Ordinary Committal Proceedings in Spain (Arts. 299-648 LECrim)

Ordinary committal proceedings are the oldest procedure in the Spanish Criminal Procedure Act and today the least common: they apply only to the most serious offences. Their logic differs from that of the abbreviated procedure, and anyone unfamiliar with it arrives late to steps that are not repeated.

You are accused of a serious offence and the case follows the committal route

The boundary is set by exclusion. Art. 757 LECrim reserves the abbreviated procedure for offences punishable by a custodial sentence of no more than nine years; anything above that threshold follows the ordinary committal route, unless the case belongs to the jury court or to another special procedure.

After the reorganisation brought in by Organic Law 1/2025 the courts involved are these: the Investigation Section of the Court of First Instance for the place of the offence investigates, or the section with jurisdiction over violence against women or violence against children and adolescents where the offence falls within its remit (Art. 14.2 LECrim); and the Provincial Court of the district where the offence was committed tries the case, or the Criminal Division of the National High Court within its own remit (Art. 14.4).

What the committal file is and what happens in it

Art. 299 LECrim defines it precisely: the file consists of the steps taken to prepare the trial and to establish the commission of the offence with every circumstance that may affect its legal classification and the guilt of those responsible, securing their persons and their financial liability.

Three features set it apart from the preliminary proceedings of the abbreviated procedure:

• A formal charge. Taking a statement is not enough: there is a specific decision, the committal order.
• Judicial review of the closure. The investigation does not end when the investigating court decides, but when the trial court confirms it.
• Secrecy. The regime of Art. 302 LECrim applies in full.

The maximum investigation periods are the same as those of Art. 324 LECrim that apply in the abbreviated procedure, explained in this article on investigation deadlines.

The committal order (Art. 384 LECrim)

This is the central piece. Art. 384 LECrim requires that, as soon as the file shows a reasonable indication of criminal conduct against a specific person, an order be issued committing that person and directing that the proceedings be conducted against them.

The immediate practical consequences:

• The person committed may instruct a lawyer, unless held incommunicado, to press for the prompt closing of the file or to request steps and make submissions on their own situation.
• An application for review lies within three days of service and, against the order refusing it, an appeal with no suspensive effect within the following five days; the appeal may also be lodged in the alternative together with the application for review.
• Against an order refusing committal only the application for review lies. If that is refused there is no appeal, but the party who sought committal may raise the request again before the Provincial Court when responding under Art. 627, and the court will rule on it in the order of Art. 630.

The contrast with the abbreviated procedure is clear: there the charge is formalised in the order of Art. 779.1.4, with no committal and without that two-tier set of remedies.

Closing the investigation (Arts. 622-633 LECrim)

When the investigating court considers the file complete, it declares it so and sends the papers and the exhibits to the trial court (Art. 622 LECrim). From then on the trial court is in charge:

• Art. 623. The closing order is served and the parties are summoned to appear before the Provincial Court within ten days, or fifteen where the summons is to the Supreme Court.
• Art. 627. The file is passed to the parties for a period of no less than three and no more than ten days, depending on its size; where the case exceeds a thousand pages an extension is possible. On returning it, each party either accepts the closure or asks for further steps, and states its position on opening the trial or dismissing the case.
• Art. 630. The court issues an order confirming or reversing the one made by the investigating court.
• Arts. 632 and 633. Once the closure is confirmed, the court rules within three days on the trial or the dismissal; if it opens the trial, it orders the file to be passed for the charging submissions of Art. 649.

This step has no counterpart in the abbreviated procedure and is the best opportunity to request missing investigative steps.

Full or provisional dismissal

Art. 634 LECrim distinguishes between full and provisional dismissal, and between total and partial. Where it is partial, the trial is opened as regards those defendants it does not benefit.

The grounds are those of Art. 637 for a full dismissal — no reasonable indication that the act took place, the act is not an offence, or the defendants appear exempt from criminal liability — and those of Art. 641 for a provisional one: the commission of the offence is not duly established, or, the offence having been committed, there are not sufficient grounds to charge a specific person.

Against dismissal orders, Art. 636 points to cassation, in the terms of Art. 848; victims have twenty days to appeal even if they were not a party. The point is developed in this article on cassation against a full dismissal.

Charging submissions and admission of evidence

Once the trial is opened, Art. 649 LECrim passes the file to the public prosecutor — or to the private prosecutor where the offence is not prosecuted of the court's own motion — so that within five days the facts are set out in writing. From that decision onwards all steps in the proceedings are public.

The charging submission is confined to precise, numbered conclusions (Art. 650): the punishable acts, their legal classification, the part played by each defendant, mitigating, aggravating or exempting circumstances and the penalties; and, where civil claims are brought, the amount of the damage and the parties liable.

When responding, the defence may enter a guilty plea to the most serious classification and the penalty sought (Art. 655 LECrim), with judicial control equivalent to that of the abbreviated procedure: the court checks that the classification is correct and the penalty appropriate, hears the defendant on whether the plea is given freely, and may not impose a heavier penalty than the one sought. Where there are several defendants and not all of them plead, the trial goes ahead.

Art. 659 governs the admission of evidence. One detail decides appeals: against the order refusing an item of evidence, cassation lies in due course, provided it is prepared with a timely formal objection.

Trial before the Provincial Court and judgment

Hearings are public on pain of nullity (Art. 680 LECrim), subject to the exceptions provided by law. Once the session opens, the presiding judge asks each defendant whether they admit the offence and civil liability in the terms of the charging submission (Art. 688).

Judgment is given by assessing in conscience the evidence taken, the arguments of prosecution and defence and what the defendants themselves stated (Art. 741), and must resolve every issue tried, including civil liability, without using the formula of dismissal for a defendant who should not be convicted (Art. 742).

Appeals: to the High Court of Justice and then cassation

Since the 2015 reform there is a full second instance. Art. 846 ter LECrim makes judgments given at first instance by the Provincial Courts — and orders ending the case for lack of jurisdiction or by full dismissal — appealable to the Civil and Criminal Division of the High Court of Justice, or to the Appeals Division of the National High Court. That division sits with three judges and the appeal follows Arts. 790, 791 and 792.

Against the judgment deciding that appeal, cassation lies for infringement of law and for procedural defects (Art. 847.1.a) 1 LECrim). It is a wider route than the one open against appeal judgments of the Provincial Courts, which is confined to the ground in Art. 849.1. The available grounds are analysed in the article on cassation grounds.

What the defence looks at

• Whether the route fits. If the penalty in the abstract does not exceed nine years, the case belongs to the abbreviated procedure: Art. 760 LECrim allows the correction without going back further than necessary.
• The scope of the committal order. Which facts and which persons it covers, and whether the indications are reasoned. The subject matter of the trial depends on it.
• The step under Art. 627. This is the moment to request missing investigative steps and to argue for dismissal; it does not come back.
• The formal objection to refused evidence. Without it, Art. 659 leaves the ground outside cassation.

If you have been served with a committal order, or your case is following the ordinary committal route, it is worth reviewing which steps are still open and which have lapsed. You can contact us at +34 91 078 65 74.