Last Friday, December 24, the BOE published Organic Law 14/2022, of December 22, transposing European directives and other provisions for the adaptation of criminal legislation to the regulations of the European Union, and reform of crimes against moral integrity, public disorder and dual-use weapons smuggling.

This organic law consists of two articles, three transitional provisions and six final provisions.

He first article modifies Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code, with several sections on different subjects, but all of them with the aim of adapting our legal system to European regulations or modernizing it in the face of new social realities.

• corpse concealment, anyone who, having knowledge of the whereabouts of a person's corpse, repeatedly hides such information from the person's family or friends will be punished (article 173.1 CP).
• Scams, in this area, articles 248 and 249 of the Penal Code are modified to define the actions that constitute computer manipulation to achieve a non-consensual transfer of assets for the benefit of another.
• Section 3 is added to article 262 CP, to exempt from criminal liability to the directors, de facto or legal administrators, managers and other current and former staff members of any company, incorporated or in formation, to cease their participation and cooperate as the competent authorities.
• Articles 399 bis are modified within the falsehoods, in The crimes of forgery of credit cards, debit cards and traveler's checks include instruments other than cash. Also article 399 ter of the Penal Code, which defines what a payment instrument other than cash is, having given it the following wording, a non-cash payment instrument is understood as any protected device, object or record, material or immaterial, or a combination of these, except for legal tender, which, alone or in combination with a procedure or set of procedures, allows the owner or user to transfer money or monetary value even through digital means of exchange. Autonomously classify the preparatory acts for the commission of the aforementioned conduct.
• Embezzlement, three types of embezzlement are foreseen, the first contemplated in article 432 CP, the appropriation of funds for profit by the author or his consent to their appropriation by third parties. This crime already existed and the penalty provided for it in the previous wording has not been modified, providing in this new wording a new aggravating circumstance when the embezzled things were of artistic, historical, cultural or scientific value; or if they were effects intended to alleviate some public calamity. Likewise, a new subtype is provided for in article 432 bis CP, which punishes with a lower penalty than that provided for in the previous wording, the authority or official who, without intending to appropriate it, allocates the public assets placed in his or her charge to private uses unrelated to the public function, provided that he or she returns it within 10 days from the opening of a criminal proceeding for this cause. A subtype provided for in article 433 CP is added for budget deviation or expenses that are difficult to justify.  To conclude article 433 ter CP, the concept of public assets for criminal purposes is defined.
• Unjust enrichment, a new crime is created in article 438 bis CP within the legal exemptions and frauds. It is planned for the authority or official who sees his assets increase by more than €250,000 during the exercise of his position and up to 5 years after his dismissal occurs, in the event that he cannot justify them. Only in the event that the subject refuses to detail the origin of this income will he incur the criminal offense determined in this article.
• Sedition, The crime of sedition provided for in articles 544 to 549 of the Penal Code is eliminated, leaving only the crime provided for in articles 20 to 27 of the Penal Code in force.Law 209/1964, of December 24, Criminal and Procedural Air Navigation.
• public disorders, This crime is modified to add several of the behaviors previously provided for the crime of sedition with lower penalties. If the acts are committed without violence or intimidation, article 557 bis of the CP will apply, replacing the repealed article 557 ter CP, maintaining the same previous wording except that the actions must take place in a group. The crime contemplated in article 559 CP, provided for the public dissemination of messages or slogans that incite the commission of any of the crimes of disruption of public order reflected in the aforementioned article 557 bis of the Penal Code, is eliminated.

It modifies the Organic Law 12/1995, of December 12, on the Repression of Smuggling, to reinforce the sanction of dual-use weapons. In this scenario designed by the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union sets as one of its main priorities the construction of the Area of ​​Freedom, Security and Justice in which, among other priorities, the adoption of appropriate measures for the prevention and fight against crime is guaranteed.

Until now, the Penal Code criminalized the manufacture, marketing or possession of weapons of war, firearms or chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological weapons, anti-personnel mines or cluster munitions. In relation to dual-use products and technology, only actions prior to foreign trade of products and technologies that are going to be destined for proliferation programs are criminalized, with the possible commission of the crime of attempted smuggling. It is considered necessary to classify the conduct of conspiracy and proposal of foreign trade operations on dual-use products and technologies, for which purpose article 3 of Organic Law 12/1995, of December 12, on the Repression of Smuggling, is modified.

Finally, this regulation introduces procedural inability in the period from December 24 to January 6 of the so-called judicial years, with the exception of procedural actions that procedural laws declare urgent, in order to grant the right to rest and the conciliation of personal, family and work life in this period to legal professionals. Therefore, articles 182 and 183 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary, article 130.2 of the Civil Procedure Law and article 43.4 of the Law 36/2011, of October 10, regulating social jurisdiction.

With the exception of the procedurally non-business days that came into force the day after the publication in the BOE of this Law, the rest will come into force on January 12, 2023.