SPAIN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Gabriel Rodriguez-Ramos, RODRIGUEZ RAMOS ABOGADOS
(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 Pro - tection 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 information affects (Article 24 Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of indi - viduals 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 Independent Whistle-Blower Pro - tection Authority (AAI). During the next year, the Independent Whistle- Blower Protection Authority (AAI) will become a reality and will begin with its activity to enforce the Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of individuals who report regulatory violations and the fight against corruption, inves - tigating activities related to both public and pri - vate sector.
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 compe - tence to: • develop preliminary investigations (not involv - ing measures affecting fundamental rights); • initiate judicial investigations and concrete investigation measures, both to be decided by the investigation courts; and • formulate an accusation, if trial phase is reached. The Prosecutor Office is organised both based on territorial and specialisation criteria, and for the purposes of this chapter, the Anti-corruption Prosecutor Office has relevance. In the last published report referring to Spain (addendum to the second compliance report) at the GRECO 92nd Plenary Meeting on 2 Decem - ber 2022, when covering corruption prevention in respect of prosecutors, recommendations were made to assure the independence of the Prosecutor Office from the executive branch: • reconsidering the method of selection and the term of tenure of the Prosecutor General; • establishing clear requirements and proce - dures in law to increase transparency of com - munication between the Prosecutor General and the government; and • exploring further ways to provide for greater autonomy in the management of the means of the prosecution services. The 2024 EU rule of law report in the European Union with reference to Spain (24 July 2024) also recommends continuing to strengthen the statute of the Prosecutor General, in particular regarding the separation of the terms of office of
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