Royal Decree-Law 5/2023, published in the Official Gazette of the Spanish State on June 29, 2023 (“RDL 5/2023”), makes several changes to the regulation of civil proceedings. The most significant of these changes affects cassation appeals in civil law. This new regulation recovers the text of the Draft law on measures on the procedural efficiency of the public service of justice, the processing of which was suspended in May this year due to the dissolution of the Spanish Parliament.
Some of the most relevant changes introduced by the reform are the following:
- The reform puts and end to the duplicity of appeals: extraordinary appeals on the basis of procedural infringements are eliminated.
- Cassation interest is the main focus of the new cassation reform, both for substantive and procedural infringements.
- The Supreme Court will decide on admission without hearing the parties.
- In cases alleging infringement of its consolidated doctrine, the Supreme Court may rule by order and assign the case to a provincial court of appeals to issue a new judgment.
The reform of cassation in civil law will enter into force one month after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Spanish State (i.e., on July 29, 2023). Under the transitional regime, the new regulation of cassation appeals in civil law will only apply to appeals filed against decisions handed down after it enters into force.