How Spain enforces criminal rulings from other EU countries

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law requires Spanish judicial authorities to recognize and enforce criminal orders and rulings correctly transmitted by other EU member states, unless a specific legal ground for refusal applies. In turn, they can send Spanish rulings to other states for enforcement there.
2. It regulates nine mutual recognition instruments: the European arrest warrant, custodial sentences, supervised release, alternatives to pretrial detention, the European protection order, preventive freezing and securing of evidence, confiscation, financial penalties, and the European investigation order.
3. For a list of serious crimes (terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption, cybercrime, among others), Spanish judges will not check whether the act is also a crime in Spain, provided the maximum penalty in the issuing state is at least three years in prison.
4. Recognition or enforcement can only be refused on specific legal grounds, such as an existing final ruling for the same acts (non bis in idemNon bis in idem The rule that prevents a person from being tried or punished twice for the same acts.), a penalty that has expired under Spanish law, an incomplete certificate, or an immunity.
5. The European arrest warrant is processed urgently: if the person consents to surrender, the court decision must be made within ten days of the hearing; if not, within sixty days of arrest, extendable by thirty more.
6. Prison sentences issued in one member state can be served in another to help rehabilitate the convicted person, usually with their consent, and time already served is deducted.
7. The European protection order allows protective measures for a victim to remain effective if the victim moves to another EU state, where a judge will adopt equivalent measures.
8. The law repeals earlier laws that separately regulated the European arrest warrant, freezing and securing of evidence, financial penalties, and confiscation, bringing everything into a single text.

Who it affects

• People wanted or convicted in another EU state: They can be surrendered, serve their sentence or measures in another country, or be monitored from Spain, with safeguards such as a hearing, a lawyer, and maximum time limits.
• Victims of crime: Their protective measures can follow them if they move to another member state, and they can receive compensation included in financial penalties.
• Spanish judges and prosecutors: They must transmit, recognize, and enforce these instruments within set deadlines and only refuse on specific legal grounds.
• Ministry of Justice: It acts as the central authority for assistance, authorizes transfers through Spain, and receives statistical information on these instruments.

Words worth knowing

Reconocimiento mutuo (mutual recognition)

The principle by which a court ruling from one EU country is accepted and enforced in the others almost automatically, without reviewing the merits of the case.

Doble tipificación (double criminality)

Checking that the act punished abroad is also a crime in Spain. For certain serious crimes this check is no longer required.

Non bis in idem

The rule that prevents a person from being tried or punished twice for the same acts.

Principio de especialidad (rule of specialty)

The rule that prevents a surrendered person from being prosecuted or convicted for prior offenses other than the one that led to their surrender, with exceptions.

Prisión provisional (pretrial detention)

Temporary imprisonment of a person while their criminal case is being resolved, before any conviction.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries