RD-Law 6/2023 of 19 December has entered into force this week, on 20 March 2024. These amendments will only apply to legal proceedings that are initiated after the entry into force of the law. Below are some of the most relevant issues:
– Acts of communication by electronic means: This affects those parties obliged to communicate with the Administration electronically, such as legal entities. It is important to highlight the incorporation of the first summons or summons to legal entities by electronic means. If the content is not accessed within three days, the communication will be published directly on the Single Judicial Notice Board (TEJU). Therefore, companies should be attentive to the electronic portals designated to receive judicial notifications.
– Expansion of the scope of the verbal trial, which is applicable when the amount of the proceedings does not exceed 15,000 euros, and regardless of the amount when dealing with proceedings arising from individual action relating to general contracting conditions, the action for claiming an amount by a Community of owners, or for the exercise of the action for the division of the common thing.
– Introduction of the witness procedure. In litigation on unfair terms, the court may suspend the proceedings initiated by the plaintiff if it determines that the claims have been the subject of previous proceedings brought by other plaintiffs, provided that it is not necessary to carry out a control of the transparency of the term or to assess the existence of defects in the contracting party’s consent, and that the general contracting conditions in question are substantially identical. Once the judgment in the “witness proceedings” has become final, which will be processed on a preferential basis, the court may issue a decision extending the effects of this judgment to the suspended proceedings.
– Simplification of formalities in enforcement proceedings for the delivery of seized amounts of a periodic nature. The initial ruling will cover the delivery of all subsequent rulings.
– Legal procedures adapted for the elderly, based on the new Article 7 bis of the Civil Procedure Act (LEC), taking as a model the adaptations already established for persons with disabilities.
– Allows for the accumulation of actions and proceedings for the division of inheritance and liquidation of the matrimonial property regime when the dissolution derives from the death of one of the spouses.
– Generic preference for the acts of trial, hearings, hearings, appearances and declarations to be carried out by means of telematic presence.
Victoria Perera
Partner & Head of Corporate Law & M&A
vpn@uhy-fay.com
