The Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) has denounced this Saturday, November 14, that the Directorate General of the Civil Guard continues to require reports and medical tests from officers who are on sick leave, despite the fact that this obligation was removed from the regulations governing temporary incapacity of personnel of the Corps. The organization considers that an appointment model prior to the current legislation is being used, which may violate the right to protection of personal data, and has decided to refer the case to the data Protection delegate of the Civil Guard.
The controversy arises from a summons for a medical examination sent to an officer who is in a situation of temporary incapacity, in which he was ordered to attend with "the updated tests and medical reports of his condition". According to AUGC’s complaint, this requirement reproduces an obligation that was already called into question by the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) and that the Council of State required to be withdrawn during the processing of Royal Decree 67/2026, of February 4, which regulates the management of sick leaves for civil guards and has been in force since last February 26.
The association’s legal services have provided the affected officer with a written document addressed to the institution’s Data Protection officer in order to request that this practice be corrected. AUGC demands that any reference to the mandatory nature of providing clinical documentation be removed, that workers be expressly informed of its voluntary nature, and that all units stop using the forms prior to the new regulation. The association grants a period of two months to obtain a response and warns that, if its claim is not addressed, it will study the possibility of going directly to the AEPD.
The conflict occurs after months of clashes between professional representatives and the Directorate General over the application of the new temporary incapacity system. Although the February regulations were intended to unify follow-up and control procedures for sick leaves, AUGC argues that certain internal instructions have maintained obligations that were left out of the text finally approved.
A form prior to the law that continues to require medical documentation
The immediate origin of the complaint lies in a notice-taking model included in instructions from the Personnel Command of December 2024, when the current Royal Decree on temporary incapacity had not yet been approved. These instructions were replaced by others in April 2026, but, according to the documentation described by AUGC, the previous form continues to be used to summon sick agents for medical examinations.
The document not only requests that the worker attend with their reports and diagnostic tests, but it also contains a warning about the possible disciplinary consequences of unjustifiably refusing to undergo an examination or the corresponding medical tests. The association considers it particularly problematic that both instructions appear together, because they can lead the agent to interpret the submission of all their clinical documentation as an obligation whose breach could be sanctioned.
The organization reminds that the Guardia Civil maintains a hierarchical structure and a specific disciplinary regime, so official communications have particular importance for those who receive them. In its view, it is difficult to consider the submission of reports as voluntary when the document accompanying the summons presents it as a requirement and warns of consequences for failing to comply with other medical obligations.
The case is not limited to a dispute over the wording of the form. According to the account of the affected agent collected by AUGC, during the examination a specialist reproached him for not having provided a certain diagnostic test, even though he had delivered the medical report in which his results were assessed. The doctor would have warned him of the possibility of summoning him again to carry out another review and, after the consultation ended, would have denied him a copy of the report prepared during the examination.
These are facts reported by the association based on the experience of the affected person, and for the moment there is no record of an administrative decision that has determined the possible responsibilities arising from this episode. AUGC nonetheless considers that what happened shows that the requirement for documentation is not limited to the formal content of the summonses, but that it can also be carried over into practice during medical reviews.
The association also warns that the model used does not include references to Royal Decree 67/2026 nor information about the processing of personal data required by European regulations, a circumstance it considers especially relevant because information relating to diagnoses, illnesses, and clinical tests is being requested.
The Council of State already forced this requirement to be removed from the royal decree
The dispute originates in the drafting of the new regulations on temporary incapacity for the Guardia Civil. During its processing, the draft contemplated that the agents on sick leave would have to provide the medical documentation they had in their possession when they were asked to justify their situation.
AUGC opposed this provision by considering that it involved a disproportionate intrusion into workers’ health information. The controversy first reached the Spanish Data Protection Agency, which analyzed the draft in its report 002/2025, of 3 February 2025, and questioned the proportionality of the obligation.
In its assessment, the AEPD concluded that the proposed data processing "does not seem proportionate", taking into account that the medical services of the Guardia Civil already have mechanisms for carrying out examinations and checking the agents’ situation without the need to indiscriminately require all the clinical documentation they have.
The Administration later attempted to modify the wording of the regulation. In the project’s memorandum, it argued that "the character of strict obligation" had been removed from the delivery of reports, but the Council of State considered that the new wording still, in practice, imposed the duty to provide those documents.
In its Advisory Opinion 904/2025, of 13 November 2025, the consultative body required the obligation to be removed and issued an essential observation, which made it necessary to modify that aspect so that the provision could be approved in accordance with the Council of State.
Finally, the royal decree approved by the Government included a different formula. Its Article 19.2 establishes that the personnel of the Guardia Civil "may provide" the medical documentation they have in their possession and which is relevant for determining their incapacity situation, while Article 22.3 allows reports that the interested party considers appropriate to be submitted during examinations.
The difference proves to be fundamental: the regulations allow submitting reports to justify a sick leave, but they do not establish a general obligation to provide evidence and one’s personal medical history upon request by the Administration. This distinction constitutes the main legal argument of the claim filed by AUGC.