The Courts approve that the Christmas period is non-working for the courts and tribunals from this 2022

The reform that allows it has been included in the bill that repeals the crime of sedition and that the Senate approved today

MADRID, 22 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The bill promoted by PSOE and Unidas Podemos to repeal the crime of sedition and reform the crime of embezzlement also included one of the historical claims of the Spanish Lawyers, that the Christmas holiday period be non-working days for the courts and tribunals. Once approved in the Senate, this reform that affects the Organic Law of the Judiciary (LOPJ), will be applied immediately.

Thus, from December 24 to January 6, the two central weeks of each Christmas, cease to be a working period in the operation of the administration of Justice from this same Saturday. According to a note from the General Council of Spanish Lawyers (CGAE), the text of the reform itself specifies that the new regulation enters into force the same day of its publication in the BOE.

The disqualification of the Christmas period, weeks during which no appointments will be made or the days will not be counted from the procedural point of view, is a demand that has been claimed for years as the "only formula" that allows a true conciliation of professionals during these dates.

From the CGAE they remember that the Christmas disqualification had already been incorporated into the bill for Procedural Efficiency of the Administration of Justice, which is being processed in the Congress of Deputies, but given the slowness of parliamentary work, it was impossible for it to enter into force. before the end of 2022.

For this reason, already in October, the Lawyers demanded the urgency that the disqualification be a reality for this Christmas and pointed out precisely the option that it could be incorporated into some other law that was already in process and had some connection with Justice.

Thus, the PSOE and Unidas Podemos presented a series of amendments at the beginning of December whose objective was to establish this procedural inability to "make compatible the principles of legal certainty, the right to defense and the rights of professionals who are related to the Administration of Justice".

They explained in the text that "it does not imply the cessation of activity in the judicial bodies and offices, which will continue to provide the public service, especially affecting the procedural computation of the terms, which will be interrupted and which will resume immediately after the course of this period".

Now, they point out from the CGAE, the consummation of this reform has generated deep satisfaction within the Legal Profession, despite the narrow margin with which it has materialized in the face of the Christmas period of this year.

Remember that the Ministry of Justice recently clarified that the disqualification will not mean the closure of the courts on those dates nor will it affect urgent cases or the guards, which will continue to function normally, as is currently the case during the month August, already established as non-working in the Organic Law of the Judiciary.