lunes, 28 de septiembre de 2015

El texto en inglés de las nuevas normas de competencia internacional y las traducciones del Derecho español

        Para el volumen de textos legales de la European Encyclopedia of Private International Law, obra que coedito con Jürgen Basedow, Giesela Rühl y Franco Ferrari, y cuya publicación, con la participación de más de 190 autores de alrededor de 60 países, está prevista próximamente en la editorial Edward Elgar, he realizado una traducción de las nuevas normas españolas de Derecho internacional privado, aprobadas este verano. Estas traducciones dan pie a varias reflexiones. Primero, que aunque en los últimos años se hayan realizado ciertos avances en la puesta a disposición por el Gobierno de traducciones oficiales al inglés (y francés) de ciertas leyes españolas, es de lamentar que una traducción oficial al inglés de textos tan relevantes para los operadores jurídicos –españoles en el marco de su actividad internacional pero también extranjeros- no esté disponible con rapidez a través de Internet. Segundo, si bien la traducción al inglés de estos textos se ve facilitada porque buena parte de las nuevas normas españolas están construidas sobre la base de disposiciones de reglamentos de la UE o normas de convenios internacionales disponibles en inglés, la comparación permite apreciar cómo en ocasiones el alejamiento del texto de referencia sólo parece responder al ánimo (cabe pensar que no justificado) de evitar la mera reproducción literal, mientras que en otras se reproducen elementos de una norma que carecen de justificación en reglas del sistema de fuente interna. Más allá de las observaciones que ya hice en una entrada previa sobre las nuevas normas de competencia judicial internacional, esta nueva lectura de las normas de la LOPJ permite apreciar que entre ellas se encuentran algunas tan desafortunadas –tal vez pendientes de una corrección de errores- que es de prever que el lector de una traducción pueda pensar que su contenido responde a algún error de traducción.


            Destacaré tres de esas normas con algunos subrayados míos:


Artículo 22 quáter c)

c) En materia de relaciones personales y patrimoniales entre cónyuges, nulidad matrimonial, separación y divorcio y sus modificaciones, siempre que ningún otro Tribunal extranjero tenga competencia, cuando ambos cónyuges posean residencia habitual en España al tiempo de la interposición de la demanda o cuando hayan tenido en España su última residencia habitual y uno de ellos resida allí, o cuando España sea la residencia habitual del demandado, o, en caso de demanda de mutuo acuerdo, cuando en España resida uno de los cónyuges, o cuando el demandante lleve al menos un año de residencia habitual en España desde la interposición de la demanda, o cuando el demandante sea español y tenga su residencia habitual en España al menos seis meses antes de la interposición de la demanda, así como cuando ambos cónyuges tengan nacionalidad española.

Artículo 22 quáter d)

d) En materia de filiación y de relaciones paterno-filiales, protección de menores y de responsabilidad parental, cuando el hijo o menor tenga su residencia habitual en España al tiempo de la interposición de la demanda o el demandante sea español o resida habitualmente en España o, en todo caso, al menos desde seis meses antes de la presentación de la demanda.

Artículo 22 quinquies último párrafo

Respecto a los supuestos previstos en las letras d) y e) también serán competentes los Tribunales españoles cuando el consumidor, asegurado o tomador del seguro sea demandante y las partes hayan acordado la sumisión a los Tribunales españoles después de surgir la controversia, o ambos contratantes tuvieran ya su domicilio en España en el momento de celebración del contrato o el demandante fuera el consumidor, asegurado o tomador del seguro.



            A continuación reproduzco la versión inicial de mi traducción de las normas de competencia internacional de la LOPJ, cuyo texto revisado se publicará junto con el resto de las normas básicas de  DIPr de nuestro sistema y de otros ochenta Estados en el volumen de textos legales (vol. IV) de la European Encyclopedia of Private International Law.




ORGANIC LAW 6/1985, OF 1 JULY, ON THE JUDICIARY (REVISED BY ORGANIC LAW 7/2015, OF 21 JULY)

BOOK I

TITLE I
The extension and limits of jurisdiction

Article 21.

1. Spanish civil courts shall hear pleas arising in Spanish territory according to the terms of the international treaties and conventions to which Spain is party, the rules of the European Union and Spanish statutes.
2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, they shall not hear pleas formulated concerning individuals or assets enjoying immunity from jurisdiction or enforcement in accordance with the rules of public international law.

Article 22.

Spanish civil courts shall have exclusive and overriding jurisdiction to hear pleas concerning the following matters:

a) rights in rem and tenancies of immovable property situated in Spain. However, in proceedings which have as their object tenancies of immovable property concluded for temporary private use for a maximum period of six consecutive months, the Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction when the defendant is domiciled in Spain, provided that the tenant is a natural person and that the landlord and the tenant are domiciled in the same State.

b) the constitution, the validity, the nullity or the dissolution of companies or legal persons having their domicile in Spanish territory, as well as with respect to agreements and decisions of their organs.

c) the validity or invalidity of entries entered in a Spanish register.

d) the registrations or validity of patents, trade marks, designs, or other rights required to be deposited or registered, when their filing or registration has been applied for or has taken place in Spain.

e)  the recognition and enforcement in Spanish territory of orders and other judgments, arbitration decisions and mediation agreements rendered abroad.


Article 22 bis.

1. In those matters in which a rule expressly so permits, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when the parties, regardless of their domicile, have expressly or impliedly submitted to them. Agreements or similar provisions of a contract conferring jurisdiction on the Spanish courts shall have no legal force if they are contrary to Articles 22 quater, 22 quinquies, 22 sexies and 22 septies, or if the courts whose jurisdiction they purport to exclude have exclusive jurisdiction according to Article 22, in which case those provisions shall be observed.
Submission to Spanish courts in matters contemplated in Article 22 quinquies d) and e) shall only be valid if it derives from a submission agreement entered into after the dispute has arisen, or if both parties had their domicile or habitual residence in Spain at the time of conclusion of the contract or if the claimant is a consumer, insured or policyholder.

2. An express submission agreement is one in which the parties grant to the Spanish courts the competence over some or all disputes which have arisen or which may arise between themselves as regards a particular contractual or non-contractual legal relationship. Jurisdiction established by express submission shall be extended to the validity of the submission agreement.
An express submission agreement must be in writing as a term of a contract or as an independent agreement, or evidenced in writing, or in a form which accords with practices which the parties have established between themselves, or in international trade or commerce, in a form which accords with a usage of which the parties are or ought to have been aware and which in such trade or commerce is widely known to, and regularly observed by, parties to contracts of the type involved in the particular trade or commerce concerned. It shall be construed that there is an agreement in writing when it derives from a communication by electronic means which provides a durable record.
An agreement in writing shall also be deemed when it is set forth in an exchange of statements of claim and defence in proceedings initiated in Spain, in which the existence of the agreement is asserted by one party and not denied by the other.

3. Irrespective of the cases in which their jurisdiction derives from other provisions, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when the defendant appears before them. This provision shall not be applicable if the purpose of the appearance is to challenge the jurisdiction.


Article 22 ter.

1. In matters other than those contemplated in Articles 22, 22 sexies and 22 septies and if there is no submission to the Spanish courts in accordance with Article 22 bis, the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when the defendant is domiciled in Spain or when it is so established by any of the grounds for jurisdiction laid down in Articles 22 quarter and 22 quinquies.

2. For the purposes of the present Article a person is deemed to be domiciled in Spain when he/she is habitually resident in Spain.
A legal person is deemed to be domiciled in Spain when its corporate seat, its centre of administration or central administration or its principal place of business is located in Spain.

3. In case of multiple defendants the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction when at least one of them is domiciled in Spain, provided that only one claim is pursued or multiple claims linked on the basis of a title or cause of action that make their consolidation advisable.

4. However, the jurisdiction established pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article may be excluded by a choice of court agreement in favour of a foreign court. In such a case, the courts shall stay the proceedings and may only hear the stayed claim when the designated foreign court has declined jurisdiction.

5. The exclusion of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts shall have no effect in those matters in which submission to them is not permitted.


Article 22 quater.

Absent of the foregoing criteria, the Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction:

a) in matters of declaration of absence or death, when the missing person was last domiciled in Spanish territory or has Spanish nationality;

b) in matters relating to the capacity of persons of legal age and protective measures of them or their assets, when they are habitually resident in Spain;

c) in matters of personal and patrimonial relations between spouses, nullity of marriage, separation and divorce and their modifications, provided that no other foreign court has jurisdiction, when both spouses are habitually resident in Spain at the time of lodging of the claim or when they were last habitually resident in Spain and one of them still resides there, or when the defendant is habitually resident in Spain, or in case the petition is filed by mutual consent, when one of the spouses is habitually resident in Spain, or when the applicant has been resident in Spain for at least a year since the lodging of the claim, or when the claimant is Spanish and has been habitually resident in Spain at least six months before lodging of the claim, and when both spouses have Spanish nationality;

d) in matters of parent-child relationship and paternal relations, protection of minors and parental responsibility, when the child or minor is habitually resident in Spain at the time of lodging the claim or the claimant is Spanish, or is habitually resident in Spain or, in any case, at least six months before the claim is lodged;

e) in matters of adoption in the cases regulated in Act 54/2007, dated 28 December, on intercountry adoption;

f) in matters of maintenance, when the maintenance creditor or the defendant is habitually resident in Spain, or if the maintenance plea is ancillary to proceedings concerning the status of a person or parental responsibility when the Spanish courts have jurisdiction to entertain the latter proceedings;

g) In matters of succession when the deceased was last habitually resident in Spain or when the assets are located in Spain and the deceased was a Spanish national at the time of death. Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction when the parties have submitted to them, provided that the law applicable to the succession is Spanish law. When no foreign court has jurisdiction, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction with regard to the estate assets that are located in Spain.


Article 22 quinquies.

In addition, absent express or implied submission and even if the defendant is not habitually resident in Spain, Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction:

a) in matters of contractual obligations, when the place of performance of the obligation in question is located in Spain;

b) in matters of non-contractual obligations, when the harmful event occurred in Spain;

c) in pleas relating to the operations of a branch, agency or other establishment when this is situated in Spanish territory;

d) in matters of consumer contracts, consumers may litigate in Spain if they or the other contracting party are habitually resident in Spanish territory; the other contracting party may only litigate in Spain if the consumer is habitually resident in Spain;

e) in matters of insurance when the insured party, policyholder or beneficiary has its domicile in Spain; the insurer may also be sued in the Spanish courts if the harmful event occurred in Spanish territory and it is in respect of a contract of liability insurance or insurance of immovable property, or in respect of liability insurance, if the Spanish courts have jurisdiction to hear the claim brought by the injured against the insured pursuant to letter b) of this Article;

 f) in proceedings relating to rights in rem over moveable property, if this property are located in Spanish territory at the time of lodging the claim.

Regarding the matters provided for in letters d) and e) Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction when the consumer, insured or policyholder is the claimant and the parties have submitted to the Spanish courts after the dispute has arisen, or both parties are domiciled in Spain at the time of conclusion of the contract or the claimant is the consumer, insured or policyholder.


Article 22 sexies.

Spanish courts shall have jurisdiction to adopt provisional or protective measures in respect of persons or assets located in Spanish territory and which are to be complied with in Spain. Spanish courts shall also have jurisdiction to adopt such measures if they have jurisdiction over the main proceedings.


Article 22 septies.


In insolvency matters and proceedings a special act shall be applied.


Article 22 octies.

1. Spanish courts shall not have jurisdiction over those cases in which the grounds for jurisdiction provided for in Spanish statutes do not contemplate such jurisdiction.

2. Spanish courts shall base their jurisdiction, either ex officio or at the request of a party, pursuant to the rules in force and the existing circumstances at the time the claim is lodged, and the proceedings shall be conducted until their completion even though such rules or circumstances subsequently have been modified, unless expressly provided otherwise by law.

3. Spanish courts shall decline their jurisdiction if it is not derived from the Spanish statutory provisions, in accordance with procedural law. Spanish courts may not abstain or decline their jurisdiction when the dispute is connected to Spain and the courts of the several states connected to the case have declined their jurisdiction. Neither can they abstain or decline their jurisdiction in the case of recognition and enforcement of judgments, arbitration decisions and mediation agreements rendered by foreign courts.


Article 22 nonies.

The exceptions of international lis pendens and related actions shall be alleged and dealt with according to the general provisions of the procedural statutes.