Bill to reform the Civil Registry Law and get it running

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would change the Civil Registry model: it would remove the traditional sections (births, marriages, deaths, guardianships and legal representations) and create an individual record for each person, with a personal code from the first entry.
2. It proposes that the Civil Registry be run by public officials outside the judiciary, specifically court clerks (Letrados de la Administración de Justicia), while all Registry acts would remain under judicial review.
3. It proposes a single Civil Registry for all of Spain, electronic and accessible online, with qualified electronic signatures for Registry heads and for citizens. The data would remain protected by personal data protection rules.
4. It proposes keeping the Registry offices in the same towns where the current Municipal and Peace Registries are located, with jobs open only to staff of the Justice Administration corps. Peace judges would keep collaborating by delegation.
5. It proposes that no new Family Books be issued once the law takes effect, though existing ones would keep their effects. Until the computer applications are ready, entries would still be made in the books and sections of the 1957 law.
6. The changes would take effect on the same day as the full entry into force of Law 20/2011, which has been postponed until June 30, 2020. This is a bill introduced in Congress, not an approved law.

Who it affects

• The general public: Could access the Civil Registry electronically without having to visit offices in person.
• Court clerks (Letrados de la Administración de Justicia): Would become the heads of the Civil Registry offices, handling its procedures.
• Judges heading Civil Registries: Would stop running the Registry, and their pending court cases would be distributed among first instance courts.
• Civil service staff of the Justice Administration: Would keep performing their Registry duties and fill the jobs in the new offices.
• Peace judges (jueces de paz): Would continue handling Civil Registry duties by delegation from the Registry head.

Words worth knowing

Registro Civil (Civil Registry)

Public body that records major life events of a person: birth, marriage, death and others.

Encargado del Registro Civil (Registry head)

Person in charge of running a Registry office and resolving its procedures.

Firma electrónica cualificada (qualified electronic signature)

Digital signature with technical and legal guarantees, equivalent to a handwritten signature.

Libro de Familia (Family Book)

Official booklet once given to families, recording the marriage and children.

Asiento registral (registry entry)

Official record made in the Civil Registry.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries