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On Thursday 30 April, Royal Decree Act 16/2020 entered into force. By this law, the Spanish Government has approved the rules for the restoration of the Spanish judiciary system, paralysed on 14 March 2020 (see our previous post of March 17, 2020). At that time, all proceedings, except for urgent ones, were stayed and the deadlines suspended.
The urgent procedural measures that have been taken to reestablish the functioning of justice are as follows:
– 11 to 31 August were declared as working days for all legal proceedings, with the exception of Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (it should be kept in mind that the month of August is not a working month in Spain for civil and commercial litigation and administrative proceedings, and the days of that month do not count for the purposes of time limits).
– The terms and time limits provided for in the procedural laws, suspended by the application of Royal Decree 463/2020, will be recalculated from the beginning, starting from the first working day following that on which the suspension ceases to have effect.
– The time limits for appealing against judgments and other decisions terminating legal proceedings that were notified during the suspension of time limits and those notified within 20 days after the lifting of the suspension of procedural time limits, will be extended by an equal period of 20 days for the announcement, formalisation or filing of the corresponding appeal.
– A number of special measures are also adopted in family matters, challenges to temporary employment regulation plans (ERTEs), voluntary jurisdiction proceedings and mortgage proceedings.
– Given that a significant increase in commercial matters is expected, certain rules are set out for bankruptcy proceedings in order to avoid the collapse of the courts.
For the time being, it has to be borne in mind that the time limits will continue to be suspended, since Additional Provision 2 of the aforementioned Royal Decree 463/2020, which placed them on hold while the state of alarm persisted, has been maintained in subsequent extensions. The current one extends until May 10, 2020 and the Government has already proposed to Congress an additional extension for another 15 days.
Likewise, court trials, appearances, declarations and hearings will also continue to be stayed, as agreed by the Permanent Commission of the General Council of the Judiciary in its extraordinary session of March 14, 2020, and until the Agreements taken by that Commission are rescinded.
A number of organisational and technological measures are also taken to adapt to the new normal:
– It is provided that during the state of alarm and up to three months thereafter, court trials, appearances, statements and hearings shall be conducted preferably through telematic attendance, as long as the necessary technical resources are available, except for trials for serious crimes, where the presence of the accused will be required.
– Court deliberations will be conducted by telematic means, provided that the technical resources necessary for this purpose are available.
– Rules are adopted to allow for the assignment of functions to judges who serve as back-up or fill vacancies and to enable trainee court attorneys to carry out substitution and reinforcement work.
– During the state of alarm and for three months thereafter, lawyers and court-liaisons are exempted from wearing a gown in oral proceedings.
– The public will be served preferably by telephone or e-mail.
In addition, the competent administrations in the field of justice (which in several Autonomous Communities is assigned to their respective governments) are instructed to provide all bodies, judicial offices and public prosecutors’ offices with the necessary and sufficient electronic resources and tools and information systems to enable them to carry out their functions efficiently. They will have to be fully available and operational without the users being physically present at their offices, and the staff of these bodies will have to be trained in their use.
The abrupt paralysis of the Spanish judicial system is mainly due to the lack of adaptation of the Spanish judiciary to the necessary digitalisation of the administrations. The digital divide in this case is greater in the area of justice and it is obvious that in a few weeks it will be difficult to do what has not been done in years. On the other hand, the Royal Decree Act does not establish any budgetary allocation, so we will have to see how the good intentions of this regulation, which does not establish dates or timetables, would be reflected in the reality of our courts and tribunals.
Despite the undoubted importance of the administration of an efficient and effective justice in any democratic state, the endemic lack of investment in personal and material resources, especially over the past few years those of a technological nature, by the different administrations has been clearly evidenced in this exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19, to the extent that there has been no other alternative but to paralyse its functioning at a general level.
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