SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Gabriel Rodríguez-Ramos, RODRIGUEZ RAMOS ABOGADOS
1. Legal Framework 1.1 International Conventions
Chamber (Criminal) of the Supreme Court serve as the only valid reference guidelines. Rodriguez Ramos Abogados publishes, with Wolters Kluwer, a comprehensive guide updated monthly, which includes all relevant and updated rulings of the Supreme Court necessary for inter - preting the entire Spanish Criminal Code (CC). 1.4 Recent Key Amendments to National Legislation There has been a recent legislative change (LO 4/2024, published 19 October 2024, and entered into force on 8 November 2024) to the Spanish criminal legislation referring to the effect of final convictions by other EU member states against the same person for different acts which will have, in a new criminal proceeding, the same legal effects as final convictions handed down in Spain. This can have special consequences to estab - lish the limit for effective time of imprisonment (Articles 73 and 76 CC). As part of the negotiations to form a new Span - ish government following the general elections in July 2023, independent Catalan political par - ties demanded, as a condition for supporting the re-election of the Prime Minister, the passage of an amnesty law to eliminate their declared legal responsibilities and ongoing investigations related to crimes such as misappropriation of public funds, disobedience, and breach of offi - cial duty, connected to the independence move - ments from 2011 to 2023. Once both parties reached an agreement, the Prime Minister was re-elected on 16 November 2023 and on 11 June 2024, the Organic Law 1/2024 on Amnesty for Institutional, Political,
The international conventions relating to anti- bribery and anti-corruption to which Spain is a signatory are as follows. • United Nations Convention against Corrup - tion, signed on 16 September 2005 and rati - fied on 19 June 2006. • Council of Europe: (a) Criminal Law Convention on Corrup - tion (ETS 173): signed on 10 May 2005, ratified on 28 April 2010 and entered into force on 1 August 2010. (b) Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 191): signed on 27 May 2009, ratified on 21 January 2011 and entered into force on 1 May 2011. (c) Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 174): signed on 10 May 2005, ratified on 16 December 2009 and entered into force on 1 April 2010. • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in Interna - tional Business Transactions, ratified on 14 January 2000 and entered into force on 14 March 2000. 1.2 National Legislation All the offences linked to corruption behaviours are included in the Spanish Criminal Code. 1.3 Guidelines for the Interpretation and Enforcement of National Legislation There are no official guidelines for interpreting and enforcing national legislation in Spain. Due to the structure of legal sources within the Spanish Rule of Law, the rulings of the Second
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