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The Civil Procedure Law, which entered into force in January 2001, was amended nine times in 2015. In some cases, the amendments completed the modernisation process of the Civil Procedure Law that started with its enactment. This is the case of the Law on Voluntary Jurisdiction and the Law on International Legal Cooperation. In other cases, the amendments were due to the pressing need to modernise technical methods and involved introducing the new electronic auction system and the general use of telematics means for court communications and to file procedural documents. Some of the amendments were carried out to improve the functioning of the courts and tribunals: the reform of the Judiciary Law and its impact on civil procedure, or its own procedures, which, by way of example, can be highlighted by the introduction of the written response in the oral proceedings or the possibility of lodging an appeal for a court to reverse its rulings on evidence. This paper aims to provide a general analysis of all the amendments. [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]