Spain's Consent Law ('Only Yes Means Yes'): What Changed and What Applies in 2026

The 'only yes means yes' law is Spain's Organic Law 10/2022 of 6 September on the comprehensive guarantee of sexual freedom, in force since 7 October 2022. Besides measures to prevent sexual violence and support victims, it amended the Criminal Code (CP): it abolished the distinction between sexual abuse and sexual assault and made consent the core of all these offences. Organic Law 4/2023 of 27 April kept that model but restored heavier penalties for violence or intimidation, also applying them where the victim's will is annulled. That wording is still in force in 2026.

What the 'Only Yes Means Yes' Law Says: Consent at the Core

The heart of the reform is Art. 178.1 CP, which reads as follows in our unofficial translation (only the Spanish text in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, Spain's official gazette, is authoritative):

178.1. Anyone who performs any act that infringes the sexual freedom of another person without their consent shall be punished with imprisonment of one to four years, as the person responsible for sexual assault. Consent shall be deemed to exist only where it has been freely manifested through acts which, in view of the circumstances of the case, clearly express the will of the person.

The first sentence defines the offence: any sexual act without consent is enough, with or without violence, so non-consensual touching already falls within it (see groping and sexual assault). The second defines consent in positive terms, hence the law's popular name. A spoken or written 'yes' is not required, but silence or mere passivity are not, on their own, such acts.

Paragraph 2 lists acts that are assault «in all cases»: those committed with violence, intimidation or abuse of a position of superiority or of the victim's vulnerability, on persons deprived of their senses or whose mental condition is abused, or whose will is annulled for any reason. The question is no longer whether there was violence or resistance, but whether there were acts expressing the will to take part.

Does Sexual Abuse Still Exist? What Happens Next for the Former Abuse Offences

Not as a separate offence. Until 6 October 2022, Spanish law distinguished sexual assault (agresión sexual, Art. 178), committed with violence or intimidation, from sexual abuse (abuso sexual, Art. 181): non-consensual acts without violence or intimidation, such as those on persons deprived of their senses, on victims whose will had been annulled with drugs, or by taking advantage of a manifest position of superiority.

Today all of them are sexual assault, and non-consensual penetration is rape under Art. 179 even without violence. Two forms of the former abuse now fit in as follows:

• Abuse of superiority (prevalimiento). It is one of the forms of assault in Art. 178.2; if the offender exploits a relationship of cohabitation, kinship or superiority over the victim, circumstance 5 of Art. 180.1 raises the basic penalty to two to eight years (see abuse of a position of superiority or authority).
• Chemical submission (drug-facilitated assault). Acting on a victim whose will is annulled is assault under Art. 178.3, punishable by one to five years; if the offender supplied the substance, circumstance 7 of Art. 180.1 applies: two to eight years, or seven to fifteen with penetration (see chemical submission: evidence and defence).

The same circumstance is not counted twice (last paragraph of Art. 180.1, which refers to the rule in Art. 8.4 CP). Acts committed before October 2022 are tried under the law then in force, unless the later law is more favourable (Art. 2 CP), which is why the term 'sexual abuse' is still used in those cases.

Penalties Under the 'Only Yes Means Yes' Law: Before, Under Organic Law 10/2022 and Today

Organic Law 10/2022 raised the penalties for some former abuse offences but lowered those for assaults with violence or intimidation, which came to share one range with the rest; Organic Law 4/2023 restored those ranges. In the 'before' column, article numbers follow the earlier wording:

Art. 181.2 covers every form of assault described in Art. 178.2 and 178.3, not only violence or intimidation.

For acts of lesser seriousness, Art. 178.4 allows the prison term in its lower half or a fine of eighteen to twenty-four months, unless there is violence, intimidation, an annulled will or an Art. 180 circumstance (under Organic Law 10/2022, only the last ruled it out); for victims under sixteen, Art. 181.3 allows a penalty one degree lower, with similar exclusions. Two or more Art. 180 circumstances take the penalty to its upper half (Art. 180.2), and an offender who abuses a position as an authority or public official also receives absolute disqualification of six to twelve years (Art. 180.3).

For penetration and minors, see our guides on rape under Art. 179 and on sexual assault of children under sixteen.

The 2023 Corrective Reform (Organic Law 4/2023): What Changed and What Stayed the Same

Organic Law 4/2023 of 27 April came into force on 29 April 2023, the day after publication. Its four main changes were:

• it created aggravated forms in Art. 178.3 (one to five years) and Art. 179.2 (six to twelve years) for violence, intimidation and an annulled will;
• it split the penalties in Art. 180.1 into four ranges;
• it restored the penalties of eight to twelve and twelve to fifteen years for penetration with children under sixteen (Art. 181.4);
• and it excluded cases involving violence, intimidation or an annulled will from the mitigation for acts of lesser seriousness (Art. 178.4).

It did not touch the definition of consent or the merger of abuse into assault. Because it is harsher, it applies only to acts committed from 29 April 2023 (Art. 2.1 CP), unless in a particular case it turns out to be more favourable.

Why Convictions Were Reviewed: the More Favourable Criminal Law

Because Art. 2.2 CP gives retroactive effect to criminal laws that favour the offender, «even if a final judgment had been handed down when they came into force and the person was serving their sentence» (unofficial translation). By lowering several minimum and maximum penalties, Organic Law 10/2022 opened the way to reviewing final convictions, with no rule to limit those reviews: its only transitional provision concerns the measures to protect, support and keep victims safe in ongoing proceedings.

The Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) applies its doctrine on the more favourable criminal law in STS 20/2026: where the then-applicable legal minimum was imposed, the new, more favourable minimum must be applied, which in that case meant reducing the sentence from six to four years' imprisonment. When a review is appropriate, and when it is not, is explained in our article on when a sexual-assault sentence must be reviewed.

What Still Applies in 2026 and What Has Not Changed

In 2026 none of these offences has changed: Arts. 178 to 181 CP keep the wording of Organic Law 4/2023, and no offence against sexual freedom has been amended since April 2023. Organic Law 1/2026 of 8 April, in force since 10 April 2026, dealt with multiple reoffending and left these articles untouched.

Two initiatives that would have affected them were never passed: the bill to postpone or remove the limitation period for sexual offences against minors and the government bill for the protection of minors in digital environments, which would have made the dissemination of sexual or seriously degrading deepfakes a specific offence and aggravated several sexual offences against minors committed using a false identity. Both lapsed on 6 October 2026 when the Cortes Generales were dissolved (Royal Decree 806/2026); they would have to be reintroduced in the new legislature.

Accessory Penalties, the Sex Offender Register and Limitation Periods

Besides prison, a conviction entails:

• Supervised release (libertad vigilada) after prison (Art. 192.1 CP): five to ten years if any offence is serious and one to five if they are less serious; for a single less serious offence by a first-time offender, the court may decide not to impose it.
• Special disqualification from any profession or activity involving regular and direct contact with minors, for a period longer than the prison sentence imposed (Art. 192.3 CP).
• Entry in the Central Register of Sex Offenders and Human Trafficking, which is not for life: it is cancelled after the periods set by Royal Decree 1110/2015 (the general criminal-record periods if the victim was an adult; 30 years from the end of the sentence, with no new sexual or trafficking offence, if the victim was a minor).

The limitation period depends on the maximum penalty laid down by law and, where the penalty is composite, on the one requiring the longest period (Arts. 131.1 and 131.2 CP). For offences committed on or after 25 June 2021, it is at least fifteen years, including under Arts. 178.1 and 178.3, whose prison terms alone would give five or ten: the disqualification under Article 192.3 CP, which the Public Prosecutor's Office counts as a principal penalty (Circular 1/2023), exceeds ten years. It is fifteen years for Art. 179 and twenty where the maximum prison term reaches fifteen years, as in penetration with the circumstances of Art. 180. Where the offender takes advantage of their position as an authority or public official, Art. 180.3 also adds absolute disqualification of six to twelve years, which on its own takes the period to fifteen years (Art. 131.1 CP). Where the victim was under eighteen, time runs from the day they turn thirty-five (Art. 132.1 CP), a rule that applies only to acts committed from 25 June 2021; for earlier acts, it ran from the age of majority. More detail in the complete limitation periods table.

Trial and Evidence: What Changes for the Accused and for the Person Reporting

The consent model does not reverse the burden of proof: the prosecution must prove that there was no consent, and the accused keeps the presumption of innocence. The victim's statement can be enough for a conviction if it meets the criteria set by the Supreme Court (see presumption of innocence in sexual offences), and earlier and later messages help to reconstruct the context, but on their own prove neither consent nor its absence. We look at the practical side in our review of the law and the new defences.

Audio and Video Recordings: the Risk Under Art. 197 CP

Recording an intimate encounter without the other person's knowledge may be an offence against privacy (Art. 197 CP), and its admission as defence evidence is not automatic.

Mistake About Consent (Art. 14 CP)

If the accused believed, through an unavoidable mistake, that there was consent, there is no criminal liability (Art. 14.1 CP); if the mistake was avoidable, the act could only be punished as negligent, and the Code does not punish these offences when committed negligently (Art. 12 CP).

What to Do (and What Not to Do) If You Are Accused or Are Going to Report

If you are accused: do not contact the complainant or those close to them: it may be seen as pressure and justify precautionary measures. Do not delete conversations or post about the case, and do not make a statement without a lawyer (and an interpreter, if needed): you have the right to remain silent and to consult your lawyer first. Keep what helps to reconstruct the context (messages, locations, witnesses) for your defence to assess. If you are serving a sentence for acts before October 2022, ask whether it can be reviewed.

If you are going to report: do so as soon as possible, to the police, the duty court or the Public Prosecutor's Office; see a doctor even without visible injuries, and keep your clothing and messages. If the victim is under fourteen, the Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim) requires their statement to be recorded as pre-constituted evidence (Art. 449 ter LECrim) and, as a rule, they will not have to repeat it at trial (Art. 703 bis LECrim). You can also join the proceedings as a private prosecutor (acusación particular).

At Alonso Sala, with more than 15 years of experience in criminal law, we act for the defence of people under investigation or accused, and as private prosecutor, in proceedings for sexual assault and other sexual offences (see also our guide for people accused of sexual assault). You can call us on +34 91 078 65 74 for an initial assessment of your case.