Article 764 Spanish Criminal Procedure Act: Precautionary measures securing pecuniary liabilities

1. Likewise, the judge or court may adopt precautionary measures for the securing of the pecuniary liabilities, including costs. Such measures shall be ordered by decision and shall be formalised in a separate file.

2. To that end the rules on the content, the conditions and the substitute security of precautionary measures laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply. The provision of the securities which are ordered shall be made in the manner provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure and may be effected by the entity with which the person against whom the measure is directed has insured the civil liability.

3. In cases in which the civil liabilities are wholly or partly covered by compulsory civil liability insurance, the insurance entity or, as the case may be, the Insurance Compensation Consortium shall be required to provide security for them up to the limit of the compulsory insurance. Where the security required exceeds that limit, the person directly or subsidiarily liable shall be obliged to provide security or a guarantee for the difference, failing which the attachment of the assets of that person shall be proceeded with.

The entity liable under the compulsory insurance may not, in that capacity, be a party to the proceedings, without prejudice to the right of defence in relation to the obligation to provide security, and to that end any written submission it lodges shall be admitted, the claim being determined in the corresponding file.

4. The immediate seizure of the vehicle and the retention of its registration document may be ordered, for such time as is indispensable, where it is necessary to carry out some investigation upon it or in order to secure the pecuniary liabilities, so long as the solvency of the investigated or accused person or of the third party civilly liable is not established.

The seizure of the driving licence may also be ordered, requiring the investigated or accused person to refrain from driving motor vehicles for so long as the measure subsists, with the warning provided for in Article 556 of the Criminal Code.

The foregoing measures, once adopted, shall entail the withdrawal of the respective documents and their communication to the corresponding administrative bodies.

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.