Summary

Organic Law 3/2023, of 28 March, modifying Organic Law 10/1995 of 23 November (the Spanish Criminal Code) in the area of animal abuse, was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE No. 75) on 29 March 2023 and entered into force on 18 April 2023. It was sanctioned by King Felipe VI and countersigned by President of the Government Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón; the Cortes Generales approved it under the state’s exclusive penal competence pursuant to Article 149.1.6 of the Spanish Constitution, making it applicable throughout Spain.

The law suppresses former Articles 337 and 337 bis of the Criminal Code — which had regulated animal abuse, sexual exploitation, and abandonment since progressive reforms in 2003, 2010, and 2015 — and creates a new Title XVI bis, “De los delitos contra los animales” (Crimes against animals), containing Articles 340 bis through 340 quinquies. The reform extends criminal protection from domestic and controlled animals to all vertebrate animals, with differentiated offence structures and penalty ranges for two categories: animals “doméstico, amansado, domesticado o que viva temporal o permanentemente bajo el control humano” (domestic, tamed, domesticated, or living under human control) and other vertebrate animals.

Key provisions: Article 340 bis criminalises, outside legally regulated activities, causing a domestic or controlled animal a lesion requiring veterinary treatment (including sexual acts), with 3–18 months’ imprisonment or 6–12 months’ fine and 1–3 years’ disqualification from animal-related professions and ownership; parallel but reduced penalty ranges apply where the victim is a vertebrate not in the domestic/controlled category. Article 340 bis(3) imposes higher penalties where conduct causes death (12–24 months’ imprisonment for domestic/controlled animals; 6–18 months’ imprisonment or 18–24 months’ fine for other vertebrates), plus 2–4 years’ disqualification. Article 340 bis(2) and (3) define ten aggravating circumstances — including use of dangerous means, ensañamiento, serious mutilation, commission by owner or carer, presence of minors or vulnerable persons, profit motive, use to coerce intimate partners, public events or online dissemination, and use of poison or explosives — requiring penalties to be imposed in their upper half when present. Article 340 bis(4) penalises serious maltreatment without veterinary-level lesions with a fine or community service plus 3 months to 1 year disqualification. Article 340 ter criminalises abandonment of any vertebrate animal under a person’s responsibility in conditions endangering its life or integrity. Article 340 quater establishes corporate criminal liability (fines of 1–3 years where the underlying offence carries more than 2 years’ imprisonment, otherwise 6 months to 2 years) and enables additional sanctions under Article 33.7 of the Criminal Code. Article 340 quinquies authorises courts to adopt precautionary measures including provisional changes in animal ownership and care, and mandates measures where disqualification affects the person holding title or care.

The law also amends Articles 334–336 on illegal hunting, fishing, marisqueo and use of destructive or non-selective means, and adds a new paragraph 4 to Article 334 on deprivation of weapons rights in hunting offences. The law was enacted the same day as Law 7/2023 on animal rights and welfare, which establishes a broader administrative protection framework; academic commentary describes Organic Law 3/2023 as creating the criminal dimension of this reformed animal protection regime. Its preamble explicitly cites Law 17/2021’s reclassification of animals as sentient beings in civil law as a legal driver for revising the penal response.