FELIPE VI

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law:

PREAMBLE

I

The proposal for a Penal Code presented by the Institutional Commission for the elaboration of an articulated text of the Law of Criminal Procedure, constituted by the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of March 2, 2012, Currently subjected to public information and debate, it presents a radical change of the criminal justice system whose implementation requires a broad consensus. While this debate remains, in the confidence of finding the maximum possible concert on the new criminal procedural model, it is necessary to deal immediately with certain issues that cannot wait to be resolved with the enactment of the new normative text to replace the more than century-old Criminal Prosecution Act.

In this law, issues that do not require development through organic law will be regulated, which will have a parallel regulation in a standard with such a range, and which are the following: a) the need to establish effective provisions (b) the provision of an autonomous confiscation procedure, (c) the general establishment of the second instance, (d) the extension of the appeal and (e) the reform of the law of the Member State of the European Parliament. extraordinary review facility.

II

There are certain measures, simple implementation, that allow to avoid unnecessary delays, without any of the rights of the parties: a) the modification of the rules of connection and its application when determining the (b) the reform of the system of referral by the Judicial Police to the courts and to the Ministry of Public Prosecutor for the offences relating to offences without a known author; (c) the fixing of maximum time limits for the instruction; and (d) the regulation of a criminal order for payment procedure.

The reform of the rules of connection implies a rationalization of the criteria of conformation of the object of the process, in order that they have the most suitable content for their fast and effective substantiation. This is intended to avoid automatism in the accumulation of causes and the procedural elefantiasis that is evident in the so-called macroprocesses. Connection accumulation only makes sense if certain assessed circumstances are present in Article 17.1 and 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, when the knowledge of the cases separately is not more advisable. This assessment of the concurrency of the rules and conditions of connection corresponds exclusively to the judge instructor. The novelty of the reform consists in establishing that the simple analogy or relationship between itself does not constitute a cause of connection and only the accumulation is justified when, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, in its capacity as a defender of legality and public interest, the judge considers it to be more appropriate for the clarification of the facts and the determination of the responsibilities arising, except that it involves excessive complexity or procrastination for the process, and provided that the competence. In addition, the frequent tracing of causes among different courts will be avoided in the search for the person who must know about the case by a simple coincidence of the person to whom different crimes are attributed.

It also constitutes a measure of streamlining, simple to implement, that is to avoid the irrational use of human resources and materials of the Administration of Justice to manage the police. Without a known author, they give rise in the courts to unnecessary openings of proceedings that are immediately filed with the prior notice of the Prosecutor's Office. This is a superfluous and disturbing job. In order to guarantee adequate judicial control, it is sufficient that these people be kept by the Judicial Police at the disposal of judges and prosecutors. However, the referral to the judicial authority will be mandatory in any case with regard to particularly sensitive matters, such as crimes against life, physical integrity, sexual freedom and compensation or crimes. related to corruption. It should also be sent to all the crowded ones where, after the first seventy-two hours, the Judicial Police practice any due diligence to the identification of the author, provided that he throws some result. It is a question of ensuring that there will be no autonomous police investigations, but also to prevent all causes from ending up in court when there is no progress on the initial situation.

On the other hand, following the proposal of the Institutional Commission mentioned above, for the completion of the investigation, the exigue and inoperative period of one month of the article 324 of the Law of Criminal Procedure is replaced by realistic maximum time limits, the course of which leads to procedural consequences. The simple issues of the complexes are distinguished, corresponding their initial qualification to the instructor. It provides for the possibility of the extension of the latter at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, as guarantor of the legality ex Article 124 of the Constitution, and in any case, heard the parties personated, and, for all the cases, of an extension exceptional at the request of any of the parties personated and heard the others, with a great deal of flexibility, but in such a way that finally there is an impassable time limit in which the summary or the previous proceedings have to conclude and the decision to be taken, either the continuation of the procedure already in the middle stage or the dismissal of the proceedings. For the determination of the ordinary periods of six and eighteen months, in the case of a simple or complex matter, respectively, the average time limits for the duration of the instruction, as reflected in the judicial and tax statistical studies. It is therefore a matter of reliable deadlines in which the investigating proceedings must have already been completed. However, the system provides for rules on the adequacy of time limits to the reality of the training, so that an initially declared cause can be transformed into a complex one, and that situations such as the declaration of the secrecy of the actions, What will happen in the event of communications intervention, will not affect the computation of the deadlines, since in this case it will be interrupted. A further step will be taken if the instructor agrees to the provisional dismissal when considering that there is no positive progress in the handling of the case by any circumstantial circumstances. eliminates any risk of impunity for the duration of the aforementioned deadlines, as it is excluded that its exhaustion will result in the automatic filing of the proceedings, outside the cases where the free or provisional withdrawal of the case may proceed.

Additionally, as the Commission also proposed, the process is established by the acceptance of a decree. This is a criminal order for payment procedure that allows the conversion of the penalty proposal made by the Prosecutor's Office into a firm sentence when the objective and subjective requirements and the order of conformity are met, with mandatory legal assistance. Following a model of proven success in comparative law, a mechanism for speeding up criminal justice is established, which is highly effective in deconging judicial bodies and for dispensing a swift punitive response to criminal offences. (a) a low level of gravity, the sanction of which may be imposed in fine or work for the benefit of the community, fully respecting the rights of the defence. The purpose of this reform is to establish an early settlement of criminal cases for minor offences, applicable regardless of the procedure to which they are responsible. It is therefore applicable both to minor offences and to the less serious offences within its material scope, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office and before the completion of the training phase. It also responds to the possibility of completing the investigation phase of the Prosecutor's Office with an increase in the actions to the court of instruction that implies not already the knowledge of the event but, de facto, the request of the judgment and penalty. Their effective implementation will entail a significant reduction in the instructions and subsequent oral trials, which is also in the interests of shortening the so-called "intermediate phase" of the procedures.

III

Directive 2014 /42/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union requires Member States to set up channels for its implementation, in particular to enable the effectiveness of new confiscation figures. Thus, a process of autonomous confiscation is regulated that allows the ownership of the property from the crime to be deprived even if the author cannot be tried. The procedure responds to a balance between the agility that is and the guarantees for the people in demand. The referral to the verbal procedure of the Civil Procedure Law has been chosen, which contributes to legal certainty. However, the specific specialties of the procedure have been included in the article and a system of resources based on the abbreviated procedure. The execution phase of the seized goods is also foreseen, in which the associated investigation will be directed by the Fiscal Ministry, without detriment to the investigative functions of this one in the preliminary phase. This regulation must be put in context with the amendments to the confiscation which, for its part, introduces the reform of the Penal Code, and in particular, as a complement to that, the intervention in the third-party procedure has now been provided for. may be affected by the confiscation. Their rights are guaranteed not only in this procedure, but with the articulation of an action for annulment, for reference again to the Law of Civil Procedure, in case the resolution has been passed without considering its status as a interested in the cause.

IV

Although the Organic Law of the Judiciary establishes the appropriate organic forecasts for the generalization of the second instance in the criminal proceedings, in the development of the right recognized by article 14.5 of the Covenant International Civil and Political Rights, under which all convicted of a crime may subject the case to a higher court, the absence of procedural regulation of the appeal against the sentences handed down by the courts. Provincial Hearings and the Criminal Court of the National Court, after holding a trial The Court held that, in the light of the Court's ruling, the Court held that, since it had to be compensated more flexibly in the understanding of the grounds of appeal, it did not have the role of the Supreme Court as the maximum criminal law. It is therefore necessary to generalise the second instance, establishing the same regulation currently envisaged for the appeal of judgments handed down by the courts of the criminal court in the short process, while adapting it to the requirements both constitutional as European. It has been considered appropriate to complete the regulation of the appeal with new legal provisions relating to the error in the assessment of the evidence as a basis for the appeal and the content of the judgment which the ad quem organ may issue in such circumstances, the ultimate aim of which is to adjust the rules of this matter to the constitutional doctrine and, in particular, to the requirements of the principle of immediate action. In the case of the first, where the prosecution claims this plea as the basis of its action, in order to annul an absolute judgment, in order to aggravate the conditions laid down in a conviction, it must justify the inadequacy or lack of rationality of the same or its manifest appearance of the maxims of experience or the omission of any reasoning on any of the tests practiced, provided that they were relevant, or whose nullity would have been improcently declared. In this case, the court of appeal will be limited in its powers to declare the nullity of the judgment where it is appropriate, by fixing the scope of that declaration, that is, whether it affects exclusively the decision of the body or whether it is extend to the oral trial and, in the latter case, whether a new composition should be given to that body in order to ensure its impartiality.

V

Together with the reform of the second instance, it is necessary to remodel the appeal to ensure that it effectively meets its unifying function of criminal doctrine. Currently, a limited percentage of crimes has access to the appeal and, consequently, its unifying interpretation is carried out by the Provincial Hearings, which does not guarantee a homogeneous treatment for all of Spain. To this reality, the successive reforms of the Penal Code are united, to the impulses of social demands, the transposition of European directives or to the fulfillment of international norms, the last of which under the Law Organic 1/2015, of March 30, has brought profound changes to the substantive law. In the light of this situation, a reform of the material scope of the appeal was made necessary to enable the Supreme Court to bring the required uniformity in such matters.

To enable the access of new crimes to the appeal, the reform provides for different measures that will act as counterweights to balance the model and make it fully viable. First, the appeal for infringement of the law is generalized, although it is limited to the first ground of Article 849, and reserves the rest of the reasons for the most serious crimes. Secondly, the judgments which are not final, that is, those which are limited to declaring the nullity of the decisions to which the first instance is to be declared void, are excluded from the appeal, as they are considered to be in such situations it would become a superfluous and dilatory procedure, without it being supposed to subtract the cause to the knowledge of the Supreme Court, since this challenge will remain open once the causes of nullity have been resolved. Finally, the possibility that the appeal may be inadmissible by means of a provision 'succinctly motivated' by unanimity of the members of the Chamber when it does not have a marriage interest is instituted, even if only when In the case of the Court of Justice, the Court of Justice has ruled that the Court of Justice should have jurisdiction. For the purposes of determining the existence of such a casational interest, various aspects must be taken into consideration, inter alia, the following: if the judgment under appeal is openly opposed to the case-law of the Supreme Court, if it resolves questions on which there is a contradictory case-law of the Provincial Hearings, or if it applies rules which do not take more than five years in force, provided that, in the latter case, there is no jurisprudential doctrine of the Court Supreme already consolidated relative to previous rules of equal or similar content.

Thus, there will be doctrine of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court in all matters, substantive, procedural and constitutional.

VI

Finally, the need to establish in the Spanish order a legal channel of compliance with the sentences handed down by the European Court of Human Rights, so far without any other coverage than the interpretation The Court held that the Court held that the Court held that the Court of Justice held that the Court of Justice held that the Court of Justice held that the Court of Justice held that the Court of Justice subsequently given in another court order on a non-return question and the judgments given in the autonomous confiscation proceedings in the event that the subsequent criminal judgment in the main proceedings does not constitute evidence of the criminal offence which enabled the confiscation.

Single item. Amendment of the Criminal Procedure Act.

The Criminal Procedure Act is amended as follows:

One. Article 14 (3) is amended as follows:

" 3. For the knowledge and failure of the causes for offences to which the Law indicates a custodial sentence of no more than five years or a penalty of fine whatever the amount, or any other of a different nature, are unique, joint or alternative, provided that the duration of the proceedings does not exceed 10 years, as well as for minor offences, whether incidental or not, attributable to the perpetrators of these offences or to other persons, where the commission of the minor offence or its evidence is The Court of Justice of the Court of Justice of the European Court of Justice of the European Union the Criminal Court of Violence against Women in his case, or the Central Judge of the Criminal in the field which is his or her own, without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Judge of the Instruction of the Guard of the place of the offence to deliver judgment of conformity, of the Judge of Violence on the woman competent where appropriate, in the terms laid down in Article 801, as well as of the Courts of Instruction competent to deliver judgment in the proceedings by acceptance of decree. "

Two. Article 17 is amended as follows:

" 1. Each crime will result in the formation of a single cause.

However, the related crimes will be investigated and prosecuted in the same cause when the investigation and the evidence as a whole are appropriate for their clarification and for the determination of the Responsibilities arising unless there is excessive complexity or procrastination for the process.

2. For the purposes of the attribution of jurisdiction and the distribution of jurisdiction, related offences are considered:

1. The roles of two or more people gathered.

2. The roles of two or more people in different places or times if there was a concert for it.

3. The roles as a means to perpetrate others or facilitate their execution.

4. The tasks to ensure impunity for other crimes.

5. The crimes of real and personal favor and money laundering with respect to the antecedent crime.

6. The roles of multiple persons when injury or reciprocal damage is caused.

3. Offences which are not related but have been committed by the same person and have an analogy or relationship with each other, where they are the jurisdiction of the same judicial body, may be prosecuted in the same case, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, if the investigation and the joint test of the facts are suitable for clarification and for the determination of the responsibilities arising, except that it involves excessive complexity or procrastination for the process. "

Three. Article 284 is amended as follows:

" 1. Immediately, judicial police officers have knowledge of a public offence or are required to prevent the instruction of prosecution on the grounds of any private crime, they shall participate in the judicial or judicial authority. representative of the Prosecutor's Office, if they can do so without ceasing in the practice of the measures of prevention. In another case, they will do so that they will have finished them.

2. However, when there is no known author of the crime, the Judicial Police shall keep the state at the disposal of the Prosecutor's Office and the judicial authority, without sending it, unless one of the following circumstances is present:

(a) For crimes against life, against physical integrity, against sexual freedom and compensation or for crimes related to corruption;

b) That any diligence be practiced after seventy-two hours since the opening of the atstate and that they have had any results; or

c) That the tax ministry or the judicial authority request the referral.

In accordance with the law recognized in article 6 of Law 4/2015, of April 27, of the Statute of the Victim of Crime, the Judicial Police will communicate to the complainant that in the event of the author not being identified within the deadline Seventy-two hours, the proceedings shall not be referred to the judicial authority, without prejudice to their right to reiterate the complaint to the prosecution or the court of instruction.

3. If they have collected weapons, instruments or effects of any kind which may be related to the offence and are in the place where the offence was committed or in their immediate vicinity, or in the possession of the reous or otherwise known, they shall extend due diligence express the place, time and occasion in which they will be found, which will include a detailed description so that they can be formed an idea of the same and of the circumstances of their finding, which can be replaced by a graphic report. The diligence shall be signed by the person in whose power they are found.

4. The seizure of effects that may belong to a victim of the crime will be communicated to it. The person affected by the seizure may at any time bring the measure before the investigating judge in accordance with the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 334. "

Four. The first paragraph of Article 295 is worded as follows:

" In no case will the Judicial Police officers allow more than twenty-four hours to elapse without knowing the judicial authority or the Prosecutor's Office of the actions that they would have carried out, except in the cases of force majeure and the cases referred to in Article 284 (2). "

Five. Article 300 is deleted.

Six. Article 324 is amended, which is worded as follows:

" 1. The measures of inquiry shall be carried out within the maximum period of six months from the date of the order initiating the summary or the previous proceedings.

However, before the expiry of that period, the instructor at the request of the Prosecutor's Office may, after hearing the parties, declare the complex instruction for the purposes set out in the following paragraph where, Circumstances beyond the circumstances of the investigation may not reasonably be completed within the stipulated time limit, or some of the circumstances provided for in the following paragraph of this Article shall be met.

2. If the instruction is declared complex the term of the instruction shall be eighteen months, which the instructor of the cause may extend for the same period or a lower one at the request of the Prosecutor's Office and after hearing of the parties. The application for an extension shall be submitted in writing at least three days before the expiry of the maximum period.

Against the car that dismisses the request for an extension, no recourse shall be made, without prejudice to the possibility that this request may be reproduced at the appropriate procedural time.

Research will be considered complex when:

a) relapse into criminal groups or organizations,

b) have many punishable facts for object,

c) involve a lot of investigated or victims,

(d) require the performance of expertise or collaborations collected by the judicial body that involve the examination of abundant documentation or complicated analyses,

e) involve performing overseas performances,

f) require review of the management of public or private legal persons, or

g) is a terrorist offense.

3. The time limits provided for in this Article shall be interrupted:

(a) in the event of the secrecy of the proceedings, for the duration of the proceedings, or

b) in the event of a provisional withdrawal of the cause.

When the secrecy or the proceedings are reopened, the investigation will continue for the time remaining until the deadlines provided for in the previous paragraphs are completed, without prejudice to the possibility of extension provided for in the following paragraph.

4. Exceptionally, before the time limits laid down in the preceding paragraphs or, where appropriate, the extension which would have been agreed upon, if requested by the Ministry of the Prosecutor or any of the parties, for reasons of justify, the instructor, after hearing from the other parties, may set a new maximum time limit for the completion of the instruction.

5. Where the Prosecutor's Office or the parties, where appropriate, have not availed themselves of the power conferred on them by the preceding paragraph, they may not be interested in the additional investigative measures provided for in Articles 627 and 780 of this Law.

6. The judge shall conclude the instruction when he understands that he has fulfilled his purpose. On the expiry of the maximum period or its extensions, the instructor shall either order the summary of the summary or, in the abbreviated procedure, the decision to be taken in accordance with Article 779. If the instructor has not issued any of the resolutions referred to in this paragraph, the Prosecutor's Office shall urge the judge to agree to the decision as appropriate. In this case, the investigating judge must resolve the application within a period of 15 days.

7. The investigation procedures agreed before the time of the legal deadlines shall be valid, without prejudice to their receipt after the expiry of the time limits.

8. In no case shall the maximum time limit laid down in this Article give rise to the file of the proceedings if the circumstances provided for in Articles 637 or 641 are not met. '

Seven. A third subparagraph is added to Article 790 (2), which is worded as follows:

" When the accusation alleges error in the assessment of the test to ask for the annulment of the absolute sentence or the aggravation of the conviction, it will be necessary to justify the insufficiency or the lack of rationality in the factual statement of reasons, the manifest appearance of the maximum of experience or the omission of any reasoning on some or all of the evidence which may be relevant or whose nullity has been improcedently declared. '

Eight. Article 792 is amended as follows:

" 1. The judgment of appeal shall be delivered within five days of the oral hearing, or within 10 days of receipt of the proceedings by the Hearing where its conclusion has not been obtained.

2. The judgment of appeal may not convict the defendant who was acquitted in the first instance or aggravate the sentence which was wrongly imposed on him in the assessment of the evidence in the terms provided for in the third paragraph of Article 790.2.

However, the judgment, absolute or damning, may be annulled and, in such a case, the proceedings shall be returned to the body which issued the contested decision. The judgment of appeal shall specify whether the nullity must be extended to the oral judgment and whether the principle of impartiality requires a new composition of the body of first instance in order for the new prosecution of the case.

3. Where the judgment in appeal is annulled by breach of an essential form of the procedure, the court, without going into the substance of the judgment, shall order the procedure to be put back to the state in which it was at the time of the procedure. Without prejudice to the preservation of their validity, all acts whose content would be identical, however, shall not be valid.

4. Against the judgment given in appeal, the appeal shall only appeal in the cases provided for in Article 847, without prejudice to the provisions of the review of final judgments, or in the following Article for the contested decision. firm sentences handed down in the absence of the defendant. Where an appeal against the judgment given on appeal is not lodged, the orders shall be returned to the court for the purposes of the execution of the judgment.

5. The sentence will be notified to those offended and harmed by the offence, even if they have not been shown to be a party to the cause. "

Nine. A new Title IIIa is inserted in the fourth book with the following heading and content:

" TITLE III bis

Process by decree acceptance

Article 803 bis a. Process requirements by decree acceptance.

At any time after the investigation has been initiated by the prosecution or in the course of a judicial proceeding and until the completion of the training phase, even if it has not been called to declare the investigation, the process by decree acceptance may be followed when the following requirements are met cumulatively:

1. º that the offence is punishable by a penalty of fine or work for the benefit of the community or with a sentence of imprisonment not exceeding one year and which may be suspended in accordance with the provisions of Article 80 of the Code Criminal, with or without deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds.

2. º That the Ministry of Public Prosecutor's office understands that the penalty in particular applicable is the penalty of fine or works for the benefit of the community and, where appropriate, the penalty of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds.

3. No such personated popular or particular accusation in the cause.

Article 803 bis b. Object.

1. The process by acceptance of a decree issued by the Prosecutor's Office has the object of a criminal action exercised for the imposition of a penalty of fine or works for the benefit of the community and, where appropriate, of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds.

2. In addition, it may be subject to civil action for the purpose of obtaining the refund of the matter and the compensation for the damage.

Article 803 bis c. Content of the penalty-imposition proposal decree.

The decree of the proposal for the imposition of penalty issued by the Fiscal Ministry will have the following content:

1. º Identification of the Investigated.

2. º Description of the punishable fact.

3. Indication of the offense committed and mention of the existing test.

4. No brief statement of the reasons why you understand, if any, that the prison sentence should be replaced.

5. Pens proposals. For the purposes of this procedure, the Prosecutor's Office may propose the penalty of fine or work for the benefit of the community, and, where appropriate, the penalty of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds, reduced by up to a third in respect of the legally intended, even if it involves the imposition of a penalty below the minimum limit laid down in the Criminal Code.

6. Requests for restitution and compensation, if any.

Article 803 bis d. Referral to the Court of Instruction.

The decree of the proposal for the imposition of penalty by the Prosecutor's Office will be referred to the Court of Instruction for authorization and notification of the investigation.

Article 803 bis e. Auto authorization.

1. The Court of Instruction shall authorize the decree of a proposal for the imposition of penalty when the requirements laid down in Article 803 a are met.

2. If the Court of Instruction does not authorize the decree, it will have no effect.

Article 803 bis f. Notice of the order and summons to appear.

1. He will be notified by the decree of the decree of the Order of Instruction, which will notify him, along with the decree, to whom he will appear before the court on the date and on the day that is indicated.

2. The notice of the decree shall inform the person concerned of the purpose of the appearance, the mandatory assistance of a lawyer for his or her celebration and the effects of his or her appearance or, if he is appearing, of his right to accept or reject the proposal contained in the decree. You will also be informed that, if you are not defended by a lawyer in the case, you must be advised by a trusted lawyer or apply for a professional lawyer before the term provided for in the following article.

Article 803 bis g. Request for legal assistance.

If the defendant lacks legal assistance, he will be appointed as an attorney for his/her advice and assistance.

In order for the appearance to be held, the application for the appointment of an attorney of office must be completed within five working days before the date for which it is indicated.

Article 803 bis h. Appearance.

1. In order to accept the proposed sanction, the defendant must appear in the court of legal assisted instruction.

2. If the case does not appear or reject the proposal of the Prosecutor's Office, in whole or in part as regards the penalties or the restitution or compensation, the same shall not apply. If the defendant appears without a lawyer, the judge shall suspend the appearance in accordance with the provisions of Article 746 and shall indicate a new date for its conclusion.

3. At the hearing, the judge, in the presence of the lawyer, shall ensure that the defendant understands the meaning of the decree of the proposal for the imposition of penalty and the effects of its acceptance.

4. The appearance shall be recorded in full by audiovisual means, documented in accordance with the general rules in the event of material impossibility.

Article 803 bis i. Conversion of the decree into a damning sentence.

If the defendant agrees to the appearance of the penalty proposal in all its terms, the Court of Instruction will attribute to him the character of a firm judicial decision, which within three days will document in the form and with all the effects of a conviction, which shall not be subject to any appeal.

Article 803 bis j. Ineffectiveness of the penalty proposal decree.

If the decree of a proposal of penalty becomes ineffective because it is not authorized by the Court of Instruction, by default or because of lack of acceptance of the encausation, the Fiscal Ministry will not be bound by its content and will continue the cause due to the appropriate channel. "

Ten. A new Title III ter is introduced in the Fourth Book with the following heading and content:

" TITLE III ter

From the intervention of third parties affected by the seizure and the autonomous confiscation procedure

CHAPTER I

From intervention in the criminal proceedings of third parties who may be affected by the seizure

Article 803 ter a. Judicial resolution of call to process.

1. The judge or tribunal shall, on its own initiative or at the request of a party, agree to intervene in the criminal proceedings of those persons who may be affected by the confiscation when they have facts which may reasonably be derived:

(a) that the property whose seizure is requested belongs to a third party other than the investigated or indicted; or

(b) that there are third party rightholders whose confiscation is claimed to be affected by the confiscation.

2. The intervention of the third parties involved in the procedure may be waived where:

(a) it has not been possible to identify or locate the potential holder of the rights on the property whose confiscation is requested, or

(b) there are facts from which it can be derived that the information on which the claim for intervention is based on the procedure is not true, or that the alleged holders of the assets whose confiscation is requested are persons interposed to the investigated or caused or acting in connivance with it.

3. An appeal shall be brought against the decision by which the judge declares that the third party is to intervene in the proceedings.

4. If the forfeiture affected by the seizure has told the judge or tribunal that it does not object to the confiscation, its intervention in the proceedings shall not be agreed or the end of which it has already been agreed shall be terminated.

5. In the event that a statement of the affected person is agreed upon by the confiscation, the content of Article 416 shall be instructed.

Article 803 ter b. Specialties of the intervention and summons to the trial of the third party concerned.

1. The person who may be affected by the seizure may participate in the criminal proceedings since his intervention has been agreed, although this participation will be limited to aspects directly affecting his assets, rights or legal status and may not be extended to matters relating to the criminal liability of the person concerned.

2. For the intervention of the third party affected by the confiscation, the legal assistance shall be required.

3. The one affected by the seizure will be summoned to the trial in accordance with the provisions of this law. The summons shall indicate that the judgment may be concluded in its absence and that it may, in any case, be settled on the confiscation requested.

The seizure affected may act in the trial through its legal representation, without the need for its physical presence in it.

4. The failure to appear in the case of the confiscation shall not prevent the continuation of the trial.

Article 803 ter c. Notification and impeachment of the statement.

The judgment in which the confiscation is agreed shall be notified to the person concerned, even if he has not appeared in the proceedings, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 803 (2). The person concerned may institute proceedings against the judgment under this law, even if he must confine his appeal to statements which directly affect his or her assets, rights or legal status, and may not extend it to the issues related to the criminal liability of the offence.

Article 803 ter d. Failure to appear of the third party affected by the confiscation.

1. The failure of the third party affected by the decomisque was cited in accordance with the provisions of this law will have the effect of his statement in absentia. The rebellion of the third party concerned shall be governed by the rules laid down by the Law on Civil Procedure in respect of the rebel defendant, including those provided for in the notifications, the appeals against the judgment and the termination of the judgment. at the request of the rebel, although, in the event of termination of the sentence, the same will be limited to the pronouncements that directly affect the third party in its assets, rights or legal situation. In such a case, a certificate shall be sent to the court which has delivered a judgment in the first instance, if it is different from the judgment given by the terminating judgment, and then the following rules shall be followed:

(a) The third party shall be granted a period of ten days to submit a statement of defence to the confiscation order, with proof of proof, in relation to the facts relevant to the statement of evidence affecting him.

(b) Submitted in writing, the court shall decide on the admissibility of evidence by order and, in accordance with the general rules, the date of the hearing shall be indicated, the object of which shall be for the prosecution of the civil action raised against the third party or the condition of his property, rights or legal status for the criminal action.

(c) The resources provided for in this law may be brought before the judgment.

If no statement of defence is submitted to the demand in time or the third party does not appear in the duly represented view, it will be dictated, without further processing, a judgment in agreement with the rescinded in the pronouncements. affected.

2. The same rights as provided for in the previous paragraph are recognised to the third party concerned that it would not have had the opportunity to oppose the confiscation because of its existence.

CHAPTER II

Stand-alone seizure procedure

Article 803 ter e. Object.

1. It may be the subject of the autonomous confiscation procedure provided for in this Title; the action by which the confiscation of goods, effects or profits, or a value equivalent to them, is sought, if it has not been exercised by prior to that, except as provided for in Article 803 ter p.

2. In particular, this procedure will be applicable in the following cases:

(a) When the prosecutor is limited in his/her writing of charge to request the confiscation of property by expressly reserving for this procedure his determination.

(b) When requested as a consequence of the commission of a punishable act whose author has passed away or cannot be tried for being in absentia or inability to appear on trial.

3. In the case of an action by the prosecutor, the autonomous confiscation procedure may only be initiated when the process in which it is resolved on the criminal liability of the person concerned has already been concluded with a firm judgment.

Article 803 ter f. Competence.

It will be competent for knowledge of the autonomous seizure procedure:

(a) the judge or tribunal that would have issued the final judgment,

b) the judge or tribunal that was aware of the suspended criminal cause, or

(c) the judge or tribunal competent for the prosecution of the case where the latter has not been initiated, in the circumstances provided for in Article 803 b e.

Article 803 ter g. Procedure.

The rules governing the verbal judgment regulated in Title III of Book II of the Law on Civil Procedure shall be applicable to the autonomous confiscation procedure in so far as they are not contradictory to those established in this chapter.

Article 803 ter h. Exclusivity of the Fiscal Ministry in the exercise of the action.

The seizure action in the autonomous confiscation procedure will be exercised exclusively by the Prosecutor's Office.

Article 803 ter i. Legal assistance.

They shall be applicable to all persons whose property or rights may be affected by the confiscation of the regulatory standards of the right to legal assistance provided for in this law.

Article 803 ter j. Passive legitimization and summons to judgment.

1. The persons against whom the action is directed against the assets to be seized shall be summoned to trial as defendants.

2. The rebel leader will be summoned by notification addressed to his procedural representation in the suspended process and the setting of edict in the court's notice board.

3. The third party affected by the confiscation shall be summoned in accordance with the provisions of Article 803 (3) b

Article 803 ter k. Appearance of the rebel case or the judicially modified capacity.

1. If the declared rebel in the suspended process does not appear in the autonomous confiscation procedure, he shall be appointed as a prosecutor and an attorney of office who shall assume his representation and defense.

2. The appearance in the autonomous seizure procedure of the case with the judicial modified capacity to appear in the suspended criminal proceedings will be governed by the rules of the Law of Civil Procedure.

Article 803 ter l. Demand for an autonomous seizure request.

1. The application for autonomous confiscation shall be submitted in writing, which shall be expressed in separate and numbered paragraphs:

(a) The persons against whom the application is directed and their addresses.

(b) The goods or property whose confiscation is intended.

c) The punishable fact and its relationship to the good or property.

d) The criminal qualification of the punishable fact.

e) The situation of the person against whom the request is addressed with respect to the good.

f) The legal basis for the confiscation.

g) The test proposition.

(h) The request for precautionary measures, justifying the appropriateness of their adoption to ensure the effectiveness of the confiscation, if appropriate.

2. The competent body shall adopt the following resolutions:

1. º Acordara or not the requested precautionary measures.

2. º shall notify the forfeiture claim to the passively legitimized parties, to whom it will grant a period of twenty days to be personified in the process and to submit a statement of defence to the demand for forfeiture.

3. The precautionary measures, the opposition, amendment or amendment of the measures and the provision of replacement caution shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Title VI of Book III of the Law on Civil Procedure in so far as it is not inconsistent with the rules set out in this chapter.

Article 803 ter m. A statement of defence to the confiscation order.

1. The statement of defence to the confiscation order shall contain, in relation to the correlating of the application, the arguments of the defendant.

2. If the defendant does not intervene in his or her statement of defence within the time limit or if he or she desist, the competent body shall agree to the final confiscation of the goods, effects or profits or of a value equivalent to them.

Article 803 ter n. Resolution on test and view.

The competent authority will decide on the proposed test by car, in which it will point out the date and time for the view according to the general rules. This resolution shall not be subject to appeal, even if the test request may be repeated in the judgment.

Article 803 ter or. Judgment and judgment.

1. The trial shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Article 433 of the Civil Procedure Act and the judge or tribunal shall rule by judgment within 20 days of its completion, with any of the following statements:

1. Estimate the demand for forfeiture and agree to the definitive confiscation of the goods.

2. To partially estimate the forfeiture demand and to agree on the definitive forfeiture for the corresponding amount. In this case, the precautionary measures that would have been agreed with respect to the rest of the goods shall be left without effect.

3. Deestimate the demand for confiscation and declare that there is no reason to contest any of the grounds of opposition. In this case, all precautionary measures that would have been agreed shall be left without effect.

2. Where the judgment considers in whole or in part the demand for confiscation, it shall identify the injured parties and shall fix any such compensation.

3. The delivery of costs shall be governed by the general rules laid down in this law.

Article 803 ter p. Effects of the forfeiture statement.

1. The judgment shall display the material effects of the judgment in relation to the persons against whom the action has been directed and the cause of appeal, consisting of the facts relevant for the adoption of the confiscation, relating to the fact punishable and the situation against the goods of the defendant.

2. Beyond the material effect of the res judicata set out in the preceding paragraph, the content of the judgment of the autonomous confiscation procedure shall not bind to the subsequent prosecution of the case, if it occurs.

In the subsequent criminal proceedings against the case, if it occurs, the confiscation of property on which it has been resolved with the effect of res judicata in the confiscation procedure shall not be sought or subject to prosecution.

3. The seized goods will be given the intended destination in this law and in the Penal Code.

4. Where the confiscation has been agreed for a given value, the person in respect of whom it has been agreed shall be required to pay the corresponding amount within the time limit to be determined; or, in another case, designate goods of a sufficient value on which the confiscation order can be made effective.

If the requirement is not addressed, the following article shall proceed as provided for in the execution of the order of confiscation.

Article 803 ter q. Investigation of the Prosecutor's Office.

1. The Prosecutor's Office may, by itself, through the Office of Recovery and Asset Management or through other authorities or the officials of the Judicial Police, carry out the necessary investigations. to locate the property or rights of the person in respect of which the confiscation would have been agreed.

The authorities and officials of whom the Prosecutor's Office sought their collaboration will be obliged to lend it under the warning of a crime of disobedience, except that the rules governing their activities (a) provide otherwise or set limits or restrictions to be addressed, in which case they shall transfer to the public prosecutor the reasons for their decision.

2. Where the prosecutor considers it necessary to carry out any investigative diligence that is to be judicially authorized, he shall submit the application to the judge or tribunal that would have known the forfeiture procedure.

3. Furthermore, the Ministry of the Prosecutor's Office may contact financial institutions, public bodies and public records and natural or legal persons to facilitate, within the framework of their specific rules, the relationship of property or the rights of the that they are aware of.

Article 803 ter r. Resources and review of the firm statement.

1. The regulatory standards for the resources applicable to the short criminal procedure are applicable in the autonomous confiscation procedure.

2. The regulatory rules for the review of firm judgments are applicable to the autonomous confiscation procedure.

Article 803 ter s. Failure to appear of the rebel and the third party concerned.

The failure to appear of the rebel and the third party involved in the autonomous confiscation procedure shall be governed by the provisions of Article 803 ter d.

Article 803 ter t. Accumulation of request for forfeiture against the rebel or person with the capacity modified judicially in the cause followed against another one.

In the event that the cause followed against the rebel or person with the modified capacity judicially continues for the prosecution of one or more cases, it may accumulate in the same cause the action of confiscation autonomous against the former.

Article 803 ter u. Submission of new forfeiture request.

The Prosecutor's Office may request the judge or tribunal to issue a new confiscation order when:

(a) the existence of goods, effects or profits to which the confiscation is to be extended but whose existence or ownership would not have been known when the confiscation procedure was initiated, and

(b) has not been previously resolved on the provenance of the confiscation of the same. "

Once. A new Article 846b is introduced with the following content:

" 1. The cars that assume the completion of the process due to lack of jurisdiction or free dismissal and the sentences handed down by the Provincial Hearings or the Criminal Court of the National Court are at first appeal on appeal before the Civil and Criminal Chambers of the Superior Courts of Justice of their territory and before the Appellate Chamber of the National Court, respectively, that they will resolve the appeals in judgment.

2. The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Courts of Justice and the Court of Appeal of the National Court will be constituted with three judges for the knowledge of the appeals provided in the previous section.

3. Appeals against the decisions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be governed by the provisions of Articles 790, 791 and 792 of this Law, but the references made to the Courts of the Criminal shall be construed as the body which has issued the contested decision and the references to the hearings to which it is competent for the knowledge of the appeal. '

Twelve. Article 847 is amended as follows:

" 1. The appeal is brought:

a) For violation of law and for violation of form against:

1. The judgments given in a single instance or on appeal by the Civil and Criminal Court of the Supreme Courts of Justice.

2. º The sentences handed down by the Court of Appeal of the National Court.

b) For violation of the law of the reason provided for in the number 1. º of article 849 against the sentences handed down in appeal by the Provincial Hearings and the Criminal Chamber of the National Court.

2. Those who are limited to declaring the nullity of the judgments to be first served shall be exempt. '

Thirteen. Article 848 is amended as follows:

" May be appealed against, solely for infringement of law, the cars for which the law authorizes such an appeal in an express way and the final orders issued in the first instance and on appeal by the Audiences Provincial or the Criminal Court of the National Court when they assume the termination of the proceedings due to lack of jurisdiction or free dismissal and the cause has been directed against the case by means of a judicial decision involving a Founded imputation. "

Fourteen. A second paragraph is added to Article 889, which is worded as follows:

" Article 889.

To refuse admission of the appeal it will be necessary for the agreement to be adopted unanimously.

The admission to the proceedings of the appeal in the case provided for in Article 847.1.b) may be agreed by providence succinctly motivated, provided that there is unanimity for lack of a marriage interest. "

Fifteen. Article 954 is amended, which is worded as follows:

" 1. The review of firm statements may be requested in the following cases:

(a) Where a person has been convicted in a firm criminal sentence who has assessed as evidence a false document or testimony, the confession of the offence, which is caused by violence or coercion or any other made punishable by a third party, provided that such extremes are declared by a firm judgment in criminal proceedings followed by the effect. The sentence of conviction shall not be required where the criminal proceedings initiated for that purpose are filed by statute of limitations, absentia, death of the defendant or other cause which does not constitute a substantive assessment.

(b) Where there has been a firm criminal sentence condemning for the offence of prevarication any of the intervening magistrates or judges under any resolution relapsed in the process in which the sentence is dismissed. review is intended, without which the failure would have been different.

c) Two firm statements have been placed on the same fact and on the same.

d) When after the judgment comes the knowledge of facts or evidence elements, that, if they were contributed, they would have determined the acquittal or a less serious conviction.

e) When a question for a preliminary ruling by a criminal court is settled, a final judgment by the non-criminal court responsible for the resolution of the case which is contradictory to the criminal judgment is handed down.

2. It will be a reason for the review of the firm judgment of autonomous confiscation of the contradiction between the facts found in the case and those found proven in the final criminal sentence, which, if any, is dictated.

3. The review of a final judicial decision may be requested where the European Court of Human Rights has declared that such a decision was rendered in violation of any of the rights recognised in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and their Protocols, provided that the violation, by its nature and gravity, has effects that persist and cannot cease in any way other than through this review.

In this case, the review can only be requested by whom, being entitled to bring this action, would have been a plaintiff before the European Court of Human Rights. The application must be made within one year of the determination of the judgment of the Court of Justice. '

Sixteen. Article 964, paragraph 1, is amended as follows:

" 1. In the cases not covered by Article 962, when the Judicial Police has notice of a fact that it presents the characters of a minor offence, it shall immediately form the corresponding state which it shall transmit without delay to the Court of Justice. guard except for those cases except in Article 284 of this Law. Such a state shall take the steps taken and the offer of actions to the offence or injured party, carried out in accordance with Articles 109, 110 and 967, and the designation, if available, of an e-mail address and a telephone number to which the communications and notifications to be made shall be sent. If they are not able to provide or expressly request them, the notifications shall be sent to them by ordinary mail to the address they designate. "

seventeen. A new paragraph is added to Article 985, which is worded as follows:

" Article 985.

The execution of sentences in causes for crime is up to the Court that has issued the judgment.

The execution of the sentences passed in the process by decree acceptance, when the offence is minor, corresponds to the court that has dictated it. "

Eighteen. A new fifth additional provision is incorporated with the following wording:

" Additional disposal fifth. Office of Recovery and Asset Management.

1. The Office of Recovery and Asset Management is the administrative body to which the functions of localization, recovery, conservation, administration and realization of effects from criminal activities correspond provided for in criminal and procedural law.

When necessary for the performance of its functions and performance of its purposes, the Office of Recovery and Asset Management may request the collaboration of any public and private entities, which will be obliged to to provide it in accordance with its specific rules.

2. The resources entrusted to the Office for the Recovery and Management of Assets prior to the final judicial decision of confiscation may be managed through the account of deposits and judicial consignations in the case of the money resulting from the embargo or the anticipated realisation of the effects. For other goods, in the light of the circumstances, the Office may manage them in any of the forms provided for in the legislation applicable to public administrations. The interest of the money and the returns and fruits of the goods shall be used to satisfy the management costs, including those corresponding to the Office; the remaining quantity shall be kept as a result of what is available by resolution. Firm forfeiture court.

When a final judicial decision is taken, the resources obtained will be realized and the amount obtained will be applied in the manner provided for in Article 367 quinquies of the Criminal Procedure Law. The remaining amount, as well as the product obtained by the management of the goods during the process, will be transferred to the Treasury as income from public law, from which once deducted the operating and management expenses of the Office of Recovery and Asset Management, provided in the budget of the Ministry of Justice, is affected by up to 50 percent to the satisfaction of the purposes mentioned in the next section. This revenue shall generate credit in the budget of the Ministry of Justice, in accordance with the provisions of the General Budget Law.

The management costs and expenses provided for in the preceding paragraphs may be estimated in the manner in which it is determined to be regulated.

3. These are the own purposes of the resources obtained by the Office of Recovery and Asset Management as a result of the confiscation orders:

(a) support for crime victim care programs, including the drive and endowment of Victims Assistance Offices,

b) support for social programs aimed at crime prevention and the treatment of the offender,

c) stepping up and improving prevention, research, prosecution and crime suppression actions,

d) international cooperation in the fight against serious forms of criminality,

e) and those that can be determined regulatively.

4. In the General Budget Law of the State of each year, the percentage object of affectation will be determined for the purposes indicated in this provision. The criteria for the allocation of the resources concerned shall be fixed annually by agreement of the Council of Ministers. "

nineteen. A new sixth additional provision is incorporated with the following wording:

" Additional disposal sixth. Procedure.

Without prejudice to the provisions of special proceedings, the offences which are either alternative or jointly punishable by a minor and less serious penalty shall be substantiated by the abbreviated procedure or, where appropriate, by the procedure for the rapid prosecution of certain crimes or for the process by acceptance of a decree. "

Single additional disposition. Cost forecasting.

The measures included in this rule may not result in an increase in staff, remuneration or other personnel costs.

Single transient arrangement. Applicable legislation.

1. This law shall apply to criminal proceedings initiated after its entry into force.

2. Article 954 shall also apply to judgments which become final after their entry into force.

The assumption provided for in Article 954 (3) shall apply to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which are final after entry into force.

3. Article 324 shall apply to proceedings which are in the process of the entry into force of this law. For such purposes, the day of entry into force shall be considered as the initial day for the calculation of the maximum periods of instruction laid down in this Law.

Single repeal provision. Repeal of rules.

The provisions of this law are repealed as many provisions are repealed.

Final disposition first. Modification of the Mortgage Act.

The seventh paragraph of Article 20 of the Mortgage Act is amended, which is worded as follows:

" It shall not be possible to take any claim, embargo or prohibition of disposal, or any other provided for in the law, if the registrant is a person other than the person against whom the procedure has been addressed. In the case of criminal proceedings and confiscation proceedings, a preventive seizure or a prohibition on the possession of the goods may be taken as a precautionary measure, where the judge or tribunal has reasonable indications that the true holder of the same is the case, thus stating in the commandment. "

Final disposition second. Competence title.

This law is dictated by the jurisdiction that the State exclusively attributes to Article 149.1.6. of the Spanish Constitution in the field of procedural law.

The first provision is made under the exclusive powers of Article 149.1.8. of the Spanish Constitution on the management of public records and instruments.

Final disposition third. Incorporation of European Union law.

This law incorporates into Spanish law Directive 2014 /42/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union.

Final disposition fourth. Entry into force.

This law shall enter into force within two months of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the State".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 5 October 2015.

FELIPE R.

The President of the Government,

MARIANO RAJOY BREY