SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Gabriel Rodríguez-Ramos, RODRIGUEZ RAMOS ABOGADOS
order to ensure that these appointments do not cast any doubt on the independence, impartial - ity and transparency of this process; • corruption prevention in respect of prosecutors, includes: (a) reconsidering the method of selection and the term of tenure of the Prosecutor General; (b) establishing clear requirements and proce - dures in law to increase transparency of com - munication between the Prosecutor General and the government; and (c) exploring further ways to provide for greater autonomy in the management of the means of the prosecution services. On 9 December 2025, the Prosecutor General was declared as guilty by the Supreme Court of commit - ting a crime of leaking secrets (Article 417.1 CC), for leaking confidential information and data to the media and to the public concerning pre-trial investigations involving the sentimental partner of a key leader of the opposition party. The 2025 EU rule of law report in the European Union with reference to Spain (8 July 2025) recommends the following. • Continue to strengthen the statute of the Prosecu - tor General, in particular regarding the separation of the terms of office of the Prosecutor General from that of the government, taking into account European standards on independence and autono - my of the prosecution. • Proceed to adopt legislation on lobbying, including the establishment of a mandatory public register of lobbyists. • Strengthen the rules on conflicts of interest and asset declarations of persons with top executive functions, including by reinforcing the independ - ence and sanctioning power of the Office for Con - flicts of Interest. • Step up efforts to address the challenges related to the length of investigations and prosecutions to increase the efficiency in handling high-level cor - ruption cases, including by finalising the reform of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The last OECD report (phase 4 – particular challenges and positive achievements) linked to the Anti-bribery Convention published on 25 March 2025, criticises the fact that to that date, not one company has been sanctioned for foreign bribery and recommends: • provide training to tax officials on the detection of foreign bribery and on the applicable requirement for reporting suspected offences to law enforce - ment officials; and • establish a national database for all ongoing cases with a view to ensuring co-ordination of foreign bribery investigations nationally and maintain sta - tistical data on cases involving foreign bribery. There are no other foreseeable legislative modifica - tions in the short and middle term. In the long term, the following is foreseen. • European legislation: (a) implementation of the Regulation (EU) 9.2 Likely Changes to the Applicable Legislation of the Enforcement Body 2023/1543 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 on European Production Orders and European Preserva - tion Orders for electronic evidence in criminal proceedings and for the execution of custodial sentences following criminal proceedings (will enter into force on 18 August 2026); (b) transposition of the Directive (EU) 2023/1544 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 laying down harmonised rules on the designation of designated establish - ments and the appointment of legal representa - tives for the purpose of gathering electronic evidence in criminal proceedings (to be trans - posed before 1 February 2026); (c) Directive (EU) 2024/1203 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing Directives 2008/99/ EC and 2009/123/EC (to be transposed before 21 May 2026); and (d) Directive (EU) 2024/1226 of the European Par - liament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures
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