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What it is

Court proceedings in regional official languages on request

Admitted step 2 of 7 · Unfinished

It is a members’ bill. Introduced by parliamentary groups, the Senate, regional governments or citizens. It was introduced on 22 September 2022. Introduced by: Grupo Parlamentario Plural.

Official title: Private member's bill for an Organic Law amending Article 231 of Organic Law 6/1985, of 1 July, on the Judiciary, to comply with the repeated requirements of the Council of Europe regarding the application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in justice.

Follow this law

Source: Congreso de los Diputados, file 122/000257· updated 11 Nov

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

  1. The bill responds to repeated requests from the Council of Europe, which has for years urged Spain to amend Article 231 of the organic law A law on fundamental rights, the electoral system or other matters the Constitution reserves. It needs an absolute majority in the Congreso: 176 votes. on the Judiciary so that court proceedings can be held in co-official languages when a party requests it.
  2. The bill would amend Article 231 so that, in autonomous communities with their own language, court proceedings are held in the co-official language when one of the parties asks for it.
  3. It would also require judges, magistrates, prosecutors, court clerks and other court officials to prove sufficient knowledge of their community's own language, and would give full validity to documents filed in that language without translation into Spanish.

Who it affects

  • Citizens who speak co-official languages, because they could use their language in court.: They could request that court proceedings be held in their co-official language.
  • Judges, magistrates, prosecutors, court clerks and other court officials.: They would have to prove sufficient knowledge of their autonomous community's own official language.
  • People who file court documents in a co-official language.: Their documents would have full validity without translation into Spanish.

Words worth knowing

Lengua cooficial (co-official language)
A language that is official in an autonomous community alongside Spanish, such as Catalan, Galician, Basque or Aranese.
Ley Orgánica (Organic Law)
A special type of Spanish law, reserved for important matters, that requires a reinforced majority in the Congress of Deputies to pass.
Carta Europea de las Lenguas Regionales o Minoritarias (European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages)
An international treaty of the Council of Europe that protects the use of regional or minority languages in the countries that sign it.
Indefensión (lack of a fair defense)
A situation in which a person cannot properly defend themselves in court because they lack something needed to do so.
organic law
A law on fundamental rights, the electoral system or other matters the Constitution reserves. It needs an absolute majority in the Congreso: 176 votes.

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

Where it stands

How far did it get?

It took 2 of 7 steps. It reached Admitted, and today it is unfinished.

  1. Introduced22 September 2022Someone registers the text in the Congreso.
  2. Admitted26 September 2022The Bureau of the Congreso accepts it and, for a members’ bill, the plenary decides whether to consider it.
  3. Amendmentsnot reachedGroups propose changes.
  4. Committeenot reachedA committee goes through the text in detail.
  5. Plenarynot reachedAll 350 deputies vote.
  6. Senatenot reachedThe Senate can pass it, amend it or veto it.
  7. BOEnot reachedIt is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and comes into force.
See the 6 official steps on a timeline
Sept 2022Dec 2022Mar 202311. 22 September 2022: Presentación22. 26 September 2022: Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales Publicación desde 26/09/2022 hasta 30/09/202233. 26 September 2022: Calificación44. 30 September 2022: Gobierno Contestación desde 30/09/2022 hasta 08/11/202255. 8 November 2022: Pleno Toma en consideración desde 08/11/2022 hasta 30/05/202366. 30 May 2023: Concluido - (Caducado) desde 30/05/2023 hasta 16/06/2023

Was there a plenary vote?

We have no plenary vote linked to this law in the Congreso’s data.

What happens next

What happens now?

The legislature ended before it finished. To go on, someone would have to introduce it again in the new Cortes.

It has not been presented again yet.

Sources

Where does all this come from?

  • The data comes from the open files of the Congreso, the Senate and the BOE, unaltered.
  • Each deputy’s province is the one of their seat on the day of the vote.
  • We only say “passed” or “rejected” when the majority needed is certain; otherwise we say which side had more votes.

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