Royal Legislative Decree 6 of 19 December 2023 was published in the Official State Journal (“BOE”) on 20 December 2023. It includes new measures that are of particular interest with regard to litigation, as well as providing for the increased use of electronic processes, though this excludes court testimony by parties, witnesses and experts which, along with their cross examination, still requires their physical presence.
One particularly important measure, given its practical impact on businesses, concerns the validity of electronic notifications: since 20 March 2024, legal enterprises that are required to operate a single Authorised Electronic Address will be obliged to receive communications via that address and, in the event that they fail to “open” a notification within the three days following receipt, it will be published on a “Single Judicial Notice Board”, and the notification will be understood to have been legally served with all the relevant effects. Calculation of the deadline for taking any relevant procedural action will begin from the next business day after three days have elapsed following communication.
This change means that even an initial procedural action, such as the serving of a complaint so that it may be replied to, must be made electronically, in contrast to the procedures established by the Constitutional Court until now.
It is essential that businesses remain attentive to their electronic inboxes, though for the moment the Courts have not reached any agreements or established any criteria with regard to how these communications are to be made to companies, so we must await any further developments. We will pass on any information as we receive it, but we would advise you to check your electronic inbox every day in any case.
