Drink-driving lawyer in Barcelona

When is it a crime and when a fine?

The limit is the reading. Driving with a breath alcohol concentration above 0.60 milligrams per litre, or above 1.2 grams per litre in blood, is a road safety offence (article 379.2 of the Criminal Code, Código Penal, CP). Below that figure, and above the administrative limits, it may be a traffic penalty.

There is an exception worth knowing: it is also an offence to drive under the influence of alcohol even below that reading, where it is established that the influence was affecting the driving. In practice that is argued with the police report in hand.

What penalties does the Criminal Code provide?

The offence under article 379.2 CP is punishable by three to six months' imprisonment, or a fine of six to twelve months, or community service of thirty-one to ninety days. And, in every case, by disqualification from driving motor vehicles and mopeds for more than one year and up to four.

Refusing to take the tests is a separate and more serious offence: six months to one year's imprisonment, in addition to disqualification (article 383 CP).

The fast-track trial: the need to act without delay

Most of these cases are dealt with as urgent proceedings and end in a fast-track trial before the duty court, sometimes within days.

That speed has a practical consequence worth anticipating: the most important decision in the case is usually put to you at the court itself, with little time to examine the various items of evidence and to build an effective defence.

The outcome of a fast-track trial is not predetermined. Before weighing up any course of action, the police report and the steps taken must be examined, in order to establish whether the conditions the law requires for a conviction are met and whether the evidence was obtained with the safeguards the law lays down. That examination is what shows whether an effective defence is viable, and only then can each of the two courses the procedure allows be assessed on a proper basis.

Defending the case at trial. Where the examination of the file reveals shortcomings in the prosecution evidence or in the way it was obtained, the defence can be argued at trial. That assessment requires having the documents far enough in advance of the listing: once it has begun, there is very little room to act.

A possible [plea agreement](article:conformitat). In practical terms it means admitting the facts in exchange for a reduction of the penalties and of the other legal consequences of the offence.

Choosing between the two is a legal decision, and taking it without having examined the case beforehand means giving up that assessment.

What we review in your case

• The police report and the reading. The time of the tests, the margin of error of the breathalyser, whether two measurements were taken and at what interval, and whether you were informed of your right to a blood test.
• How the test came about. Whether there were grounds for the stop and whether your rights were respected during the police operation.
• Your personal circumstances. If your licence is necessary for your work, that is relevant when weighing the options.
• The defence strategy. Whether the case can be sustained at trial, the specific sentence that would be proposed in any plea agreement, whether it could be suspended and what each option means in the medium term.

If you have been summoned for tomorrow

This is not unusual. Fast-track trials are listed at very short notice and the summons may arrive with a day to spare.

If that is your situation, call as soon as you can: reviewing the police report and preparing the hearing takes time, and the window closes the moment the hearing starts. The firm takes criminal emergency calls twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year.