Para el volumen de textos legales
de la European Encyclopedia of Private
International Law, obra que coedito con Jürgen Basedow, Giesela Rühl y Franco
Ferrari, y cuya publicación, con la participación de más de 190 autores de
alrededor de 60 países, está prevista próximamente en la editorial Edward
Elgar, he realizado una traducción de las nuevas normas españolas de Derecho
internacional privado, aprobadas este verano. Estas traducciones dan pie a
varias reflexiones. Primero, que aunque en los últimos años se hayan realizado
ciertos avances en la puesta a disposición por el Gobierno de traducciones
oficiales al inglés (y francés) de ciertas leyes españolas, es de lamentar que una
traducción oficial al inglés de textos tan relevantes para los operadores jurídicos
–españoles en el marco de su actividad internacional pero también extranjeros-
no esté disponible con rapidez a través de Internet. Segundo, si bien la
traducción al inglés de estos textos se ve facilitada porque buena parte de las
nuevas normas españolas están construidas sobre la base de disposiciones de
reglamentos de la UE o normas de convenios internacionales disponibles en
inglés, la comparación permite apreciar cómo en ocasiones el alejamiento del
texto de referencia sólo parece responder al ánimo (cabe pensar que no
justificado) de evitar la mera reproducción literal, mientras que en otras se
reproducen elementos de una norma que carecen de justificación en reglas del
sistema de fuente interna. Más allá de las observaciones que ya hice en una entrada previa sobre las nuevas normas
de competencia judicial internacional, esta nueva lectura de las normas de la
LOPJ permite apreciar que entre ellas se encuentran algunas tan desafortunadas
–tal vez pendientes de una corrección de errores- que es de prever que el
lector de una traducción pueda pensar que su contenido responde a algún error
de traducción.
Destacaré
tres de esas normas con algunos subrayados míos:
Artículo 22 quáter c)
c) En materia de relaciones personales y patrimoniales entre cónyuges,
nulidad matrimonial, separación y divorcio y sus modificaciones, siempre que
ningún otro Tribunal extranjero tenga competencia, cuando ambos cónyuges posean
residencia habitual en España al tiempo de la interposición de la demanda o
cuando hayan tenido en España su
última residencia habitual y uno de ellos resida allí, o cuando España sea la
residencia habitual del demandado, o, en caso de demanda de mutuo acuerdo,
cuando en España resida uno de los cónyuges, o cuando el demandante lleve al
menos un año de residencia habitual en España desde la interposición de la
demanda, o cuando el demandante sea español y tenga su residencia habitual
en España al menos seis meses antes de la interposición de la demanda, así como
cuando ambos cónyuges tengan nacionalidad española.
Artículo 22 quáter d)
d) En materia de filiación y de relaciones paterno-filiales, protección
de menores y de responsabilidad parental, cuando el hijo o menor tenga su
residencia habitual en España al tiempo de la interposición de la demanda o
el demandante sea español o resida habitualmente en España o, en todo caso, al
menos desde seis meses antes de la presentación de la demanda.
Artículo 22 quinquies último párrafo
Respecto a los supuestos previstos en las letras d) y e) también serán
competentes los Tribunales españoles cuando el consumidor, asegurado o
tomador del seguro sea demandante y las partes hayan acordado la sumisión a
los Tribunales españoles después de surgir la controversia, o ambos
contratantes tuvieran ya su domicilio en España en el momento de celebración
del contrato o el demandante fuera el consumidor, asegurado o tomador del
seguro.
A continuación
reproduzco la versión inicial de mi traducción de las normas de competencia
internacional de la LOPJ, cuyo texto revisado se publicará junto con el resto
de las normas básicas de DIPr de nuestro sistema y de otros ochenta Estados en el
volumen de textos legales (vol. IV) de la European
Encyclopedia of Private International Law.
ORGANIC LAW 6/1985, OF 1 JULY, ON THE JUDICIARY
(REVISED BY ORGANIC LAW 7/2015, OF 21 JULY)
BOOK I
TITLE I
The extension and
limits of jurisdiction
Article 21.
1. Spanish civil
courts shall hear pleas arising in Spanish territory according to the terms of the
international treaties and conventions to which Spain is party, the rules of
the European Union and Spanish statutes.
2. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, they shall not hear pleas formulated concerning individuals or
assets enjoying immunity from jurisdiction or enforcement in accordance with
the rules of public international law.
Article 22.
Spanish civil courts
shall have exclusive and overriding jurisdiction to hear pleas concerning the following matters:
a) rights in rem and
tenancies of immovable property situated in Spain. However, in proceedings
which have as their object tenancies of immovable property concluded for
temporary private use for a maximum period of six consecutive months, the Spanish
courts shall also have jurisdiction when the defendant is domiciled in Spain,
provided that the tenant is a natural person and that the landlord and the
tenant are domiciled in the same State.
b) the constitution,
the validity, the nullity or the dissolution of companies or legal persons
having their domicile in Spanish territory, as well as with respect to
agreements and decisions of their organs.
c) the validity or
invalidity of entries entered in a Spanish register.
d) the registrations or
validity of patents, trade marks, designs, or other rights required to be
deposited or registered, when their filing or registration has been applied for
or has taken place in Spain.
e) the recognition and enforcement in Spanish
territory of orders and other judgments, arbitration decisions and mediation
agreements rendered abroad.
Article 22 bis.
1. In those matters in
which a rule expressly so permits, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction
when the parties, regardless of their domicile, have expressly or impliedly submitted to them. Agreements or similar provisions of a contract conferring
jurisdiction on the Spanish courts shall have no legal force if they are
contrary to Articles 22 quater, 22 quinquies, 22 sexies and 22 septies, or if
the courts whose jurisdiction they purport to exclude have exclusive jurisdiction
according to Article 22, in which case those provisions shall be observed.
Submission to Spanish
courts in matters contemplated in Article 22 quinquies d) and e) shall only be valid if it derives from a submission agreement entered into
after the dispute has arisen, or if both parties had their domicile or habitual
residence in Spain at the time of conclusion of the contract or if the claimant is a consumer,
insured or policyholder.
2. An express submission
agreement is one in which the parties grant to the Spanish
courts the competence over some or all disputes which have arisen or which may
arise between themselves as regards a particular contractual or non-contractual legal relationship. Jurisdiction established by express submission
shall be extended to the validity of the submission agreement.
An express submission agreement must be in writing as a term of a contract or
as an independent agreement, or evidenced in writing, or in a form which
accords with practices which the parties have established between themselves,
or in international trade or commerce, in a form which accords with a usage of
which the parties are or ought to have been aware and which in such trade or
commerce is widely known to, and regularly observed by, parties to contracts of
the type involved in the particular trade or commerce concerned. It shall be
construed that there is an agreement in writing when it derives from a communication by electronic means which provides a durable record.
An agreement in writing shall also be
deemed when it is set forth in an
exchange of statements of claim and defence in proceedings initiated in Spain,
in which the existence of the agreement is asserted by one party and not
denied by the other.
3. Irrespective of the
cases in which their jurisdiction derives from other provisions, Spanish courts
shall have jurisdiction when the defendant appears before them. This provision
shall not be applicable if the purpose of the appearance is to challenge the
jurisdiction.
Article 22 ter.
1. In matters other than those contemplated in Articles 22, 22 sexies and 22 septies and
if there is no submission to the Spanish courts in accordance with Article 22
bis, the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when the defendant is domiciled in
Spain or when it is so established by any of the grounds for jurisdiction laid down in Articles 22 quarter and 22 quinquies.
2. For the purposes of
the present Article a person is deemed to be domiciled in Spain when he/she is habitually resident in Spain.
A legal person is deemed to be domiciled in Spain when its corporate seat, its centre
of administration or central administration or its principal place of business
is located in Spain.
3. In case of multiple
defendants the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when at least one of them is domiciled in Spain, provided that only one claim is pursued or multiple claims linked on the basis of a title or cause of action that make their consolidation advisable.
4. However, the
jurisdiction established pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article may be
excluded by a choice of court agreement in favour of a foreign court. In such a
case, the courts shall stay the proceedings and may only hear the stayed claim when the designated foreign court has declined jurisdiction.
5. The exclusion of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts shall have no effect in those matters in
which submission to them is not permitted.
Article 22 quater.
Absent of the
foregoing criteria, the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction:
a) in matters of
declaration of absence or death, when the missing person was last
domiciled in Spanish territory or has Spanish nationality;
b) in matters relating to the capacity of persons of legal age and protective measures of them or their
assets, when they are habitually resident in Spain;
c) in matters of
personal and patrimonial relations between spouses, nullity of marriage,
separation and divorce and their modifications, provided that no other foreign
court has jurisdiction, when both spouses are habitually resident in
Spain at the time of lodging of the claim or when they were last habitually
resident in Spain and one of them still resides there, or when the defendant is
habitually resident in Spain, or in case the petition is filed by mutual
consent, when one of the spouses is habitually resident in Spain, or when the
applicant has been resident in Spain for at least a year since the lodging of
the claim, or when the claimant is Spanish and has been habitually resident in Spain at least six months before lodging of the claim, and
when both spouses have Spanish nationality;
d) in matters of
parent-child relationship and paternal relations, protection of minors and
parental responsibility, when the child or minor is habitually resident in
Spain at the time of lodging the claim or the claimant is Spanish, or is habitually resident in Spain or, in any case, at least six months before the
claim is lodged;
e) in matters of
adoption in the cases regulated in Act 54/2007, dated 28 December,
on intercountry adoption;
f) in matters of
maintenance, when the maintenance creditor or the defendant is habitually resident in Spain, or if the maintenance plea is ancillary to proceedings concerning the
status of a person or parental responsibility when the Spanish courts have
jurisdiction to entertain the latter proceedings;
g) In matters of
succession when the deceased was last habitually resident in Spain or
when the assets are located in Spain and the deceased was a Spanish national at the time
of death. Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction when the parties have
submitted to them, provided that the law applicable to the succession
is Spanish law. When no foreign court has jurisdiction, Spanish courts shall
have jurisdiction with regard to the estate assets that are located in Spain.
Article 22 quinquies.
In addition, absent express or implied submission and even if the defendant is not
habitually resident in Spain, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction:
a) in matters of
contractual obligations, when the place of performance of the obligation in
question is located in Spain;
b) in matters of non-contractual obligations, when the harmful event occurred in Spain;
c) in pleas relating
to the operations of a branch, agency or other establishment when this is
situated in Spanish territory;
d) in matters of consumer contracts, consumers may litigate in Spain if they or
the other contracting party are habitually resident in Spanish territory; the
other contracting party may only litigate in Spain if the consumer is
habitually resident in Spain;
e) in matters of insurance
when the insured party, policyholder or beneficiary has its domicile in Spain;
the insurer may also be sued in the Spanish courts if the harmful event
occurred in Spanish territory and it is in respect of a contract of liability
insurance or insurance of immovable property, or in respect of liability
insurance, if the Spanish courts have jurisdiction to hear the claim brought by
the injured against the insured pursuant to letter b) of this Article;
f) in proceedings relating to rights in rem over
moveable property, if this property are located in Spanish territory at the time of
lodging the claim.
Regarding the matters
provided for in letters d) and e) Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction
when the consumer, insured or policyholder is the claimant and the parties have
submitted to the Spanish courts after the dispute has arisen, or both parties are domiciled in Spain at the time of conclusion of the contract or the
claimant is the consumer, insured or policyholder.
Article 22 sexies.
Spanish courts shall
have jurisdiction to adopt provisional or protective measures in respect of
persons or assets located in Spanish territory and which are to be complied
with in Spain. Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction to adopt such measures if they
have jurisdiction over the main proceedings.
Article 22 septies.
In insolvency matters
and proceedings a special act shall be applied.
Article 22 octies.
1. Spanish courts
shall not have jurisdiction over those cases in which the grounds for jurisdiction provided for in Spanish statutes do not contemplate such jurisdiction.
2. Spanish courts
shall base their jurisdiction, either ex officio or at the request of a party, pursuant to the rules in force and the existing circumstances at the time the
claim is lodged, and the proceedings shall be conducted until their completion even though such rules or circumstances subsequently have been modified, unless expressly provided otherwise by law.
3. Spanish courts
shall decline their jurisdiction if it is not derived from the
Spanish statutory provisions, in accordance with procedural law. Spanish courts may
not abstain or decline their jurisdiction when the dispute is connected to
Spain and the courts of the several states connected to the case have declined
their jurisdiction. Neither can they abstain or decline their jurisdiction in
the case of recognition and enforcement of judgments, arbitration decisions and
mediation agreements rendered by foreign courts.
Article 22 nonies.
The exceptions of international lis pendens and related actions shall be alleged and dealt with according to the general provisions of the procedural statutes.
