SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Gabriel Rodríguez-Ramos, RODRIGUEZ RAMOS ABOGADOS
7.2 Enforcement Bodies In the case of the European Funds, the enforcement agencies are: • European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF – Office de Lutte Anti-Fraude ) – can investigate the facts and trans - mit its conclusions to the EPO; and • European Prosecutor Office (EPO) – can initiate a criminal process due to its own information, the conclusions of the OLAF or the information provid - ed by any citizen, private company or public body. In the case of the protection of individuals reporting regulatory violations and combating corruption, the enforcement agencies are as follows. • Depending on the general state administration, the AAI, whose statutes have been approved by the Royal Decree 1101/2024, (published on 30 October 2024 and entered into force on 31 October 2024). • Depending on the autonomous community’s administration: (a) Andalucía – Andalusian Office against Fraud and Corruption; (b) Castilla y León – Independent Authority on Corruption in Castilla y León; (c) Cataluña – Catalonia Anti-Fraud Office; (d) Galicia – Galician Authority for the Protection of Whistle-Blowers; (e) Navarra – Office of Good Practices and Anti- Corruption of the Foral Community of Navarra; and (f) Valencia – Agency for the Prevention and Fight Against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community. The central authority will be competent when the infor - mation affects (Article 24 Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of individuals who report regulatory violations and the fight against corruption): • the General State Administration and entities that conform the national public sector (see also Article 13 Law 2/2023); • private sector entities when the violation or non- compliance reported affects or produces its effects within the territorial scope of more than one autonomous community;
• and activity of the public or private sector referred to an autonomous community, if the concrete autonomous community declares that intention and signs an agreement with the central AAI. In respect of criminal judicial activity, the ordinary competent authority to investigate bribery and cor - ruption in Spain is the Investigation Court of the judi - cial region in which the crime is committed. There are 431 judicial regions with very different characteristics. Some of them have more than one investigation court (ie, there are 54 investigation courts in Madrid, and 33 in Barcelona). In those cases, the competent court results from the application of the previously fixed organic assignment rules of cases. The central investigation courts, as part of the Nation - al High Court (Audiencia Nacional), are the competent authorities to investigate cases affecting to various judicial regions (national relevance/extension). The Prosecutor Office is the constitutionally designed institution in change of the defence of legality. In respect of criminal investigation and prosecution, the Prosecutor Office has competence to: • develop preliminary investigations (not involving measures affecting fundamental rights); • initiate judicial investigations and concrete investi - gation measures, both to be decided by the inves - tigation courts; and • formulate an accusation, if trial phase is reached. The Prosecutor Office is organised both based on ter - ritorial and specialisation criteria, and for the purposes of this chapter, the Anti-corruption Prosecutor Office has relevance. Since 2021, the European Prosecutor Office (EPO) has Spanish European Delegated Prosecutors (seven), responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bring - ing to judgment criminal offences affecting the finan - cial interests of the Union (Directive (EU) 2017/1371 and Article 4 Regulation (EU) 2017/1939).
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