Article 197 Spanish Criminal Code: Disclosure of secrets and offences against privacy

1. Whoever, in order to discover the secrets or to violate the privacy of another, without the consent of that person, appropriates papers, letters, electronic mail messages or any other documents or personal effects, intercepts telecommunications or uses technical devices for listening to, transmitting, recording or reproducing sound or images, or any other communication signal, shall be punished with imprisonment of one to four years and a fine of twelve to twenty four months.

2. The same penalties shall be imposed on whoever, without being authorised, appropriates, uses or modifies, to the detriment of a third party, reserved personal or family data of another which are recorded in computer, electronic or telematic files or media, or in any other kind of public or private archive or register. The same penalties shall be imposed on whoever, without being authorised, accesses such data by any means, and on whoever alters or uses them to the detriment of the data subject or of a third party.

3. Imprisonment of two to five years shall be imposed where the data or facts discovered, or the images captured, referred to in the preceding paragraphs are disseminated, revealed or transferred to third parties.

Whoever, being aware of their unlawful origin and without having taken part in their discovery, carries out the conduct described in the preceding subparagraph shall be punished with imprisonment of one to three years and a fine of twelve to twenty four months.

4. The acts described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article shall be punished with imprisonment of three to five years where:

a) they are committed by the persons in charge of or responsible for the files, computer, electronic or telematic media, archives or registers; or

b) they are carried out through the unauthorised use of personal data of the victim.

Where the reserved data have been disseminated, transferred or revealed to third parties, the penalties shall be imposed in their upper half.

5. Likewise, where the acts described in the preceding paragraphs affect personal data revealing ideology, religion, beliefs, health, racial origin or sexual life, or where the victim is a minor or a person with a disability in need of special protection, the penalties provided for shall be imposed in their upper half.

6. Where the acts are carried out for the purposes of profit, the penalties respectively laid down in paragraphs 1 to 4 of this article shall be imposed in their upper half. Where they additionally affect data of those mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the penalty to be imposed shall be imprisonment of four to seven years.

7. Whoever, without the authorisation of the person concerned, disseminates, reveals or transfers to third parties images or audiovisual recordings of that person which the offender obtained with the consent of that person in a dwelling or in any other place beyond the sight of third parties, shall be punished with imprisonment of three months to one year or a fine of six to twelve months, where the disclosure seriously impairs the personal privacy of that person.

A fine of one to three months shall be imposed on whoever, having received the images or audiovisual recordings referred to in the preceding subparagraph, disseminates, reveals or transfers them to third parties without the consent of the person concerned.

In the cases of the preceding subparagraphs, the penalty shall be imposed in its upper half where the acts have been committed by the spouse or by a person who is or has been bound to the victim by an analogous relationship of affection, even without cohabitation, where the victim is a minor or a person with a disability in need of special protection, or where the acts have been committed for the purposes of profit.

Working translation prepared by Société Juridique from the consolidated Spanish text published by the Official State Gazette. It has no official status: the only authoritative version is the Spanish original, available at the Official State Gazette and reproduced verbatim in our Spanish-language entry for this provision. Source: Organic Law 10/1995 of 23 November, the Spanish Criminal Code.