NOTIFICATION

This is a document used to inform the interested party of a ruling, decision or any other administrative action. A notification is a special type of official letter.

Format: DIN A4 (210 x 297 mm).

GENERAL DRAFTING CRITERIA 
A notification, like other administrative documents, follows a generally constant structure and complies essentially with the requirements of functionality and formality characterising official communications. The most noteworthy features to be taken into account in composing such documents are:

• Express the ideas clearly, precisely and concisely.
• Catalan and Spanish tend to use the first person singular indicative (I) in such communications: I hereby notify you, etc.
• However, in certain cases, the first person plural (we) may be appropriate, as it conveys the idea that you are writing on behalf of the institution, or your unit within it, as a whole: we hereby inform you, etc.
• In English usage, the passive voice, which gives the communication a more impersonal tone, is also common: you are hereby notified, etc.
• Verb tenses. If the notification bears the same date as that on which the decision it is communicating was issued, it is customary to use the present perfect: has decided. If the notification bears a later date, the simple past is preferred: decided.

USEFUL PHRASES
Notification formulas:
- You are hereby notified... / I hereby notify you...

Formulas for indicating the relevant routes of appeal against the decision in question:
•  You may lodge a(n) ... appeal against this decision.
•  You may lodge a(n) ... appeal with ... within one month from the notification date ...
•  This does not affect your rights to challenge the decision in any other way you deem fit.
• You may also file any other appeal you consider appropriate.

1. Identification of the document
The details identifying the document must be written in the upper right-hand margin. They are as follows:
- Ref. ("reference"): the document's classification code for the issuing body.

2. Addressee
The addressee's details, in full or short form, are written in the upper left-hand margin.

Full details:
- Name and surname(s)
- Street, number, floor and door
- Post code and town/city 
- Comarca, if appropriate 

Short form:
- Name and surname(s)
- Town/city

3. Notification formula
This must include the body that issued the ruling or decision and the date on which the decision was made.

4. Text of the ruling or decision, on a separate enclosed sheet 
This must include the full text of the ruling. For reasons of clarity and economy, the most common procedure for reproducing the full text of the ruling is to make a photocopy of it and enclose it with the notification. Another way is to transcribe the ruling literally and in full, in inverted commas, within the body of the notification.

5. Relevant appeals
This section must state whether or not the decision or ruling is final, the appeals the interested party can file against it, the body with which such appeals must be lodged and the deadline for doing so.

6. Signature
This section must include the following items in the following order.

- The post held by the person signing the letter
- Signature 
- Name and surname(s)

7. Date
This must include:
- The place where the letter is written. 
- Date: the day (in figures), the month (in letters) and the year (in figures and in full).

NOTIFICATION