Spain oversees research ethics and scientific integrity through a two-layer structure: a national advisory body created in 2023, and, in at least one autonomous community, a dedicated regional committee that predates it and continues to operate alongside it. For research administrators working with Spanish institutions or partners, understanding which body does what — and which one is not a substitute for the other — matters for compliance mapping, especially on multinational or EU-funded projects that touch Spanish sites.
What is the Comité Español de Ética de la Investigación (CEEI)?
The Comité Español de Ética de la Investigación (Spanish Committee for Research Ethics, CEEI) is Spain’s national advisory body on research ethics and scientific integrity. Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities describes it as an independent, consultative body — it issues reports, proposals, and recommendations rather than adjudicating individual cases. It is attached to the Council for Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy (Consejo de Política Científica, Tecnológica y de Innovación, CPCTI), the body that coordinates science policy between the national government and Spain’s autonomous communities.
Legal basis and establishment
The CEEI’s functions rest on Spain’s Ley de la Ciencia, la Tecnología y la Innovación (Law 14/2011), as amended by Law 17/2022 of 5 September 2022, which reformed the national science, technology, and innovation system. The committee’s operating regulation was approved by Royal Decree 53/2023, of 31 January, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). The committee was formally constituted — its members appointed — on 27 April 2023, at the XV meeting of the CPCTI. The regulation was subsequently amended by Royal Decree 1045/2025 of 19 November, which added a new article (20 bis) enabling the committee to carry out preparatory actions intended to make its reports, proposals, and recommendations more effective and transparent.
Mandate and functions
Per its founding regulation, the CEEI’s remit spans two related but distinct areas that many national bodies treat separately:
- Research ethics — bioethics questions raised by scientific and technical research, including emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
- Scientific integrity and responsible research conduct — professional and integrity norms governing how research is proposed, performed, and reported.
Combining both mandates in a single national committee is a structural choice worth noting for anyone comparing Spain’s model to countries that split the two functions — for example, a dedicated bioethics committee separate from a research-integrity board. The Ministry’s own framing is that the CEEI exists to support “responsible science” system-wide, contributing instruments and guidance the Spanish science, technology, and innovation system can draw on, rather than functioning as a case-by-case disciplinary body.
Composition
The CEEI is composed of 12 members described as experts of recognized prestige, drawn from fields including bioethics, law, philosophy of science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and animal experimentation. Members are appointed for renewable terms, and the selection process is required to pursue gender balance across the committee. Members are expected to bring an established research trajectory or recognized professional standing in scientific integrity, responsible research, or research ethics specifically — the committee is not staffed by government officials acting in the role, but by outside subject-matter experts.
What the CEEI does not do
Because it is defined in its own regulation as a consultative body, the CEEI does not function the way some other countries’ national research-integrity offices do. It is not, on the available record, a body that receives and investigates individual misconduct allegations the way, for example, the US Office of Research Integrity handles cases involving PHS-funded research. Handling of individual research-misconduct allegations in Spain sits primarily with the institution where the alleged conduct occurred — universities and research centers maintain their own procedures, informed by national and EU-level integrity codes — with the CEEI operating one level up, at the level of national policy, guidance, and system-wide recommendations. Anyone mapping Spain’s compliance landscape for a specific case should not treat the CEEI as an intake point for misconduct complaints.
Catalonia’s CIR-Cat: a regional model operating alongside it
The Comitè per a la Integritat de la Recerca a Catalunya (Committee for Research Integrity in Catalonia, CIR-Cat) is a standing advisory body of the Catalan regional government (the Generalitat de Catalunya), attached to the department responsible for research and universities. Its stated purpose is to advise the agents that carry out and fund research in Catalonia — universities, research centers, and funding bodies — on promoting and consolidating good research practices, and on analyzing and helping prevent conflicts of research integrity. CIR-Cat has also published guidance documents on specific integrity topics, including recommendations on correct authorship attribution and institutional affiliation in scientific publications.
CIR-Cat is narrower in scope than the CEEI in two respects: it operates only within Catalonia rather than across Spain’s national science system, and its stated focus is research integrity and good practice specifically, rather than the broader ethics-plus-integrity mandate the CEEI holds nationally. It is not a bioethics body in the way the CEEI’s remit extends to bioethics questions in AI or biotechnology.
CEEI vs CIR-Cat: key differences
| Dimension | CEEI (national) | CIR-Cat (Catalonia) |
|---|---|---|
| Territorial scope | All of Spain | Catalonia only |
| Attached to | National Council for Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy (CPCTI) | Catalan department responsible for research and universities |
| Mandate breadth | Research ethics and scientific integrity | Research integrity and good practice specifically |
| Legal basis | Law 14/2011 as amended by Law 17/2022; regulation via Royal Decree 53/2023 | Established and regulated at the regional (Catalan government) level |
| Members | 12 outside experts, gender-balanced, renewable terms | Standing committee under Catalan government appointment |
| Function | Advisory: reports, proposals, recommendations to the national system | Advisory: guidance and prevention support to Catalan research and funding bodies |
| Case investigation | Not an intake body for individual misconduct allegations | Not an intake body for individual misconduct allegations |
Where this fits in Spain’s broader research-governance structure
Spain’s 17 autonomous communities hold substantial devolved authority over research and university policy, which is why a national ethics-and-integrity committee coexists with region-level structures rather than replacing them. The CEEI’s attachment to the CPCTI — the coordinating body between the national government and the autonomous communities — reflects that division: it sets national-level policy instruments and guidance, while day-to-day institutional oversight, and in Catalonia’s case a dedicated regional integrity committee, operate underneath it. This is structurally similar to the federal/regional split seen in other multi-level research systems — Belgium, for instance, has a Flemish regional research-integrity body (VCWI) operating within a broader national landscape. Research administrators working with institutions across more than one Spanish autonomous community should check whether that community maintains its own integrity or ethics structure in addition to the national CEEI framework, since CIR-Cat’s existence in Catalonia does not necessarily mean every autonomous community has an equivalent body — that varies by region and was not independently confirmed for every community as part of this guide.
Frequently asked questions
When was the CEEI created?
Its operating regulation was approved by Royal Decree 53/2023 on 31 January 2023, and the committee was formally constituted — its 12 members appointed — on 27 April 2023.
Is the CEEI the same as an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or research ethics committee that reviews individual studies?
No. The CEEI operates at the national policy and advisory level. Individual study review (informed consent, risk-benefit assessment for specific protocols) is handled by institutional or regional research ethics committees, not by the CEEI itself.
Does the CEEI replace regional bodies like CIR-Cat?
No. The CEEI operates at the national level and does not supersede regional structures. Catalonia’s CIR-Cat continues to operate as the region’s own integrity advisory body, attached to the Catalan government rather than the national CPCTI.
Who can serve on the CEEI?
The regulation calls for 12 outside experts of recognized standing in fields such as bioethics, law, philosophy of science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, or animal experimentation, appointed with an eye toward gender balance, rather than government officials serving in an ex officio capacity.
Does the CEEI investigate research misconduct allegations?
Not on the available record. It is defined as a consultative body issuing reports, proposals, and recommendations; individual misconduct allegations in Spain are handled primarily at the institutional level.
Related CASRAI resources
- Research Integrity & Compliance hub
- VCWI: Belgium’s Flemish Research Integrity Body
- OeAWI: Austria’s Agency for Research Integrity
- TENK: Finland’s National Board on Research Integrity
- Ireland’s National Research Integrity Forum
- Poland’s Committee on Ethics in Science
- Research Integrity Officer (RIO)
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- Research misconduct
This guide reflects the CEEI’s founding regulation (Royal Decree 53/2023, as amended by Royal Decree 1045/2025) and its April 2023 constitution, and publicly available information on CIR-Cat from the Generalitat de Catalunya. Specific figures such as case counts, budgets, or a complete roster of individual members were not independently verified for this guide and are omitted rather than estimated.
