Catalonia bullfighting ban
Court Decision
In Effect
October 20, 2016
Summary
On 20 October 2016, Spain’s Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court), sitting in plenary session, issued Sentencia 177/2016, resolving constitutional challenge 7722-2010 brought by fifty senators of the Grupo Parlamentario Popular against article 1 of Catalonia’s Law 28/2010 of 3 August 2010. Law 28/2010 had modified article 6 of the consolidated Catalan Animal Protection Law to prohibit bullfights and bullfighting shows involving the death of the bull and certain bullfighting techniques (suertes de lidia) in Catalonia; the ban had entered into force on 1 January 2012, with the last bullfight in Catalonia held on 25 September 2011. The Tribunal Constitucional declared the Catalan prohibition null and unconstitutional, holding that the Spanish State holds exclusive competence over the protection, regulation, and preservation of bullfighting as cultural heritage, and that Catalonia may regulate the conditions under which bullfights are held within its territory but may not suppress the activity once bullfighting has been designated as national cultural heritage under State law. The ruling was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 24 November 2016, at which point the annulled Catalan provision ceased to have legal force. The competence interpretation has Spain-wide implications, conditioning future attempts by Autonomous Communities to impose comprehensive prohibitions on bullfighting where State law protects the practice as cultural heritage.
Background Context
The Catalan Parliament approved Law 28/2010 in July 2010 as an amendment to its animal protection legislation. The constitutional challenge was filed by fifty PP senators immediately following its adoption. During the period between the filing of the challenge (2010) and the Court’s decision (2016), the national government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Partido Popular adopted legislation designating bullfighting as part of Spain’s intangible cultural heritage — framing that became central to the Tribunal Constitucional’s competence reasoning. At the time the Catalan ban entered into force, only one bullring (La Monumental, Barcelona) was regularly active for bullfighting events in the region.
System Impact
System Scale Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
The Tribunal Constitucional issued Sentencia 177/2016 on 20 October 2016; it was published in BOE-A-2016-11124 on 24 November 2016, at which point the annulled Catalan provision ceased to have legal force. The constitutional challenge (recurso de inconstitucionalidad 7722-2010) was filed by fifty PP senators against the Catalan Parliament’s Law 28/2010. The Court’s reasoning cited national cultural heritage legislation adopted during 2013–2015 as establishing State competence over the essential elements of bullfighting. No bullfights have taken place in Catalonia since the ruling through at least July 2020; Catalan authorities have stated bullfighting will not return. The judgment is cited in legal commentary as a precedent on cultural heritage competence and its interaction with animal protection legislation. No subsequent Constitutional Court decision modifying or overturning Sentencia 177/2016 is documented in sources consulted.
Anticipated Effects
If organizers choose to operate under the restored legal permissibility, bullfighting shows including the killing of bulls could resume in Catalonia under State cultural heritage and public spectacle regulation and any compatible regional regulatory provisions.
If applied to similar regional prohibitions in other Autonomous Communities, the competence interpretation could condition future legislative attempts to comprehensively ban bullfighting where State law designates bullfighting as protected cultural heritage.
Whether bullfights have resumed in Catalonia after July 2020, or whether other Autonomous Communities have tested the limits of the competence framework established by this ruling, is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
The ruling’s competence interpretation extends beyond Catalonia to all Autonomous Communities, establishing that regions cannot impose comprehensive prohibitions on practices designated as national cultural heritage, and thereby shaping the legal landscape for future regional animal protection legislation, which supports Moderate significance despite the absence of a documented operational change in bullfighting scale.
Key Actors
The Tribunal Constitucional (plenary session) issued Sentencia 177/2016. Fifty senators of the Grupo Parlamentario Popular in the Spanish Senate brought constitutional challenge 7722-2010. The Parliament of Catalonia’s Law 28/2010 was the provision subject to review. The national government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy adopted the cultural heritage legislation cited by the Court. La Monumental in Barcelona was the principal bullring affected by the Catalan ban.
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