In Spain there are about 140 Ethics Committees (ECs). There has to be a research ethics committee (CEIC) in every health centre that intends carrying out a clinical trial. Institutions responsible for the ECs provide the funding (i.e. regional governments and public hospitals) at different amounts.

The competent authority that authorises clinical research ethics committees (CEICs) is the regional (autonomous) government (there are 18 CEICs over the country). In some regions there is only one CEIC (i.e. Galicia, Navarra, Aragon), in other regions there are many CEICs, mainly located in hospital centres (i.e. Catalunya), and, finally, in other regions (i.e. Madrid, Andalucia) there are both, regional and hospital site CEICs. Accredited CEICs have to be notified to the Spanish Agency of Medicines and the Coordinating Centre of Ethical Committees.

The contact details of Spanish Ethics Committees may be found under the following Weblink:

Directorios de los CEIC's acreditados en España