SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henriquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Carmen Serrano, López-Ibor DPM
10. Appeal 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation
Interest accrued before the judgment is rendered is calculated based on the rate agreed by the parties in the contract, or where there is no agreement on this, by applying the legal interest rate fixed annually by the Spanish government. Interest accrued from the date the judgment is ren- dered (also known as procedural default interest), this is calculated by applying an extra 2% over the legal interest rate to the claimed amount, up until the com- pensation is paid in full. 9.4 Enforcement Mechanisms of a Domestic Judgment The enforcement of a domestic judgment may be enforced by several means depending on the relief granted. In the case of orders of payment or other forms of monetary sums, it may be enforced through direct seizure of the defendant’s liquid assets (cash, bank deposits) or public auction of other goods, with the proceeds being given to the creditor. 9.5 Enforcement of a Judgment From a Foreign Country The enforcement of judgments is governed by three different sets of rules, depending on whether the judg- ment comes from an EU member state. • Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters will apply if the judgment is rendered by the courts of an EU member state. • If the judgment has been issued by a non-EU member state, the recognition and enforcement of the judgment should follow the rules included in the relevant bilateral or multilateral treaties signed between the states of origin and Spain. • In the event that there is no international treaty between Spain and the country where the judg- ment was issued, then Act 29/2015 on International Judicial Co-operation on Civil Matters will apply. In broad terms, these procedures share, as a common requirement, the necessity of recognition of the for- eign judgment for enforcement in Spain. This process is known as exequatur.
In civil trials, first instance rulings (rendered by courts of first instance or Commercial Courts) may be chal- lenged if they amount to at least EUR3,000. The challenge may be based either on purely legal grounds (an erroneous application of the law) or an incorrect interpretation of the facts. If either of these is the case, a provincial court will conduct a full review of the proceeding held before the first instance court. In addition, and under certain special circumstanc- es (the decision of the appeal has reversal interest), appeal rulings may be subject to a further challenge before the Supreme Court. 10.2 Rules Concerning Appeals of Judgments See 10.1 Levels of Appeal or Review to a Litigation . In addition, the Supreme Court has recently issued an instruction, dated July 2023, on the maximum number of pages of the appeal (25 pages) and other formal requirements. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal Appeals must be filed within 20 working days of notice of the unfavourable ruling. The challenge is filed in written form before the provincial court, after which the counterparty will be granted ten working days to submit its response. Once both submissions have been duly made, the case must be resolved by the provincial court. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal The provincial court will only consider the issues raised by the parties in their respective statements of challenge and opposition. Normally, new evidence is not admitted by the appeal court. Nevertheless, according to Section 460.2 of the SCPA, the parties can request the admission of:
1056 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook