European Union
In the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, each department (called a directorate-general) is headed by a non-political director-general. This is roughly equivalent to a British permanent secretary.
A director general or director-general (plural: directors general, directors-general, director generals or director-generals [1] [2] [3] ) or general sector|third sector]] or not-for-profit institution. The term is commonly used in many countries worldwide, but with various meanings.
In most Australian states, the director-general is the most senior civil servant in any government department, reporting only to the democratically elected minister representing that department. In Victoria and the Australian government, the equivalent position is the secretary of the department.
The Australian Defence Force Cadets has three directors-general which are all one-star ranks:
In Canada, the title director general is used in the federal civil service, known as the Public Service of Canada. A director general in the federal government is typically not the most senior civil servant in a department. Directors general typically report to a more senior civil servant, such as an assistant deputy minister or associate deputy minister. The title "director general" is not usually used within the civil services of the ten provincial governments, nor the three territorial governments; instead, these civil services usually use the title "executive director", or "director". Deputy ministers are the highest level bureaucrat within the Canadian civil service at the federal, provincial and territorial levels. Deputy ministers are not politicians but non-partisan civil servants. Outside the federal, provincial and territorial civil services, some public sector agencies such as school boards in Quebec use the title "director general".
In the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, each department (called a directorate-general) is headed by a non-political director-general. This is roughly equivalent to a British permanent secretary.
In France, the similar word président-directeur général (PDG) means the highest person in a company, who is at the same time chairman (président) of the board of directors and CEO (directeur général). From 2001 the two charges may be disjointed. The directeur général délégué has a role similar to that of a chief operating officer.
French ministries are divided into general directorates (directions générales), sometimes named central directorates (directions centrales) or simply directorates (directions), headed respectively by a directeur général, a directeur central, or a directeur.
Prior to the coup d'état of 1974 which overthrew the government of Emperor Haile Selassie, the chief civil servant of a government ministry or independent state agency was known by the title of director-general. In contemporary Ethiopia, the head official of independent agencies such as the Information Network Security Agency or the Ethiopian Investment Corporation is titled director-general, as are second-tier divisions within ministries, below [permanent] secretariats. [5]
In Germany, Generaldirektor may be used for the CEO of a large and established concern, corporation, company or enterprise, particularly if subordinates have the title director. The title is, however, unofficial (theoretically any person, and even practically every entrepreneur with one employee, may call himself director-general) and by now largely out of use. Officially a GmbH has a Geschäftsführer ('managing director'), an Aktiengesellschaft, and a board of executive directors (Vorstand) with a chairman (Vorstandsvorsitzender).
The term is also used by German Institute Taipei, Germany's informal representative mission to the Republic of China (Taiwan), to refer to its head of mission, [6] as well as the suggested translation for senior executive positions (Abteilungsleiterin or Abteilungsleiter) in German ministries. [7]
Several positions in the Hong Kong government bear titled director-general, including the directors-general of investment promotion, of trade and industry, of civil aviation, and of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London.
In India, director general may refer to the Director General of the Border Security Force or to the Director General of Police, who is the highest ranking official in the Central Armed Police Forces, the National Disaster Response Force, [8] and the Indian Coast Guard. [9] In addition, the head of many government agencies are also referred to as directors general, like the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, [10] the Director General of the Central Statistics Office, [11] the Director General of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), [12] the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, [13] etc. [14]
In Italy, the direttore generale of a company is a corporate officer who reports to the CEO (amministratore delegato) and has duties similar to a chief operating officer.
Some Italian ministries are divided into departments (dipartimenti), which are in turn divided into general directorates (direzioni generali) headed by a direttore generale. Other ministries, which do not have departments, are directly divided into general directorates. In Italian provinces and greatest communes, direttore generale is a chief administrative officer nominated by the president of province or by the mayor. The title of direttore generale is also given to the chief executive of an azienda sanitaria, a local public agency for health services.
The word director-general was used in the Philippines as a highest ranking law enforcer, which means the head of a law enforcement agency. Such agencies are:
It is also used in various government agencies as the agency's chief of office:
A general director is the highest executive position in a Russian company, analogous to a US chief executive officer (CEO), or a UK managing director. The position exists for all Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) legal forms (e.g. joint stock companies (AO) and limited-liability companies (OOO)), except for sole proprietorships (IP). [15]
The general director is the "single-person executive body" of a company, acts without power of attorney to represent the company, and issues powers of attorney to others. The general director's powers are defined by the company charter, by decision of the general meeting of shareholders (AO) or participants (OOO), and by the board of directors. [16]
In Spain, México, and other Spanish-speaking countries, the term director general of a company (similar to a US corporation) is either the general manager or CEO of the company.
In South Africa, the term refers to the non-political head of the national government and its departments. [17] Provincial governments also have directors-general and they hold similar roles to their national counterparts. [18]
In Sweden, the cognate word Generaldirektör (GD) is the generic title for the head of a state agency, unless otherwise prescribed by higher authority. For purposes of English translations, the word director-general is officially used.
In the UK's civil service, a director-general is now usually a senior civil servant (SCS) at pay band 3 level who heads up a group of other directors and reports directly to the permanent secretary of a department.
For historical reasons, it has also been retained as the professional title of the chief executive officers in some organisations which predate the current SCS structure and therefore may be used by those people despite them working at different pay bands. For example, the head of the UK's internal security service MI5 is also called director-general, despite the fact that the post is at permanent secretary (pay band 4) level.
The chief executive of the British Broadcasting Corporation also uses the title despite there being no link to the civil service grading structure. The head of the National Trust also holds the title. The head of Camping and Caravanning Club also holds the title of Director General.
This term is used in international organisations and government departments, although this sort of position is more commonly called an "executive director" or "managing director" in the United States.
Typically, the chief administrative officer of an opera company in the US holds the title of "general director". Such was the case with singer and conductor Plácido Domingo, who formerly functioned in that capacity for the Los Angeles Opera, [19] as he had previously for the Washington National Opera. In another prominent example, Speight Jenkins served as the general director of the Seattle Opera for over three decades. General directors are often responsible for artistic decisions, such as which operas to perform and which singers to hire, in addition to financial matters. The Metropolitan Opera is one of the few exceptions among US opera houses; the head of its administration is known as a "general manager" rather than a general director. [20]
The Scottish Government is the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. Amongst its areas for responsibility of decision making and domestic policy in the country include the economy, education system, health care, justice and the legal system, rural affairs, housing, the crown estate, the environment, the fire service, equal opportunities, the transportation network and tax, amongst others.
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and deputy ministers. It is led by the first minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the Senedd, who selects ministers and deputy ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.
The minister of health is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing health-focused government agencies including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as enforcing the Canada Health Act, the law governing Canada's universal health care system.
A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.
The National Police, formerly known as the Sûreté nationale, is one of two national police forces of France, the other being the National Gendarmerie. The National Police is the country's main civil law enforcement agency, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. By contrast, the National Gendarmerie has primary jurisdiction in smaller towns, as well as in rural and border areas. The National Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior and has about 145,200 employees. Young French citizens can fulfill their mandatory service in the police force.
Ministry or department are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration.
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
The Polizia di Stato is one of the national police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agencies it is also responsible for highway patrol (autostrade), railways (ferrovie), airports (aeroporti), customs as well as certain waterways, and assisting the local police forces.
A permanent secretary is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil service chief executives of government departments or ministries, who generally hold their position for a number of years at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice. The role originated in the civil service of the United Kingdom and has been adopted in several Commonwealth countries as well as other countries influenced by the Westminster system.
The Kosovo Police is the national policing law enforcement agency of Kosovo. It was established in 1999 and took its current form with the 2008 police law. It consists of five departments and eight regional directorates and is represented at the political level by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration of the Republic of Kosovo.
The civil service in Malaysia is pivotal around Article 132 of the Constitution of Malaysia which stipulates that the public services shall consist of the Federal and State General Public Service, the Joint Public Services, the Education Service, the Judiciary and the Legal Service and the Armed Forces.
Undersecretary is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary. It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is also used in other organizational settings.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is an Indian intelligence agency. It is India's apex anti-smuggling intelligence, investigations and operations agency.
The Ministry of Finance is the Dutch Ministry responsible for economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, tax policy, incomes policy, financial regulation, the government budget and the financial market. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance of the Batavian Republic. It became the Ministry of Finance in 1876. The Minister of Finance is the head of the Ministry and a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands. The current Minister is Steven van Weyenberg.
The work of the Scottish Government is carried out by Directorates, each headed by a Director. The Directorates are grouped into a number of Directorates-General families, each headed by a Director-General. However, the individual Directorates are the building blocks of the system. The Directorates are further broken down into 'Divisions' and then by Units and finally by Teams. Divisions usually consist of 25-50 people. There is no direct correspondence between the political responsibilities of the Ministers in the Scottish Government and the Directorates, although in some cases there is considerable overlap. The Directorates are also responsible for a number of government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Some government work is also carried out by Executive Agencies such as Transport Scotland, who sit outside the Directorates structure, but are also staffed by civil servants
The General Directorate for Internal Security is a French security agency. It is charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations and social phenomena.
The National Police is the national civilian police force of Niger. The National Police are under the Ministry of Interior, Public Safety and Decentralization and report to the General Directorate of National Police. They are responsible for law enforcement in urban areas, the protection of government buildings and institutions, and the security of government leaders. Niger's gendarmerie, the Gendarmerie Nationale, is a separate agency under the Niger Armed Forces, and are responsible for policing in rural areas.
Yves Lapierre is a French civil servant, who was the directeur général of the French National Institute of Industrial Property, the national intellectual property office of France, in charge of patents, trademarks and industrial design rights, from 2010 to 2016.
Andrew Rhodes is the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission - the UK's regulator for the gambling industry, and was formerly a senior British civil servant, occupying the largest operational director general role in the UK Government.
The Indian Defence Estates Service is a Civil Service in the Government of India. Its Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) is the Ministry of Defence. Civil Services Examination conducted every year by Union Public Service Commission provides a gateway for entry into this service. The Service traces its origin to 16 December 1926 and has been constantly evolving since then. The service was initially known as the Military Lands and Cantonment Service (1926-1983), and then Defence Lands and Cantonment Service (1983-1985). In 1985, it was renamed as the Indian Defence Estates Service. The service is governed by the Indian Defence Estates Service Rules, 2013, where 75% intake is by direct recruitment and 25% by promotion.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
