The Ministry of Justice has issued a resolution establishing new guidelines for the fulfillment of essential services in courts and tribunals during the term of the declared state of alarm on Saturday for the containment of COVID-19. The new measures have been agreed in permanent dialogue with the autonomous communities.
In terms of safety, the new resolution obliges officials of the different courts, tribunals and prosecutors to observe the recommendations and measures adopted by the Ministry of Health to prevent the spread and spread of the disease. In addition, a "responsible use" of the elements of protection against the virus is demanded that is limited to the areas established by the health authorities.
The text also clarifies the minimum dowries of lawyers of the Administration of Justice in the central courts of instruction, contentious-administrative, penal, minors and penitentiary vigilance of the National Court, which will be the same that were established last Saturday for the judicial organs of the same class in each judicial party.
In the bodies where the new model of the Judicial Office is implemented, these minimum allocations will be understood as referring to each of the direct support units. In the case of the territorial managements of the ministry, the measures agreed by the Undersecretariat of Justice for the personnel of the General Administration of the State will be adopted. The resolution also includes the minimum amount established for the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences.
The essential services agreed upon by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice must be provided on a rotating basis in daily shifts. These shifts exclude people included in risk groups (over 60 years of age or previous pathologies) or those who have had to leave their posts to care for minors or the elderly who depend on them. The specific people who must provide them will be appointed in each case by the chief prosecutor, the lawyer from the Justice Administration or the directors of the National Institute of Toxicology or the Institute of Legal Medicine responsible for each unit.
Finally, the instruction authorizes the rest of the personnel who are not included in the provision of essential services to carry out their activity from their home using telework modalities. In any case, they must remain reachable and in a position to join their unit in the usual conditions if they are required to do so, so they must provide their superiors with an immediate means of communication.
The services guaranteed since last March 14 by agreement of the CGPJ, Prosecutor's Office and Ministry that have not been affected by the Royal Decree by which the state of alarm was declared are the following:
1. Any judicial procedure that, if not practiced, could cause irreparable damage.
2. Urgent internments of article 763 of the Law of Civil Procedure (non-voluntary internments due to mental disorder).
3. The adoption of precautionary measures or other unavoidable actions, such as the measures for the protection of minors in article 158 of the Civil Code.
4. Courts for violence against women will perform the corresponding guard services. In particular, they must ensure the issuance of protection orders and any precautionary measures regarding violence against women and minors.
5. The Civil Registry will pay permanent attention during the hearing hours. In particular, they must ensure the issuance of burial licenses, birth registrations in a peremptory period and the celebration of marriages in Article 52 of the Civil Code.
6. Proceedings with detainees and others that cannot be postponed, such as the adoption of urgent precautionary measures, removal of bodies, entrances and searches, etc.
7. Any action in cause with prisoners or detainees.
8. Urgent actions in prison surveillance.
9. In the contentious-administrative jurisdictional order, the sanitary, urgent and unavoidable entry authorizations, fundamental rights whose resolution is urgent, precautionary and precautionary measures that are urgent, and contentious-electoral remedies.
10. In the social jurisdictional order, the holding of judgments declared urgent by law and urgent and preferential precautionary measures, as well as the processes of Employment Regulation Files and Temporary Employment Regulation Files.
11. In general, the processes in which violation of fundamental rights is alleged and that are urgent and preferential (those whose postponement would prevent or make the claimed judicial protection very burdensome).
12. The President of the Superior Court of Justice, the President of the Provincial Court and the Judge Dean will adopt the appropriate measures regarding the cessation of activity in the judicial dependencies in which their respective headquarters are located, and their closure and / or eviction if applicable, informing and coordinating with the competent Monitoring Commission.
