Article 568 Spanish Criminal Code: Possession and Storage of Explosives · Penalties and Defence (2026)

Article 568 of the Criminal Code defines one of the most serious offences against public order: the unauthorised possession, storage, manufacture, trafficking, transport or supply of explosive, flammable, incendiary or asphyxiating substances and devices. It is found in Chapter V of Title XXII of Book II, the same chapter that regulates illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. As specialist criminal defence lawyers in illegal possession offences, we explain the offence, the penalties, the line with the administrative offence and the lines of defence.

What Article 568 CP Punishes

Paragraph 568.1 CP punishes anyone who, without authorisation from the law or the competent authority, possesses, stores, manufactures, traffics, transports or supplies in any form explosive, flammable, incendiary or asphyxiating substances or devices, or their components. This is an offence of abstract danger: it does not require the substance to actually detonate or cause harm; the mere unauthorised availability of material with that capacity already constitutes the offence, because of the risk it poses to collective safety.

The conduct covers both explosives as such and flammable, incendiary or asphyxiating materials and their components (precursors, detonators, fuses, timers). The reference to components makes it possible to cover possession of items that, in isolation, might seem harmless, but are intended for building a device.

Penalties under Article 568 CP

The criminal response is graduated according to the offender's role in the stockpile:

• Promoters and organisers: imprisonment of four to eight years.
• Those who cooperated in forming the stockpile: imprisonment of three to five years.

This distinction matters for the defence: devising, directing or financing the stockpiling of explosive material is not the same as playing a secondary role in forming it. Being classed as a promoter rather than a mere cooperator can mean several years' difference in the sentence.

Paragraph 568.2: Liquid Fuel

Paragraph 568.2 CP covers cases where the flammable substance is a liquid fuel. In that case the penalty is imprisonment of three to five years, and the courts may impose the penalty one degree lower when the conduct is less serious. This paragraph covers, among other cases, the supply of fuel to vessels engaged in drug trafficking. You can read more about this in our analysis of fuel supply under Art. 568.2 CP.

Crime or Administrative Offence

The key to the offence is the lack of authorisation. Possession, manufacture or transport of explosives is subject to a strict administrative regime (the Explosives Regulation, Royal Decree 130/2017, and its implementing rules). When authorisation exists but formal or safety requirements are not met — defects in storage, documentation or licensing — the conduct is usually treated as an administrative offence punished under Organic Law 4/2015 on the Protection of Citizen Security, not the offence of Art. 568 CP.

The offence also requires the material to have real significance and dangerousness. Lawful pyrotechnics acquired and stored in accordance with the Pyrotechnic Articles Regulation, or keeping small amounts of commonly used flammable substances at home, does not on its own satisfy the offence. The defence must precisely determine whether the case involves authorised possession with administrative irregularities or clandestine possession with harmful capacity.

Additional Consequences (Arts. 569 and 570 CP)

Alongside the prison sentence, the chapter provides for further consequences:

• Art. 569 CP: stockpiles of explosives established in the name of, or on behalf of, an association with a criminal purpose lead to a judicial declaration that it is unlawful and its consequent dissolution.
• Art. 570 CP: the judge may impose deprivation of the right to possess and carry weapons for a period exceeding the prison sentence by three years. And if the convicted person was authorised to manufacture or trade in these substances, special disqualification from that industry or trade for twelve to twenty years is added.

Distinction from Other Offences

Art. 568 CP must not be confused with result-based or specific-risk offences. If the explosive is actually used and causes destruction, the offences of havoc or criminal damage may come into play; if a concrete danger to life or physical integrity is created through the handling of dangerous substances, the offences of catastrophic risk may apply. Art. 568 CP, by contrast, punishes the earlier stage: the mere unauthorised availability of the material. Correctly classifying the conduct — possession under Art. 568 as against a result-based offence — entirely determines the applicable legal framework.

Lines of Defence

The criminal defence against an accusation under Art. 568 CP is built on several fronts:

• Existence of authorisation, or reclassification as an administrative matter when the material was held under a regulated regime with mere formal irregularities.
• Nature and dangerousness of the material: challenging, through expert evidence, that the substance lacked significant explosive or incendiary capacity, or that it was not a component intended for a device.
• Role of the accused: distinguishing the promotion or organisation of the stockpile from a secondary form of cooperation, with the resulting reduction in sentence.
• Absence of intent or of knowledge of the nature of the material possessed or transported.
• Lawfulness of the search and seizure and of the chain of custody of the items seized.

Each case requires an individual assessment of the expert and documentary evidence, without pre-judging the outcome and in strict confidence.

Criminal Defence in Offences of Possessing Explosives

The criminal defence firm Alonso Sala, based in Madrid (Calle Velázquez 27) and covering the whole of Spain, handles the defence in proceedings for possession, storage or transport of explosives and dangerous substances under Art. 568 CP. We examine the existence of authorisation, the expert nature of the material and the accused's specific role to build the most favourable strategy. You can find out more on our page on criminal defence in illegal possession of weapons and explosives.