EARN News
New limitation period in Spanish contract law
Barcelona, 2016-02-29
With law number 42/2015 on the reform of the civil procedure (Ley 42/2015, de 5 de octubre, de reforma de la Ley 1/2000, de 7 de enero, de Enjuiciamiento Civil), the Spanish national legislature has determined a considerable reduction of the general limitation of contractual claims.
Artículo 1964 Código Civil:
1. […].
2. Las acciones personales que no tengan plazo especial prescriben a los cinco años desde que pueda exigirse el cumplimiento de la obligación. En las obligaciones continuadas de hacer o no hacer, el plazo comenzará cada vez que se incumplan.
In English:
1. […].
2. The contractual claims without special period come under the statute of limitations five years after maturity of the fulfillment of the obligation. The period in continuous obligations for performance or omission begins every time at non-performance.
Thereby, since 6 October 2015, contractual claims in Spain have become time-barred generally after five years.
Claims that already became due before the new period entered into force are still subject to the existing limitation period of 15 years. However, these claims also become time-barred after an appropriate transition period at the latest five years after the reform entered into force, this means on 7 October 2020 (Disposición Transitoria 5ª, Ley 42/2015).
Regarding the interruption of the Spanish contractual limitation period, the regulation of the unmodified article 1973 Código Civil is still valid.
Artículo 1973 Código Civil:
La prescripción de las acciones se interrumpe por su ejercicio ante los Tribunales, por reclamación extrajudicial del acreedor y por cualquier acto de reconocimiento de la deuda por el deudor.
In English:
The limitation of the claims is interrupted by its legal exercise, by extrajudicial assertion of the creditor as well as by each debtor’s action for recognition of guilt.
Thus, the limitation can basically already be interrupted by the creditor without the aid of the court, as far as he (demonstrably) claims the service fulfillment towards his debtor in due time before the five-year-limitation.
Note: Due to its special feature as a so-called Multi-unit State, Spain has partial legal orders. In the case of Catalonia, these also refer to special regulations regarding the contractual rules on limitation periods. Accordingly, the Catalan regular limitations cover 10 years, thus also including contractual claims.
Special contractual claims, such as claims for remuneration of employment and service contracts as well as payments of the purchase price in case of a consumer goods purchase, are then subject to a limitation reduced by 3 years (Art. 121-20, 121-21 Código Civil de Cataluña, CCC).
Regarding the regulations for interruption of limitation, a regulation comparable with the national law is valid (Article 121-11 CCC).
Author: Dr. Jochen Beckmann, attorney at law