Sils definitively approves the ordinance of honors and distinctions and establishes the local protocol

The Sils City Council has definitively approved the Ordinance of Honors and Distinctions, the full text of which is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Girona no. 215, dated November 9, 2026 (BOP-2026_0_215_9429, pp. 1-7). The text becomes definitive after no claims were filed during the public exhibition period. The regulation governs the title of Illustrious Son, the Town Medal, the Lapel Shield, and honorary appointments, and establishes the protocol and majorities required to grant them.

The agreement stems from the initial approval published in BOP no. 158, dated August 18, 2026 (BOP-2026_0_158_7285), which opened a thirty-day public information period starting the day after publication, with municipal file X2026002428 as a reference. The publication is made in compliance with Article 178 of the Recast Text of the Municipal and Local Regime Law of Catalonia, approved by Legislative Decree 2/2003, of April 28, and Article 65 of the Regulation of Works, Activities, and Services of Local Entities, approved by Decree 179/1995, of June 13. The ordinance consists of forty articles divided into ten chapters, one transitional provision, and one final provision, and enters into force upon the full publication of the text in the provincial gazette.

An exclusively honorary regime without economic rights

The text defines its objective as the regulation of distinctions and honorary appointments that reward the special merits, qualities, and singular circumstances of the awardees. Article 2 establishes that all distinctions are exclusively honorary in nature and, therefore, do not grant any administrative or economic rights.

The wording also provides that individuals or entities who already enjoy honors granted under the previous regulation shall maintain them indefinitely, through a specific transitional provision.

Three awards with their own degrees and requirements

• Illustrious Son/Daughter: it is the highest award that the town can grant, it is lifelong, and no new ones may be awarded as long as three people who hold it are still living; it allows the holder to accompany the Corporation in all public acts in a place of preference and entails the delivery of the title with the name and date of the agreement and the Golden Lapel Shield, and the Plenary may dedicate a public road, an urban complex, or a municipal facility to the honored person.
• Medal of the Town of Sils: it is a municipal decoration in its highest degree and serves to thank the merit achieved through work in favor of the population, whether by enhancing its cultural or social wealth or by an entity or collective.
• Lapel Shield of the Town of Sils: it is the Official Heraldic Shield of the City Council and can be Gold or Silver; mayors and councilors receive the silver upon taking office and the gold upon completing eight years in office without any other prior procedure, and it can also be granted to illustrious visitors and people who have collaborated with the City Council on a non-profit basis.

Procedure, majorities, and deadlines in the Plenary

The file is always initiated with a decree from the Mayor’s Office, by own initiative, at the reasoned request of local entities of recognized prestige, or by requirement of the members of the Corporation: a majority of the members in the case of the Illustrious Son/Daughter and one third for the Medal and the Shield. In the same decree, the instructor who must process the proceedings is appointed.

• Maximum deadline of one month for the proceedings in the files of Illustrious Son/Daughter and Lapel Shield.
• Prior report from the corresponding Information Commission and transfer to the mayor, who submits the file to the Plenary.
• Favorable vote of two-thirds of the legal number of members for the Illustrious Son/Daughter, absolute majority for the Medal, and simple majority for the Shield.
• Delivery in the Plenary Hall in the case of the Illustrious Son/Daughter, in the Assembly Hall for the Medal, and in the Town Hall Room for the Shield, with the attendance of the members of the Corporation and the authorities deemed appropriate.

Recognition to the Local Police, revocation, and registry

Chapter VIII incorporates the recognitions for members of the Local Police of Sils, with gold, silver, and bronze medals, in addition to the honorary mention of police merit for other bodies, citizens, or entities that have distinguished themselves through their collaboration. The granting is the responsibility of the Committee of Distinctions and Decorations, composed of the mayor as president—a position delegable to the Councilor for Governance—and the head of the Local Police and the corporal as members; the delivery takes place in a public act coinciding with the body’s feast day. Individual and collective public congratulations are also provided for, as well as seniority distinctions in three categories—35, 25, and 15 years of service—and the distinction for service upon reaching retirement, with registration handled by the Prefecture of the Body.

Articles 35 to 39 regulate invalidity and revocation: ex officio review for nullity by operation of law, declaration of harmfulness, and revocation due to new or discovered circumstances related to the conduct or activity of the honored person, as well as for distinctions granted before the Constitution in a context of absence of democracy. The declaration of nullity is the responsibility of the Plenary and, in the latter case, requires an absolute majority of the legal number of members. Article 40 mandates the maintenance of a Register of honors and distinctions book containing the personal data of the recipients, the date of delivery, the merits, and, if applicable, the date of death.

With this text, Sils has for the first time a complete and verifiable framework for local public recognition: any resident can consult which awards exist, who grants them, with what majorities and for what merits, and how they can be withdrawn. The ordinance is appealable via contentious-administrative proceedings before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia within a period of two months from the day following its publication in the bulletin.

Source: Official Bulletin of the Province of Girona, no. 215, November 9, 2026, Local Administration - City Councils, pp. 1-7 (official reference: BOP-2026_0_215_9429).