The New Criminal Procedure Law (LECrim): Prosecutor-Led Investigations and the 2028 Timeline

Few procedural reforms have generated as much anticipation —and as much confusion— as the announced new Criminal Procedure Act (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal, LECrim). Headlines and online articles sometimes suggest that "the prosecutor already runs criminal investigations" or that the 1882 LECrim "has been replaced". That is not the case. As of June 2026, the text is a government bill making its way through the Spanish Parliament: it is not the law in force and it has no effect whatsoever on today's criminal cases. As criminal defence lawyers, we explain what the bill envisages, where its passage actually stands, and —above all— what is not going to change tomorrow.

What the Bill Is and Where It Actually Stands

The Council of Ministers approved the draft new LECrim and sent it to the Congress of Deputies in autumn 2025. Since then it has been following the ordinary parliamentary route: amendments, committee work, floor votes and, afterwards, the Senate. It is a long process during which the text may change substantially and which, like any bill, could even lapse if the parliamentary term ended or Parliament were dissolved before its approval.

The practical consequence is clear: nothing in the bill is applicable today. The criminal investigation phase is still governed by the Criminal Procedure Act in force, which —through all its reforms, most recently the far-reaching Organic Law 1/2025— keeps the juez de instrucción (investigating judge) in charge of the investigation. Any statement in the present tense about the "prosecutor as investigator" in Spain is simply inaccurate.

Nor is this the first attempt: over recent decades several preliminary drafts of a new LECrim were prepared and lapsed without ever being passed, with changes of parliamentary term in between. That precedent counsels caution: the fact that the bill exists and is moving forward does not, by itself, guarantee either its approval or its final content.

The Prosecutor as Investigator: What the Bill Would Provide

The change of model that would give the reform its name is the transfer of the direction of criminal investigations to the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Fiscal), replacing the current investigating judge. Under the text sent to Parliament, the prosecutor would lead the investigation phase: driving the investigative steps, coordinating the judicial police and deciding, at the end of that phase, whether to bring charges or to seek the closure of the case, always subject to mechanisms of control over that decision.

This would align Spain with the model prevailing in neighbouring European systems, where the investigation belongs to the prosecutor and the judge is reserved for a safeguarding role. The conditional tense matters: the final scope of these provisions will depend on the text Parliament eventually approves, and issues as significant as the status of the investigating prosecutor, their functional autonomy and the internal checks within the prosecution service are among the most debated points of the parliamentary passage.

The Judge of Guarantees: the Counterweight of the New Model

Handing the investigation to the prosecutor would not mean removing judicial control. The bill provides for a juez de garantías (judge of guarantees): a judicial authority that would not investigate, but would step in wherever fundamental rights are at stake. Under the projected scheme, this judge would be responsible, among other functions, for:

• Authorising investigative measures that restrict rights: searches of premises, interception of communications, examination of devices.
• Deciding on personal precautionary measures, notably pre-trial detention, which would in no case be left in the prosecutor's hands.
• Protecting the rights of the defence and of the victim during the investigation, ruling on disputes raised against the prosecutor's decisions.
• Reviewing the closure of investigations, as a safeguard against a possibly unjustified shelving of the case.

The definitive architecture of this division of roles —which decisions would require prior authorisation, which appeals would lie and before whom— can only be known once a final text has been approved.

Timeline: 1 January 2028 as the Horizon

The bill itself schedules its entry into force for 1 January 2028. That long vacatio legis (transition period before a law takes effect) is no accident: a change of model of this magnitude would require expanding the staff of the Public Prosecutor's Office, adapting court and prosecution offices, reorganising the judicial map and training every legal operator before the first day of application.

That said, the date is a projection in the bill, not a firm commitment. It is conditional on the law actually being passed and on parliamentary timing: if the passage drags on, the date could be pushed back through amendments. As of today, the only certainty is that there is no legally binding entry-into-force date, because there is as yet no law.

What Would Happen to Ongoing Cases

It is the question we hear most often at the firm: "if the new LECrim enters into force, does my case move to the prosecutor?". The answer given by the bill itself is reassuring: proceedings already initiated by the date of entry into force would continue to be processed under the current LECrim until their conclusion. No one would see their case "change hands" in the middle of the investigation, and steps already taken would not have to be repeated.

In practice, this would mean two systems coexisting for years: older cases would run their course under the current rules (investigating judge), while new cases, opened after the entry-into-force date, would be born under the prosecutor-plus-judge-of-guarantees model. It is the same transitional scheme historically used in Spain's major procedural reforms.

What Is NOT Going to Change Tomorrow

Against the background noise, it is worth pinning down what remains exactly the same for as long as the bill is not law:

• The investigating judge still leads the investigation. Statements as a suspect are given before the investigating court, not before the prosecution service.
• Deadlines, appeals and procedural steps are unchanged. Applications for review, appeals, investigation time limits and the precautionary measures regime remain those of the LECrim in force.
• The reforms actually in force are different ones. What does apply today is Organic Law 1/2025 on the efficiency of the Justice system (reformed plea agreements, new fast-track trials, Courts of Instance) and the reform of precautionary measures introduced by Organic Law 1/2026.
• No case is closed or transformed because the bill exists: its current legal effect is nil.

Be wary of content that presents the prosecutor-led investigation as the law in force or announces entry-into-force dates as certain: for now, these are only projections in a text still under debate.

What It Means for You if You Have an Open Case

If you are under investigation, accused or a victim in ongoing criminal proceedings, the draft new LECrim changes nothing about your situation: your case is governed —and will continue to be governed— by the current law, even if the reform were eventually approved. The decisions that matter —how to testify, which investigative steps to request, how to challenge a precautionary measure— are played out under today's rules, not those of 2028.

What we do as a firm is monitor the bill's parliamentary passage, because its final approval would shape strategy in investigations that may be opened in the coming years. Anticipating the regulatory landscape is part of a serious criminal defence.