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The paper analyses the modifications in the Spanish legal regime for fresh start for natural debtors resulting from the implementation of the European Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 31.1 of the Spanish Constitution states that everyone must contribute to sustaining public expenditure in proportion to their ability to pay. Over the last forty years, this duty has given rise to many judgments of the Constitutional Court in which it analyses the different functions that the ability to pay principle carries out in our tax system and its double-faceted nature as both a right and duty. This paper intends to review that jurisprudence in order to lay out the limitations of the ability to pay principle and the impossibility of using it as the only reference when interpreting the tax rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to outline the impact of marital overturns in the legal and economic form of family businesses. This paper is mainly focused in analysing the preferential awarding right set forth in article 1406.2° of the Spanish Civil Code in favour of the managing spouse of the family business which, in our opinion, might be a solution to the distorting effect that the winding up and liquidation of the marital assets may imply to the continuity of family businesses in Spain. It also analyses the major problems that this process may face when it comes to monetize the value of the shares that one of the spouse will receive, especially in those cases of minority holding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has traditionally been accepted that one may arrange his or her affairs in order minimize taxation if, in doing so, the individual is compliant with legal obligations. The judgment of the Supreme Court handed down on 19 July 2016 questioned the validity of that traditional understanding when it stated that morality also limits taxpayers' individual autonomy. This paper reviews the reasons underlying the traditional understanding and addresses several effects of the recent reexamination on legitimate tax planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to analyze the technical novelties brought by the project of standardized regulation UNE 19601 on criminal risks management systems (version published on 8 February 2017 for public consultation). This paper will (i) contextualize the UNE 19601 in the Spanish current criminal compliance scene; (ii) examine the regulation's specificities and explain the requisites that are not directly issued from article 31 bis of the Spanish criminal Code, and (iii) briefly explain the audit procedure that may conclude with a conformity certification, if successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the possibility of resolving public contracts by mutual agreement between the Administration and the contractor. It will be taken into consideration the different types of public contracts, to the extent that the possibilities of conventional termination in administrative contracts are more limited than in private ones. Significant emphasis will be given to the effect that the situation of declared insolvency of a contractor in this issue. And, finally, the paper tackles the procedure and the content and effects of conventional termination of public contracts, also taking into account a possible bankruptcy situation of the contractor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the approaches that have been held in connection with the indemnity derived from the unilateral withdrawal by the tenant. The current debate was triggered in the context of the former Urban Leases Act of 1964: although its language was clear in protecting the landlord's rights, a case law defending a moderation of the indemnity established by Law ended up prevailing. This paper contains various thoughts and considerations that intend to outline the framework of the indemnities that may be claimed by the landlord under the current Urban Leases Act of 1994. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Law 34/2015 of 21 September introduced a new article 66 bis to the General Tax Law, which expressly recognizes the right of the Spanish tax authorities to verify and investigate the circumstances determining a taxpayer's tax liability in expired tax periods when they affect tax periods that are open to inspection. This paper examines the background to and the scope of this new article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 5 October 2015, Law 41/2015 amending the Criminal Procedure for the acceleration of criminal justice and the strengthening of procedural safeguards was passed. Among other measures, Law 41/2015 introduces maximum time limits for the investigation stage of criminal proceedings. This paper sets out an initial approach to the way these time limits are expected to apply in practice and assesses their impact on the way criminal proceedings are conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a preliminary analysis of the rules on fresh start and debt relief for individual debtors to be found in the recent Spanish Real Decreto-ley 1/2015, de 27 de febrero (RDL 1/2015). The new rules are presented in the context of the traditional preeminence of the rule of unlimited liability of individual debtors under Spanish Law, as well as the limited steps undertaken in Spanish Law to limit such primacy, specially since 2013. The main economic benefits and disadvantages of debt relief for individual debtors are reviewed, and the main solutions introduced by the new Spanish legislation are covered, both those essentially inspired by the Entrepreneurship Act of 201 and those newly designed by RDL 1/2015. Finally, the paper attempts at a first evaluation of the main choices made by Spanish Law in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the recent change in the case law doctrine about the treatment of the rebus sic stantibus clause emerged from the judgments of the Supreme Court of June 30 and October 15, 2014. The mentioned judgments confirm the abandonment of positions which held that it was a residual doctrine, based on the principle of equity, dangerous in their consequences and of exceptional and cautious application to sustain its standard application in the contract law field and the objectification of its technical base that would be given by the principles of good faith and commutativity in the exchange of assets and services. A new formulation of the unpredictability criteria is produced for whom determination should be taken into account the distribution of the risk resulting from the specific contractual relationship for those who are parties to the contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On September 20th, 2013, the Cabinet passed the draft amendments to the Criminal Code, which carry out a comprehensive reform of the system of criminal liability of legal persons and include a new offense, consisting of the breach of the duty of supervision or control, whose potential offenders are managers/directors or legal representatives of the legal person. As a consequence, this paper addresses the most significant issues of the current system of criminal liability of legal persons, the main amendments that have been proposed regarding the system, as well as the structure, scope and limits of the new offense that managers of legal persons may commit, which is expected to be included in the new Criminal Code, under article 286.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes in Spanish Insolvency Law introduced by the Law 17/2014 of 30 September and the Royal Decree-Law 11/2014 of 5 September have substantially modified the legal framework concerning a creditor with a secured loan a guarantor insolvent debtor. This paper sets out an initial approach to the situation resulting from the policy change only with respect to the exercise of the rights of the secured creditor in the insolvency proceedings and the vulnerable situation of the credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On July 5, 2013 the Spanish government appointed a Experts Committee entrusted to study the reform of the Spanish tax system. On February 26, 2014 the Experts Committee published 125 proposals for the reform of the Spanish tax system. Proposals 34th to 53rd are proposals for the reform of the Corporation Income Tax. This paper examines and comments each one of those 20 proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper goes through the main features of the internationalization bonds and the internationalization covered bonds, which have been created ex novo by Law 14/2013, of 27 September 2013, on support to entrepreneurs and their internationalization. The legal regime of these instruments is inspired by the traditional mortgage bonds and covered bonds, which (especially the latter) have allowed the Spanish financial institutions to mobilize significant volumes of mortgage portfolios during the last decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The labour reform introduced in 2012 by Royal Decree Law 3/2012 of 10 February and by Law 3/2012 of 6 July signified the beginning of a profound review of the collective dismissals regime. This paper is intended to provide a general overview of the recent judicial decisions on this matter, focusing mainly on those issues that have generated the most controversy to date: (i) group of companies; (ii) the documents necessary in the collective dismissals procedure; (iii) the need to act in good faith during the consultation period; and, (iv) the objective causes justifying the collective dismissal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basic Law 7/2012, passed by the Spanish Parliament on December 27th 2012, has substantially changed the regulation of tax fraud in the Spanish Criminal Code. Among other things, this Act of Parliament has changed the legal nature and requirements of the defence of regularization, has introduced new aggravating circumstances that widen the statute of limitations to ten years, and has provided the Spanish Tax Authorities with new tools that intend to ease the prosecution of these crimes. This paper studies in detail all the changes brought by Basic Law 7/2012, analyzing them in the context of the changes both in statutory and case law that have taken place in the last twenty years, and describes the practical problems that may arise when the new regulation is enforced. The conclusion of this analysis is that the reform enacted in Basic Law 7/2012 is another step in the criminalization of breaches of tax rules, sets inconsistent criteria that generally play against taxpayers and increases legal uncertainty. All this entails a significant increase in the legal and compliance risks that corporations doing business in Spain must face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent months the Government has taken measures, globally called «Plan Proveedores», aimed at establishing an efficient mechanism for payment and cancellation of outstanding debts to suppliers of local bodies and autonomous regions. This paper summarizes and analyzes the main features of this framework [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest reform of the Spanish Insolvency Act develops the regulations on pre-bankruptcy situations with the goal of developing extrajudicial alternatives to insolvency proceedings. Nevertheless, the reform fails to include one proposal that we consider essential for better achieving that objective: the temporary suspension of individual executions in the pre-bankruptcy stage, which starts with the communication of article 5bis of the Spanish Insolvency Act. This paper analyses the consequences of that omission and explains the justification for its inclusion in any future amendment of the Spanish Insolvency Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the complex nature of this type of transactions, is it appropriate the Spanish regulations and case-law issued in relation to sales and leases (individually considered) being applied? Or is it fair them being qualified in certain aspects? From a public law standpoint, is it legally feasible the Spanish authorities being engaged in this kind of transactions in relation e.g. to office buildings occupied by regional or national ministries? How legal restrictions over public indebtedness, and EU State aid control regulations, impact on the deal? This paper addresses those and other practical issues, identifies certain legal clues to be considered when structuring and implementing this kind of transactions and tables some proposals which, if accepted by the Courts, would entail a contribution to the legal certainty of the players involved and, at the end of the day, to the legal consolidation of those transactions in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of Law 18/2011 (5th July), governing the use of IT by the Justice Administration, is to regulate the introduction of the E-Justice Administration, which will allow professionals and citizens to maintain contact with the Administration in a safe and flexible fashion both online and via other electronic means. The coming into force of this legislation represents a great advance in the project to modernize Justice Administrations, begun several years ago at national and European levels. To be successful, Administrations require the availability of adequate technological resources and to make a major effort to move past their paper-based traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an overview of the new legislation governing the Spanish airport system, which restricts the role of the privatised «Aena network» to airport management and certain air traffic services. The authors analyse the main aspects of the new system, in particular the regulation of airport managers' revenues, and in turn its effects on competition between airports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consequences of the implementation of the EU Directive on services in the internal market within the scope the Spanish retail trade regulations by means of the amendment of Law 7/1996 («LOCM»), are twofold. The first is the removal, as a general rule, of the requirement to obtain a prior authorisation to set up commercial establishments and the specification of the circumstances under which a competent authority may exceptionally require an authorisation pursuant to the principle of proportionality. The second is the introduction of a new type of sales («outlet sales») for legal purposes, which aims to draw a clear line between the regulations governing these sales and sales of damaged or obsolete goods («saldos»). After outlining the main features and context of the amendment of the Spanish Retail Trade Law, the paper focuses on the policy reasons behind the two relevant developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elías Díaz's most significant debate was maintained with the leftist critics. His disagreement with economic liberalism and totalitarianisms has been elaborated chiefly in political terms. When Díaz debates with Marxist thinkers, he elucidates an adequate interpretation of Marx's papers on the role of the State in the removal of social inequalities. Instead of considering the State only as an apparatus of domination, he holds that the State plays a regulatory function of the market that radical conceptions from the Left elude when they support its eradication. Offe, one of the main sociologists of this school of thought has qualified his previous most radical positions to adopt a more plural vision of the functions of the State as held by Elías Díaz. Far from the "end of History" held by the liberal and Marxist millenarianism, Elías Díaz places the Law and the State in a never-ending historical dialectic, in a social and political process always open towards real equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the problems that teaching of the compulsory subject "Citizenship Education" pose. To achieve this goal some doctrinal opinions, case law, as well as the possibility of conscientious objection are analyzed. Finally, some conclusory remarks on this topic are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain and the U.S. have recently agreed to enter into an agreement pursuant to which Spain will adopt the necessary implementing legislation to collect the information required by FATCA from its domestic financial institutions and will then report that information to the U.S. tax authorities under an automatic exchange system based on the existing tax treaty. The agreement will help Spanish financial institutions to comply with FATCA. In this paper we describe the background and content of the future agreement, preliminarily identifying the practical consequences for financial institutions based in Spain [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]