New Spanish Law

Spanish Ley 4/2011, de 24 de marzo, de modificación de la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil, para facilitar la aplicación en España de los procesos europeos monitorio y de escasa cuantía, was published yesterday in our Boletín Oficial del Estado. The aim of the law is to facilitate the implementation in Spain of two European Regulations: Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European order for payment procedure, and Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a European small claims procedure. To do so, the law modifies certain provisions of the Civil Procedure Act (2000), and adds new provisions to the “Disposiciones finales” (Final provisions). The purpose of these rules is to fix some precepts of the  European Union Regulations: issues concerning jurisdiction, resolutions to be adopted by the judge or the judicial clerk and their relationship with the form set out in EU regulations, possibilities of appeal, and some extra procedural rules. These changes  are needed in order to allow full implementation of the EU Regulations by the Spanish courts, and to clarify these new judicial procedures characterized by the use of Forms and reserved for cross-border disputes.

See the text of the law here.