronically. And although this decision of the public powers can be considered rational and consistent with a society that is increasingly digitized and permeated by the “technological fact”, it is not so from the point of view of equal access in which, inexorably, we continue to locate many examples of people who, either because of their age or because of their economic situation, lack the skills or precise means to attend punctually and precisely to the requirements of the normative power. For the latter, the dream of the electronic relationship is a nightmare. Let’s not ignore it.
The importance of technology in life – we must not fail to remember it – is due to the instrumental role that «the technological» provides to «the human», be it personal or professional. Thus, the technique can never -nor should- subordinate the background or reason of the motivation it serves. Admitting the existence of a subordination of interests, there is no doubt that those of technology always obey those of the purpose for which it was designed.
It is in the task of the public authorities the duty to promote the electronic paradigm as fundamental in the “citizenship-administrations” dialogue binomial. However, before that, there is the fundamental obligation to do so while always preserving all the elementary rights that define us as
society; one of them, ontological and inexcusable: that of equality (article 14 of the Spanish Constitution).
Advances and progress are such because they are obtained for everyone, without exception. Rights are just that and not privileges because their recognition is general and unconditional. Societies are founded on the concept of citizen, and only one who has full rights is a citizen. For this reason, today, in a historical stage of overcoming the information society and consolidating the digital society, it is more important than ever that technology be an increasingly widespread reality, yes, but always inclusive. A reality that is attentive to the weakest, to those with fewer capacities or resources or, simply, to those who do not want to participate in something that they feel is too late. It is also legitimate.
Moving forward without leaving behind… That is what defines us as a (digital) society.
