Article 390 Spanish Criminal Code: Document Forgery (2026)

Article 390 of the Spanish Criminal Code (Código Penal, CP) punishes document forgery committed by an authority or public official in the exercise of their functions: prison of three to six years, a fine of six to twenty-four months and special disqualification of two to six years. It also defines the four forms of forgery to which the rest of the chapter refers. A private individual who forges a public, official or commercial document is liable under Art. 392 instead, with a lower penalty, and their ideological falsehood is not punishable. As criminal defence lawyers specialising in document forgery, we set out its text, its penalties and how it is defended.

Text of Art. 390 CP: Spanish Original and Unofficial English Translation

Wording of Art. 390 CP, unchanged since it came into force on 24 May 1996 (original text of Organic Law 10/1995). First, the Spanish text as published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), Spain's official gazette; then our own unofficial English translation, for guidance only.

390.1. «Será castigado con las penas de prisión de tres a seis años, multa de seis a veinticuatro meses e inhabilitación especial por tiempo de dos a seis años, la autoridad o funcionario público que, en el ejercicio de sus funciones, cometa falsedad:»

«1.º Alterando un documento en alguno de sus elementos o requisitos de carácter esencial.»

«2.º Simulando un documento en todo o en parte, de manera que induzca a error sobre su autenticidad.»

«3.º Suponiendo en un acto la intervención de personas que no la han tenido, o atribuyendo a las que han intervenido en él declaraciones o manifestaciones diferentes de las que hubieran hecho.»

«4.º Faltando a la verdad en la narración de los hechos.»

390.2. «Será castigado con las mismas penas a las señaladas en el apartado anterior el responsable de cualquier confesión religiosa que incurra en alguna de las conductas descritas en los números anteriores, respecto de actos y documentos que puedan producir efecto en el estado de las personas o en el orden civil.»

Unofficial English translation:

390.1. An authority or public official who, in the exercise of their functions, commits forgery in any of the following ways shall be punished with prison of three to six years, a fine of six to twenty-four months and special disqualification for a period of two to six years:

1. By altering a document in any of its essential elements or requirements.

2. By simulating a document in whole or in part, in such a way as to mislead as to its authenticity.

3. By representing in an act the participation of persons who took no part in it, or by attributing to those who did take part statements or declarations different from those they made.

4. By departing from the truth in the narration of the facts.

390.2. The person in charge of any religious denomination who engages in any of the conduct described in the preceding numbers, in respect of acts and documents that may have effects on the civil status of persons or in civil matters, shall be punished with the same penalties as those set out in the preceding paragraph.

If You Are Investigated for Document Forgery: What Happens Next

Because of its maximum penalty, forgery under Art. 390 is a serious offence (delito grave, Arts. 13 and 33 CP). As a general rule it is tried by the Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial, Art. 14.4 of the Criminal Procedure Act, LECrim), not by the Criminal Section of the Court of Instance (Sección de lo Penal) that tries forgery by a private individual, unless the accused has a special forum (aforado) or the Jury Court takes the case over through connection (see medial concurrence below). It becomes time-barred after ten years, and a final conviction carries a disqualification that removes the official from their post (Art. 42 CP).

Urgent steps: do not give a statement before reviewing the case file with a lawyer; keep the original document, its drafts and the logs of the system used to process it; reconstruct who was involved at each step; and assess early whether the facts fit intentional forgery (Art. 390), negligent forgery (Art. 391) or neither. If disciplinary proceedings are also open, coordinate both defences.

If you do not speak or understand Spanish, you are entitled to an interpreter whenever your presence is required, police questioning included, and to a written translation of essential documents such as the indictment and the judgment, at the Administration's expense (Art. 123 LECrim).

Comparison Table: Arts. 390, 391, 392, 395 and 398 CP

The fine is set under the day-fine system (días-multa), at €2 to €400 per day (Art. 50.4 CP). The chapter is completed by false certificates under Arts. 397 to 399 and card forgery under Art. 399 bis.

The Four Forms of Forgery in Art. 390.1, Explained

1. Altering an essential element (1). An existing document is modified: a date, an amount, the beneficiary, a signature. A touch-up that does not change what the document proves is not enough.
2. Simulating the document (2). It is fabricated, in whole or in part, so as to mislead as to its authenticity. The Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) includes a document created to evidence a transaction that never existed: an invoice for a non-existent service is simulation even if those who issue it sign it (STS 269/2023, of 19 April).
3. Representing the participation of persons (3). The document records as present someone who was not there, or attributes to them statements they did not make, such as minutes recording a vote that was never cast.
4. Departing from the truth in the narration of facts (4). This is ideological falsehood: the document is genuine, but it recounts facts that did not happen, such as an inspection report stating that something was checked when nobody checked it.

Material Forgery and Ideological Falsehood: How Art. 390 Differs from Art. 392

The first three forms are material forgeries: they affect the integrity or the authorship of the document. The fourth is ideological (falsedad ideológica, rendered here as ideological falsehood): it affects the truth of what the document says, and the 1995 Code reserved it for authorities and officials, because Arts. 392 and 395 refer only to the first three numbers of Art. 390.1. A private individual who merely lies in a document they draft themselves, without altering or simulating it, does not commit document forgery.

According to the Supreme Court, simulation requires a wholly untruthful document; partial inaccuracies about a real transaction, such as a different price or items left out of an invoice, are ideological falsehood, which is not an offence for a private individual (STS 1033/2024, of 14 November). We develop this in our post on Art. 392 CP. An official, by contrast, is liable for all four forms: if they narrate false facts in a document of their office, the debate shifts to intent.

Authority or Public Official Acting in Their Functions (Art. 24 CP)

Art. 24 CP uses its own concepts, broader than those of administrative law: a public official is anyone who, by direct provision of the law, by election or by appointment by the competent authority, takes part in the exercise of public functions. It requires two things: one of those titles and taking part in public functions. An interim civil servant (funcionario interino), appointed as such (Art. 10.1 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees), has the title, so they are included if their post involves those functions; for contract staff (personal laboral), hired under an employment contract (Art. 11.1 of the Statute), the specific case must be examined. A notary, for example, is a public official by law (Art. 1 of the Notaries Act, Ley del Notariado).

The forgery must be committed in the exercise of their functions, as with documents the official issues, authorises or processes by reason of their post: holding the status of official is not enough. If they forge outside that sphere, Art. 390 does not apply, and the question is whether the facts fit another provision of the chapter, such as Art. 392 or 395, with its own penalty. A private individual who induces the official, or acts as a necessary cooperator (cooperador necesario), whom Art. 28 CP also treats as a perpetrator, may be liable under Art. 390 in any of its forms, ideological falsehood included, because Arts. 28 and 65.3 CP draw no distinction between them; as they lack the status of official, the court may impose the penalty one degree lower (Art. 65.3 CP).

What Counts as a Document: Public, Official, Commercial or Private

Under Art. 26 CP, a document is any material medium that expresses or incorporates data, facts or narratives with evidential value or any other kind of legal relevance. That includes electronic documents, as we explain in digital document forgery. By type:

• Public: authorised by someone empowered to attest it, such as court decisions, notarial deeds or documents issued by officials with power to certify (Art. 317 of the Civil Procedure Act, LEC).
• Official: issued by a public authority in the exercise of its powers. A private document, such as one filed with an application to a public authority, does not become official merely by joining the administrative file: it must serve as the basis for an official decision (Supreme Court judgment of 11 June 2026, appeal 8489/2023). Both cases are covered in forgery of public and official documents.
• Commercial: only one capable of affecting the security of commercial dealings at large (STS 232/2022, of 14 March, Plenary). Invoices, the most disputed case, are covered in fake invoices: which offence they are.
• Private: all others; forging one is only an offence if the aim is to harm another (Art. 395 CP).

Art. 390 does not distinguish between types: an official commits it on the documents of their post, almost always public or official ones. For a private individual, the type of document decides the article and the penalty.

Negligent Forgery by an Official (Art. 391 CP)

Document forgery is usually intentional, but Art. 391 CP also punishes forgery committed through gross negligence, and only by an authority or public official: one who commits any of the forgeries of Art. 390, or allows another to commit them, for instance by signing, without any check at all, a document falsified by someone else. The penalty is a fine of 6 to 12 months and suspension from public employment or office of 6 months to 1 year. Minor negligence is not an offence, and a private individual is not liable for negligent forgery.

Completion of the Offence and Use of a False Document (Arts. 393, 396 and 400 bis)

Forgery is complete once the document is altered or produced: Arts. 390 and 392 do not require it to be used or to cause any harm, unlike Art. 395, which requires acting in order to harm another. That does not mean any touch-up will do: Art. 390.1 itself requires the alteration to affect an essential element or requirement and the simulation to mislead as to the document's authenticity, so a crude forgery that could deceive no one supports the argument that there is no offence, to be weighed case by case.

Anyone who uses the false document without having forged it is liable under Art. 393 CP (a public, official or commercial document presented in court or used to harm another) or Art. 396 CP (a private document), with the penalty one degree lower than that for the forgers. Art. 400 bis treats as such use the use of a genuine document by someone not entitled to use it. We cover this in detail in use of a false document.

Forgery as a Means to Another Offence: Medial Concurrence (Art. 77 CP)

Forgery is often the tool for another offence. When one offence is a necessary means of committing the other (concurso medial), Art. 77 CP imposes a penalty higher than the one that would have applied to the most serious offence, without exceeding the sum of the specific penalties for each offence separately (see concurrence of offences). For officials, forgery appears alongside embezzlement (Art. 432 CP), such as a certificate justifying an improper payment; alongside administrative malfeasance (prevaricación administrativa, Art. 404 CP); or alongside the planning malfeasance of Art. 320 CP in urban planning cases. For private individuals, the classic combination is forgery and fraud (estafa). Several forgeries under one plan may form a continuing offence (Art. 74 CP). How the concurrence is classified depends on the facts and changes the final penalty.

The connection can also change the court. Embezzlement (Arts. 432 to 434 CP) falls to the Jury Court (Tribunal del Jurado, Art. 1.2.h of Organic Law 5/1995 on the Jury Court), whose jurisdiction extends to connected offences where one was committed in order to perpetrate another, facilitate it or secure impunity for it (Art. 5.2.c), unless they can be tried separately without breaking the unity of the case. Malfeasance (prevaricación), by contrast, can never be tried before the Jury through connection (Art. 5.2, second paragraph).

When Does Document Forgery Become Time-Barred? (Art. 131 CP)

• Art. 390 CP: ten years, because its maximum prison term and its disqualification (six years) exceed five years without exceeding ten (Art. 131.1 CP).
• Arts. 391, 392, 395 and 398 CP: five years, the period for other offences.

Where offences are committed in concurrence or are connected, the limitation period of the most serious offence applies (Art. 131.4 CP): a forgery that on its own would be time-barred after five years follows the longer period of the more serious offence it served as a means to. The period runs from the commission of the offence or, in a continuing offence, from the last act (Art. 132.1 CP). The Code sets no specific starting date for a forgery used as a means to another offence: Art. 131.4 only determines the length of the period, so when it starts to run in a concurrence case should be checked against the facts. More detail in limitation periods for criminal offences.

What a Conviction Means for an Official: Disqualification and Loss of Post

The special disqualification in Art. 390 is a main penalty, not an ancillary one. It entails the permanent loss of the employment or office on which it is imposed, even an elected one, and bars the official from obtaining that or similar posts during the sentence; the judgment must specify them (Art. 42 CP). For career civil servants, a final special disqualification means losing that status for the posts specified in the judgment (Arts. 63.e and 66 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015).

Under Art. 391 the penalty is suspension, which bars the official from exercising the post for the duration of the sentence (Art. 43 CP) and is not among the grounds for loss of civil-servant status in Art. 63 of the Statute. If it exceeds six months, however, the official loses their post while keeping that status (Art. 90.1 of the Statute). Disciplinary proceedings run separately: they are suspended if well-founded signs of a criminal offence emerge, and facts found proven in a final judgment bind the Administration (Art. 94.3). More in disqualification penalties and criminal defence for public officials.

Defence Strategies

1. Exercise of functions: if the document was not issued or processed by reason of the post, Art. 390 does not apply.
2. Form of forgery: distinguish an untruthful narration (390.1.4) from alteration or simulation; for a private individual, the difference may mean there is no offence.
3. Irrelevance of the alteration: altering non-essential elements, or a crude forgery, may lack criminal relevance.
4. Intent or negligence: an error in an official document is not intentional forgery; gross negligence leads to Art. 391, with suspension instead of disqualification.
5. Nature of the document: public, official, commercial or private; it changes the article and the penalty.
6. Expert evidence: challenging handwriting, document or digital forensic reports (metadata, access logs).
7. Limitation: checking the period, including the connected-offences rule of Art. 131.4 CP.