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PHILIP VI KING OF SPAIN
To all who see this and try.
Know: That the Cortes Generales have approved and I hereby sanction the following organic law:
PREAMBLE
The reform of the Penal Code carried out by the Organic Law 1/2015, of March 30, by which the Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code, led to the repeal of Book III regarding the offenses and the redirection of behaviors, all included, that either became classified as minor crimes or fell outside the scope of the Penal Code. To this fact was added the approval of Law 35/2015, of September 22, reforming the system for the assessment of damages caused to people in traffic accidents, which represented a very important change in the claims for compensation for damages suffered as a result of an accident. By means of said law, the order of maximum amount was suppressed, with the establishment of a new and more complex system of claim for damages suffered by people and their property, such as the fixing of expenses and other damages whose compensation is have the right as established by the applicable regulations.
Organic Law 2/2019, of March 1, amending Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Criminal Code, on recklessness in driving motor vehicles or mopeds and sanctioning the abandonment of the place of the accident, involved, among other issues, providing the penal system with greater legal certainty to be able to objectify behaviors that constitute dangerous actions that generate the risk of less serious negligence, such as carrying out a greater adaptation of sentences and deserving behaviors of criminal reproach.
Notwithstanding all of this, after the 2015 reform, which has started, for different reasons, an increase in filing orders and, at the same time, a reduction in the criminal response to road accidents, both issues in a detrimental line For the victims, the need to establish by law certain assumptions in which recklessness deserved a criminal reproach, either as serious recklessness or less serious recklessness, has become clear. Thus, Organic Law 2/2019, of March 1, modifying Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code, introduced, among other important reforms, the consideration of serious negligence in driving [of motor vehicles or moped] in which the concurrence of any of the circumstances provided for in article 379 will determine the production of the event [death] (article 142.1, second paragraph), and the same if the event produced were injuries provided for in articles 147.1, 149 or 150 (article 152.1, second paragraph).
On April 26, 2021, the District Attorney for the Road Safety Coordinator intervened in the Commission on Road Safety, as he was well aware of the problems affecting accident victims, and reiterated the importance of their protection and that, to that effect, It had recently sent a letter to the traffic police detailing in detail the cases in which the report would have to be drawn up, in order to guarantee the protection of the victims and ensure their adequate financial compensation.
We see then that the reform has not given the expected response in the opinion of certain groups such as the Spanish Bicycle Board, which have concluded the need for a new reform of the Penal Code to avoid the loopholes in the law that make it possible to archive Less serious negligence when injuries or death occur after the commission of an offense classified as serious in Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, which approves the Consolidated Text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Vehicles at Motor and Road Safety, and that, by routine, the courts consider minor and therefore do not generate criminal liability, in use of the power that the rule gives them with this wording, appreciated the seriousness of this by the judge or the court (referred to less serious negligence).
It is introduced as a modification in the legal text that does not intend to restore to the judge the power to assess whether an imprudence was committed, nor whether or not a serious administrative infraction of traffic regulations was committed, nor the power to establish the causal link between the reckless act and the resulting death or relevant injury. Its purpose is to reinforce the spirit that animated the 2019 reform and establish ope legis that, in any case, if the judge or court determines that there was recklessness when driving a motor vehicle or moped concurring a serious violation of the traffic regulations of motor vehicles and road safety and, as a consequence of this infraction, there was death or relevant injuries, the recklessness must be classified, at least, as less serious recklessness, but never as minor if the injuries are relevant or caused death, so that it is objectively considered a crime if the cause commits an infraction classified as serious by the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety.
In addition, to reduce the penalty of a fine to one or two months in case of negligently causing less serious injuries that require medical or surgical treatment that is not disabling, but relevant. With this reduction in sentence, the consequence is that it is not mandatory to be assisted by a lawyer and attorney and that the process is judged by an investigating judge, but without undermining all the guarantees for the victim.
In cases of serious negligence, the sanction of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds is eliminated and it is provided that it is mandatory, as in all crimes against road safety.
Finally, two other measures are planted: the first consists of a modification of the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, with the aim of establishing the obligation for the administrative authority to inform the judicial authority of the facts derived from traffic crimes resulting in injury or death, accompanying such communication with the appropriate report, and the second, in relation specifically to the cases in which result in death, assuming the configuration of the crime defined in section 2 of article 142 of the Criminal Code as a public offense when the cause of death due to less serious negligence occurs using a motor vehicle or moped, eliminating in such cases the requirement complaint of the aggrieved person or his legal representative, so that the judicial authority can proceed to investigate the made bone directly.
Single Article Modification of Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code
Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code, is modified in the following terms:
- A. The second and fourth paragraphs of section 2 of article 142 have the following wording:
If the homicide was committed using a motor vehicle or a moped, the sentence of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds from three to eighteen months will also be imposed. In any case, less serious recklessness is considered to be that not classified as serious in which the commission of any of the serious infractions of traffic, motor vehicle circulation and road safety regulations has been decisive for the production of the act. The sober assessment of the existence or not of the determination must be appreciated in the reasoned resolution.
Except in the cases in which it will occur using a motor vehicle or a moped, the offense provided for in this section will only be prosecuted through a complaint by the aggravated person or his legal representative.
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- Behind. The first and second paragraphs of section 2 of article 152 have the following wording:
2. Whoever, due to less serious imprudence, causes any of the injuries referred to in article 147.1, shall be punished with the penalty of a fine of one to two months, and if the injuries referred to in articles 149 and 150 are caused, be punished with a fine from three months to twelve months.
If they have been committed using a motor vehicle or a moped, be sure to take the penalty of deprivation of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds from three to eighteen months. For the purposes of this section, in any case, less serious recklessness is considered to be that which is not classified as serious in which the commission of any of the serious infractions of the traffic regulations, vehicle circulation and safety road. The sober assessment of the existence or not of the determination must be appreciated in the reasoned resolution.
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- Very. Section 1 of article 382 bis is worded as follows:
1. The driver of a motor vehicle or a moped who, outside the cases referred to in article 195, voluntarily and without his own risk or that of third parties, leaves the scene after causing an accident in which they die One or several people or in which any of the injuries referred to in articles 147.1, 149 and 150 are caused, will be punished as the perpetrator of a crime of abandoning the accident site.
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FINAL PROVISIONS
First final provision Modification of the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30
Section 1 of article 85 of the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, is worded as follows:
1. When a sanctioning procedure reveals a fact that offers indications of grievance that can be prosecuted ex officio, the administrative authority will notify the Public Prosecutor, in case the exercise of criminal action proceeds, and agree to the suspension of the proceedings. .
In all cases, when there is a traffic accident resulting in injury or death, the administrative authority will consider it in the knowledge of the judicial authority, accompanying the communication of the appropriate report.
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Final provision second Nature of the law
This law has the nature of an organic law. However, the final provision will prevail over the character of ordinary law.
Final disposition third competence title
This law is issued under article 149.1.6. of the Constitution, which gives the State exclusive jurisdiction over criminal law.
The primary final disposition is dictated under article 149.1.21. of the Constitution, which attributes to the State the exclusive jurisdiction over traffic and circulation of motor vehicles.
Fourth final provision Entry into force
This organic law will enter into force the day after its publication in the Official State Gazette.
Therefore,
I order all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this organic law.
