Article 123 Spanish Criminal Procedure Act: interpretation and translation

1. Suspects or accused persons who do not speak or understand Spanish or the official language in which the proceedings are conducted shall have the following rights: a) the right to be assisted by an interpreter using a language they understand during all proceedings requiring their presence, including police or prosecutorial questioning and all court hearings; b) the right to an interpreter in conversations with their lawyer directly related to their questioning or statement, or necessary for lodging an appeal or for other procedural applications; c) the right to interpretation of all acts of the trial; d) the right to written translation of the documents essential to the exercise of the defence, including in any event the decisions ordering their imprisonment, the indictment and the judgment; e) the right to submit a reasoned application for a document to be deemed essential. The costs of translation and interpretation arising from the exercise of these rights shall be borne by the Administration, whatever the outcome of the proceedings.

2. Where simultaneous interpretation is unavailable, the interpretation of the trial referred to in letter c) shall be consecutive, in a manner sufficiently safeguarding the defence.

3. In the case of letter d), translation may be dispensed with for passages of essential documents which, in the view of the judge, court or competent official, are unnecessary for the suspect or accused to know the facts alleged. Exceptionally, written translation may be replaced by an oral summary in a language the person understands, where the defence is thereby sufficiently safeguarded.

4. Translation shall be carried out within a reasonable time, and from the moment it is ordered the applicable procedural time limits shall be suspended.

5. Interpretation may be provided by videoconference or any telecommunication means, unless the physical presence of the interpreter is needed to safeguard the person’s rights.

6. Interpreted or translated proceedings may be documented by audiovisual recording of the original statement and its interpretation; where a document is translated orally or into sign language, a copy of the translated document and the recording shall be joined to the record.

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: Royal Decree of 14 September 1882 approving the Spanish Criminal Procedure Act.