Fines increase due to the new restrictions under the State of Alarm

We are sharing the full article by our colleague Sara Domínguez Ramos on penalties related to the restrictions under the State of Alarm, published by Estadio Deportivo:

https://www.estadiodeportivo.com/estar-al-dia/2020/03/30/crecen-sanciones-nuevas-restricciones-alarma/273114.html

“By Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March, the Government declared the state of alarm, pursuant to Organic Law 4/1981 of 1 June, on states of alarm, emergency and siege, which apply when extraordinary circumstances make it impossible to maintain normality through the ordinary powers of the competent authorities.”

The state of alarm declared by the Government on 14 March 2020, for a maximum period of fifteen days, will remain in force in Spain until 12 April; Congress has ratified the extension of the decree approved on the 14th, with broad support from both the right and the left, with 321 votes and the announced abstention of the pro-independence parties.

During the state of alarm, certain rights may be suspended, in accordance with Art. 11 of the aforementioned Organic Law 4/1981 of 1 June: it will be possible to restrict movement or the presence of persons or vehicles at certain times and places, or make it conditional upon compliance with certain requirements; carry out temporary requisitions of all kinds of property and impose mandatory personal services; intervene in and temporarily occupy industries, factories, workshops, operations or premises of any nature; limit or ration the use of services or the consumption of essential goods; and issue the necessary orders to ensure the supply of markets.

The latest measure adopted by the Government is to require workers in non-essential services to stay at home from 30 March to 9 April, approved this Sunday by the Council of Ministers at an extraordinary meeting.

In the sports sector, all sporting activity has been suspended, and the closure of all facilities or premises related to sport has been agreed, such as football, rugby and baseball fields, basketball and handball courts, tennis courts, sports centres, swimming pools, stadiums, gyms, and any other premises or facilities similar to those mentioned.

In fact, La Liga will soon announce an extension of the suspension of the Spanish championship for as long as the state of alarm and its extension remain in force. Accordingly, the two-match stoppage that was announced will be extended until the same date the Government decrees again, which is why it will already be difficult to compete again until late April or even May.

The Premier League was the first major league to extend the suspension and announced that it is postponing its league at least until 30 April. La Liga will do the same immediately.
As Tebas himself stated, “we have time until mid-May to resume and finish La Liga perfectly before 30 June”.

La Liga is optimistic and has been working for days on five possible scenarios to align the restart of its championship with those of other countries and with European competitions. The fact that Euro 2020 has already been officially postponed to June 2021 has made things much easier.

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games until 2021 marks a milestone in the history of sport. For the fourth time in history, the world will “miss” its Olympic appointment, this time due to the threat of coronavirus, the pandemic that has forced the cancellation of all sporting events around the planet. Since the beginning of what we know as the modern Olympic Games, first held in Athens in 1896, they had only been suspended on three occasions: Berlin 1916, Tokyo/Helsinki 1940 and London 1944; all three due to the World Wars.

Art. 20 of the Royal Decree refers to the penalty regime and provides that failure to comply with, or resistance to, the orders of the competent authorities during the state of alarm will be sanctioned in accordance with the laws, under the terms set out in Article 10 of Organic Law 4/1981 of 1 June.

Penalties that may be applied:

1) Organic Law 4/2015 of 30 March on the protection of public safety.

Art. 37.15. The removal of barriers, tape or other fixed or movable elements placed by the Security Forces and Corps to delimit security perimeters, even as a preventive measure, when it does not constitute a serious offence.

It is classified as a MINOR offence when it does not constitute a serious offence and is punishable by a fine of €100 to €600.

Art. 36.6. Disobedience or resistance to the authority or its agents in the exercise of their functions, when it does not constitute a criminal offence, as well as refusal to identify oneself at the request of the authority or its agents, or refusal to provide data, or providing false or inaccurate data in identification procedures.
It is classified as a SERIOUS offence, punishable by a fine of €601 to €30,000.

2) Law 33/2011 of 4 October, General Public Health.

Art. 57.2.b) classifies as SERIOUS OFFENCES, punishable by a fine of €3,001 to €60,000, the following conduct: “Engaging in conduct or omissions that may produce a serious risk or harm to the health of the population, when it does not constitute a very serious offence”.

Art. 57.2.a) classifies as VERY SERIOUS OFFENCES, punishable by a fine of €60,001 to €600,000, the following conduct: “Engaging in conduct or omissions that produce a very serious risk or harm to the health of the population”.

As well as “Repeated failure to comply with instructions received from the competent authority, or failure to comply with a requirement from that authority, if it entails serious harm to health”.

3) Law 17/2015 of 9 July on the National Civil Protection System.

Art. 45.4. Establishes that SERIOUS offences, punishable by a fine of €30,001 to €600,000, include the following conduct: “In declared emergencies, failure to comply with orders, prohibitions, instructions or requirements issued by the heads of the competent bodies or members of intervention and assistance services, as well as duties of cooperation with surveillance and protection services of public or private companies, when it does not entail special danger or significance for the safety of persons or property”.

Art. 45.3. VERY SERIOUS offences, punishable by a fine of €1,501 to €30,000, include the same conduct described in the previous section when such conduct entails special danger or significance for the safety of persons or property.

4) Organic Law 10/1995 of 23 November, the Criminal Code.

ART. 556.

“1. Those who, without being covered by Article 550, seriously resist or disobey the authority or its agents in the exercise of their functions, or private security personnel, duly identified, who carry out private security activities in cooperation with and under the command of the Security Forces and Corps, shall be punished by imprisonment from three months to one year or a fine of six to eighteen months.”

“2. Those who show a lack of respect and due consideration for the authority, in the exercise of its functions, shall be punished by a fine of one to three months.”

Going out into the street during the state of alarm to practise sport may be sanctioned with a fine of between €100 and €600, and may reach €600,000 in the most serious cases, and may even constitute a criminal offence under the Criminal Code.

In addition, the penalties, under the Law on states of alarm, emergency and siege, will remain in force even after the declaration of the state of alarm expires.

That is, once the aforementioned state is deemed to have ended, the effectiveness of the powers regarding penalties and preventive actions vested in the competent authorities will lapse, as will all specific measures adopted on that basis, except those consisting of final penalties.

In the first days of the state of alarm, decreed by the Government, the State Security Forces carried out identifications and issued verbal warnings to citizens who ignored the home confinement.

As of today, arrests and penalties have surged for failing to respect the restriction on movement imposed by the state of alarm. At In Diem Abogados, we appeal to the solidarity of all citizens to stay at home; it is everyone’s duty to cooperate to bring this situation to an end as soon as possible.

Signed: Sara Domínguez Ramos”

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