Spain

The Ministerio del Interior has prepared a proposal for cybercrime laws, amending several articles in the Penal Code.

Excerpts from the Spanish Penal Code:

CHAPTER I

On the discovery and revealing of secrets

Article 197.
1. Any individual who, for the purpose of discovering the secrets or violating the privacy of
another and without the consent of the latter, takes possession of that individual's papers,
letters, electronic mail messages or any other personal documents or belongings or
intercepts his or her telecommunications or uses technical devices for listening,
transmitting, recording or reproducing sound or images or any other communications
signal, will be punished by imprisonment from between one and four years and a fine of
between twelve and twenty-four months [sic].
2. The same punishment will be applicable to any individual who, without authorization,
seizes, uses or modifies, to the detriment of a third party, such private personal or family
data of another individual as may be recorded on computer, electronic or telematic files
or media, or in any other type of file or record, whether public or private. The same
punishment will be imposed on any individual who, without authority, accesses such data
by any means or alters or uses such data to the detriment of the owner of the data or of a
third party.
3. Punishment consisting of imprisonment from between two and five years will be imposed
if the data or facts discovered or the images captured, as indicated in the proceeding
paragraphs, are divulged, revealed or transferred to third parties.
Punishment consisting of imprisonment from between one and three years and a fine of
between twelve and twenty-four months [sic] will be imposed on any individual who,
with prior knowledge of the illicit origin of [such facts or data] [but] without having
taken part in their discovery, commits the acts described in the preceding paragraph.
4. If the acts described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article are committed by the persons in
charge of or responsible for the computer, electronic or telematic files and media or files
or records, punishment consisting of imprisonment from between three and five years
will be imposed, and if such private data are disseminated, transferred or made public, the
upper half [sic] of the punishment will be imposed.
5. In addition, when the acts described in the above sections involve personal data
revealing the ideology, religion, beliefs, health, racial origin or sexual orientation, or if
the victim is a minor or incapacitated, the upper half [sic] of the punishments
stipulated will be imposed.
6. If such acts are committed with intent to profit, the upper half [sic] of the punishments set
forth respectively in paragraphs 1 through 4 of this article will be imposed. If in addition
they involve the data mentioned in paragraph 5, the punishment will consist of
imprisonment from between four and seven years.

SECTION 1. ON FRAUD

Article 248.
1. Any individual will be guilty of fraud who, with intent to profit, uses sufficient deceit to
cause another individual to err, inducing him or her to commit an act of disposition to the
detriment of him or herself or a third party.
2. Also guilty of fraud will be any individual who, with intent to profit and using
computer manipulation or any similar contrivance, causes the unauthorized transfer of
any personal asset to the detriment of a third party.

Article 264.
1. Punishment consisting of imprisonment from between one and three years and a fine of
between twelve and twenty-four months [sic] will be imposed on any individual who
causes the injury identified in the preceding article in any of the following circumstances:
1. The acts are committed for the purpose of preventing the free exercise of authority or
in vengeance therefor, whether the crime is committed against public authorities or
against private citizens who, whether acting as witnesses or in any other capacity,
have contributed, or might in the future contribute, to the execution or application of
the Law or General Provisions.
2. Infection or contagion of cattle is caused by any means.
3. Poisonous or corrosive substances are used.
4. Assets in the public or community domain or assets designated for public or
community use are involved.
5. The acts lead to the bankruptcy of the individual affected or place him or her in a
grave economic situation.
2. The same punishment will be imposed on any individual who, in any way, destroys,
modifies, misuses or otherwise damages such electronic data, programs or documents of
others as may be contained in computer networks, media or systems.

Article 256.
Any individual who makes use of any telecommunications terminal equipment without the
consent of the owner thereof, causing damage to the latter in excess of fifty thousand pesetas, will be subject to punishment consisting of a fine of between three and twelve months [sic].

Article 270.
Punishment consisting of imprisonment from between six months and two years or a fine of
between six and twenty-four months [sic] will be imposed on any individual who, with intent to profit and to the detriment of a third party, reproduces, plagiarizes, distributes or publicly
communicates, either wholly or in part, a literary, artistic or scientific work or the transformation, interpretation or artistic execution thereof contained in any medium or communicated by any means, without the authorization of the holders of the corresponding intellectual property rights or successors thereof.
The same punishment will be imposed on any individual who intentionally imports, exports or stores copies of such works or productions or executions without the authorization specified above.
The same punishment will be imposed in the event of the manufacture, circulation and
possession of any medium specifically designed to facilitate the unauthorized suppression and neutralization of any technical device used to protect computer programs.

SECTION 2. ON CRIMES INVOLVING INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

Article 273.
1. Punishment consisting of imprisonment from between six months and two years and a
fine of between six and twenty-four months [sic] will be imposed on any individual who,
for industrial or commercial purposes, without the consent of the owner of a patent or
utility model, and with prior knowledge of its registration, manufactures, imports,
possesses, utilizes, offers or introduces into the market items covered by such rights.
2. The same punishment will be imposed on any individual who, in the same fashion and
for the above-indicated purposes, uses or offers the use of a procedure covered by a
patent, or who possesses, offers, introduces into the market or uses the product
directly obtained by the patented procedure.
3. The same punishment will be imposed on any individual who commits any of the acts
characterized in the first paragraph of this article, under identical circumstances, with
regard to objects covered in favor of a third party by an industrial or artistic model or
drawing or topography of a semiconductor product.