The Government will update the sex offender registry in real time after detecting subsequent crimes

The sex offender registry will include trafficking crimes and minors under 16 years of age will be able to request the certificate directly.

MADRID, 23 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the reform of the Central Registry of Sexual Offenders created in 2016 to guarantee its updating in real time after having detected cases of crimes of a sexual nature dated after the request for the certificate. NGOs, companies, institutions or professional associations that work with minors may, from now on, request it directly with the consent of the worker.

The registry will now be called the Central Registry of Sexual Offenders and Human Trafficking to include all people convicted of trafficking in human beings, regardless of the age of the victim. Likewise, minors who are of working age - from 16 years old - may directly request proof that they do not have criminal records for sexual crimes, something that until now could only be done by their parents or guardians.

As explained by the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, to date it was the citizens who wanted to take a job who requested the certificate and presented it to their company to work in those positions that required the certificate. document. However, this certificate was not updated. The modification made is aimed at allowing companies, institutions, NGOs or professional associations, with the consent of the worker, to update the certificate in real time.

The objective of this reform is to have "effective and periodic control of the records for sexual crimes or trafficking." "We have detected cases of people who, after working with minors, and having provided the certificate, committed crimes of this nature," admitted Bolaños, who highlighted that with these changes "it is much more effective to prevent people, criminals sexual relations, who may work in contact with minors".

Once the reform comes into effect, minors aged 16 and over who want to work will be able to directly request a non-criminal record certificate. "From the age of 16 you can work in accordance with the Workers' Statute, but you are not of legal age until you are 18, so, from now on, those minors between 16 and 18 years old who, in many cases, have jobs that make them come into contact with minors as summer camp monitors or lifeguards, they can request this certificate directly from the registry.

The fourth modification approved by the Council of Ministers refers to the certification regime between different countries of the European Union, for which the European criminal record registry will be interconnected with the Spanish one, in such a way that both the procedure is carried out in a single act. in Spain as in the corresponding European country. Thus, "a procedure that previously could take weeks or months, now in minutes a simultaneous certificate from the country of origin and Spain is obtained," the minister argued.

Finally, the regime for canceling criminal records of any conviction outside Spain is compared, with the aim of equating it to the Spanish one. "There were countries that have different regulations and the cancellation of criminal records either occurred very late or never occurred," Bolaños acknowledged. The objective, with the reform, is to "adapt everything to the Spanish regime also in the deadlines for canceling criminal records," he added.