Expungement of Criminal Records in Spain

Criminal record expungement (Arts. 136 and 137 CP) is the legal procedure by which the State removes from official circulation the record of a served conviction, restoring the convicted person to the legal situation prior to the sentence. Its foundation lies in the principles of resocialization (Art. 25.2 SC), human dignity (Art. 10.1 SC), personal data protection (Art. 18.4 SC and GDPR) and constitutional doctrine on the right to be forgotten (STC 58/2018, the CJEU judgment on the right to be forgotten). The Code itself gives expungement effect once the legal requirements are met, even if it has not yet been carried out (Arts. 22.8 and 136.5 CP), although in practice it is advisable to apply expressly to the Central Register of Convicts of the Ministry of Justice.

The expungement modalities present differentiated timeframes. For minor penalties, the term is 6 months; for penalties not exceeding 12 months and those imposed for negligent offences, 2 years; for other less serious penalties under 3 years, 3 years; for less serious penalties of 3 years or more, 5 years; and for serious penalties, 10 years. Terms run from the day after the penalty is extinguished (including conditional release); where it was extinguished by remission after a suspended sentence, once final remission is obtained the term is backdated to the day after the penalty would have been served had it not been suspended (Art. 136.2 CP). For minors, entries are cancelled of the Ministry's own motion ten years after they reach the age of 18, provided the measures imposed have been fully enforced or have become time-barred (Art. 24 of Royal Decree 95/2009). Police record expungement is independent and requires separate procedure before the General Directorate of Police or Civil Guard. Finally, records in the Central Registry of Sexual Offenders (Arts. 57 and 58 of Organic Law 8/2021) have a special regime: they bar work involving regular contact with minors and, where the victim was a minor, the entry is only cancelled 30 years after the sentence is extinguished with no further sexual or trafficking offence, even if the criminal record has already been cancelled (Art. 10 of Royal Decree 1110/2015).

The legal requirements for expungement are: (i) elapsed time without reoffending, and (ii) extinction of the penalty (prison, fine, community service, accessory penalties), by serving it or on another legal ground. The current Art. 136 CP does not require civil liability to have been paid, nor any post-conviction conduct other than not reoffending. The practical consequences of live records are serious: they can bar access to the bodies and public examinations that require a clean record and to weapon licences; a conviction for a sexual or trafficking offence bars any profession or activity involving regular contact with minors (Art. 57 of Organic Law 8/2021); and they prevent an initial temporary residence permit (Art. 31.5 LOEx) and weigh on its renewal and on nationality.

The technical defence in expungement rests on four axes. First, exhaustive documentary verification: certification of complete penalty fulfillment issued by the sentencing body and certificate from the Convicts Registry. Second, clear differentiation between criminal and police records: many administrative procedures (NIE renewal, exams, licences) consult both registries; simultaneous expungement must be managed in both. Third, the correct calculation of the period, including the Art. 136.2 CP backdating where the sentence was suspended, and, where expungement was due but has not been carried out, relying on Art. 136.5 CP so that the record is not taken into account. Fourth, appeals against denials: the decision refusing cancellation can be challenged by a contentious-administrative appeal (Art. 19.2 of Royal Decree 95/2009, as amended by Royal Decree 607/2025), with constitutional coverage when rejection affects fundamental rights (Arts. 18.4 and 25.2 SC).

In current forensic practice we observe that expungement has become an increasingly strategic procedure after Organic Law 4/2015 on Citizen Security, Organic Law 3/2018 on Data Protection, Organic Law 8/2021 on Comprehensive Childhood Protection and Organic Law 1/2025 on Justice Service Efficiency. Constitutional Court case-law on the digital right to be forgotten and the CJEU judgment on the right to be forgotten have reinforced the need to articulate expungements also against search engines and platforms. At Alonso Sala, with more than 15 years of experience, we manage criminal and police record expungements coordinating necessary documentation, verifying prescribed terms, managing applications before the Central Convicts Registry, General Directorate of Police and Civil Guard, and filing necessary appeals when the Administration denies the application. Additionally, when appropriate, we articulate right to be forgotten applications before Google and digital platforms to clean the client's digital reputation.