Royal Decree-Law 8/2021 of 4 May adopting urgent measures in the health, social and jurisdictional order to be applied after the end of the state of alarm

OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN No. 107 Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Sec. I. Page 53407 I. GENERAL PROVISIONS HEAD OF STATE 7351 Royal Decree-Law 8/2021, of May 4, adopting urgent measures in the health, social and jurisdictional order, to be applied after the end of the validity of the state of alarm declared by Royal Decree 926/2020, of October 25, declaring the state of alarm to contain the spread of infections caused by SARS-CoV-2. I On October 25, 2020, Royal Decree 926/2020, of October 25, declaring the state of alarm to contain the spread of infections caused by SARS-CoV-2, entered into force. The validity of said state of alarm was extended until 00:00 hours on May 9, 2021, by virtue of Royal Decree 956/2020, of November 3, extending the state of alarm declared by the aforementioned Royal Decree 926/2020, of October 25. With the end of the validity of the state of alarm imminent, it is noted that the epidemiological situation, although still concerning, presents elements of control and containment mainly due to the positive evolution of the vaccination process, with a relevant and growing percentage of the population with administered doses – particularly among the most vulnerable or exposed segments – and with a normalization of the delivery and distribution processes of acquired vaccines that reasonably allows for predicting progressive immunization of the population in the coming months. To this is added the progressive awareness and responsibility of the vast majority of citizens, as well as the effectiveness of measures adopted by health authorities, both state and regional. In this context, there are currently no causes justifying the persistence of an exceptional regime such as the state of alarm, provided for in the Constitution as an instrument to ensure the restoration of normality in extraordinary circumstances, but which by its very nature cannot and should not be prolonged indefinitely or permanently over time, its validity being subject to the need to adopt measures of an exceptional nature to prevent and control serious alterations such as those derived from the acute health crisis caused by SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, as has occurred in other countries in our vicinity regarding the persistence of their respective legal regimes of exception, the assessment of the proportionality between the current level of gravity of the situation and the recourse to the state of alarm as a regime of possible limitation of fundamental rights and freedoms has determined that the Government of the Nation has decided not to make use of its constitutional prerogative to request from the Congress of Deputies an extension thereof. During the validity and extension of the state of alarm, numerous measures have been adopted under its auspices by the competent delegated authorities, whose validity will cease at the same moment of expiration of the extension of the state of alarm. However, most of these measures can be articulated, if necessary, within the framework defined by Organic Law 3/1986, of April 14, on Special Measures in Public Health Matters, and by Law 33/2011, of October 4, General Public Health Law; remaining subject to ordinary jurisdictional control. In this regard, this royal decree-law contains, with regard to the health situation, specific regulations affecting, on the one hand, the regime of authorization or judicial ratification of measures that must be adopted in application of the aforementioned legislation when they imply limitation or restriction of fundamental rights or when their recipients are not individually identified; reinforcing their effectiveness and coherence. cve: BOE-A-2021-7351 Verifiable at https://www.boe.es

OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN No. 107 Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Sec. I. Page 53408 And on the other hand, establishing health control measures for international passengers to prevent the introduction of vectors of infection by SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. Additionally, during the validity of the state of alarm, cooperation instruments between health authorities have been strengthened, mainly the debate and adoption of criteria by the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System; and the model of shared governance has allowed adapting prevention measures to the conditions required by the situation in each territorial scope, and remains fully in force, as the aforementioned Interterritorial Council is defined in Law 16/2003, of May 28, on Cohesion and Quality of the National Health System. Consequently, it is considered that the cited health legislation, combined with the provisions contained in the rest of the health regulations, including Law 14/1986, of April 25, General Health Law, with the specific modifications introduced in this royal decree-law, constitute a sufficient and adequate legal framework to respond to the health crisis situation in the current epidemiological circumstances and disease control. But the pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has not only been the cause of a health crisis, but has also provoked a profound global, economic and social crisis, which has also struck our country. Therefore, from the beginning of the pandemic, many other measures have been adopted in various fields, beyond the strictly health-related, particularly of an economic and social nature, whose effectiveness has been conditioned by the time during which the state of alarm is in force, which will also lose their effectiveness on May 9. To these must be added a series of measures that, although not expressly conditioned on the validity of the state of alarm, have been adopted in relation to the consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, in order to alleviate their negative effects on the economic and social fabric. Some of these measures were specifically adopted to address situations of social and economic vulnerability derived from the serious consequences that the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has brought about in all areas, in addition to the health area. In light of this circumstance, it is necessary and urgent to extend the temporary effectiveness of some of these measures while the negative effects of the pandemic persist, regardless of the end of the validity of the state of alarm, as well as to adapt certain legal situations that will be affected by the end of the validity of the state of alarm. II This royal decree-law is structured in six chapters, fifteen articles, one repealing provision and two final provisions. Chapter I establishes a series of urgent measures in the health field, relating to the health control of international passengers. In this matter, it is necessary to review the aspects contemplated in the additional sixth provision of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020, of June 23, approving measures in energy matters and other fields for economic reactivation, in order to adapt them to the expected evolution of the pandemic at the national level and also in the main countries of origin of tourism, heavily influenced by the increase in vaccination coverage, which will promote a significant increase in international mobility. The objective of this measure is that, maintaining the levels of security in the controls carried out on people arriving in Spain, especially those coming from risk countries, these are carried out as quickly as possible so that they interfere as little as possible in airport and port dynamics. The importance of rapidly detecting the presence of imported cases of COVID-19 that could generate outbreaks in our country, as well as locating close contacts of cases, implies the need to put in place health measures at Spanish ports and airports. It is especially urgent the need to adapt control mechanisms to be able to detect cases from areas with transmission of variants of special concern. These measures are part of a global system for detecting imported cases, whose success will be determined by the early identification of them and the immediate adoption of appropriate control measures to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the disease. For this purpose, the Spain Travel Health-SpTH information system has been evolved, which will allow the management of the verification of digital certificates that may be enabled within the framework of the European Union, will allow improving the management of passenger flows through checks carried out prior to travel and will facilitate the location of travelers on whom additional measures must be taken upon arrival to reduce the risk of importing cases. It is a priority in this regard the maximum collaboration of travel agencies, tour operators and air or sea transport companies. All this will allow raising the degree of safety and confidence of travelers, thereby limiting the risk of transmission of COVID-19 linked to international movements. Chapter II establishes a series of extraordinary measures applicable to owners' associations of communities under the horizontal property regime. In these communities, owners' meetings are not being held due to the limitations imposed on their in-person celebration because of COVID-19, and the existing doubts about the possibility of adopting agreements telematically since Law 49/1960, of July 21, on horizontal property, omits the possibility of developing meetings telematically. Therefore, the measures provided for, first, seek to fill this legal gap that has led to a paralysis of the meetings of the boards, which affects the obligation to approve the plan of foreseeable income and expenses, the corresponding accounts and the annual budget, as well as the appointments of the governing bodies. In this way, to alleviate this conjunctural situation caused by the health measures adopted against the pandemic, the obligation to convene and hold the owners' meeting in communities subject to the horizontal property regime is suspended until December 31, 2021, as well as the obligations to approve the plan of foreseeable income and expenses, the corresponding accounts and the annual budget. During the same period, or until the holding of the corresponding meeting, the last approved annual budget and the appointments of the governing bodies will be understood as extended. Secondly, it is important to have a clear criterion as soon as possible, so that companies can work, carrying out actions in the facilities of the owners' communities, and that ultimately the owners benefit from them. Therefore, it is allowed that the owners' meeting can be held by videoconference or multiple telephone conference, provided that all owners have the necessary means, which will be checked by the administrator in advance of the meeting; and if the secretary recognizes the identity of the owners attending the meeting and expresses so in the minutes. In addition, in this case, it will also be possible to adopt an agreement without holding a meeting by casting a vote by postal mail or telematic communication. For its part, Chapter III establishes a series of extraordinary measures applicable to situations of economic and social vulnerability, which essentially consist of extending for a period of 3 months from the expiration of the validity of the state of alarm, that is, until August 9, 2021, some of the measures adopted to cover these situations of vulnerability regarding the guarantee of certain supplies and the right to receive the social bonus by consumers and certain vulnerable groups, as well as certain protection measures in the field of housing rental, contained in Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31. Thus, first, with the aim of guaranteeing the supply to vulnerable consumers of water, electricity and natural gas, especially in the current circumstances, existing protection measures are reinforced through Article 4, in which measures are adopted to effectively consolidate the protection of vulnerable consumers, in line with the effective framework developed to identify and structurally reduce the phenomenon of energy poverty. In short, the guarantee of supply of water, electricity and natural gas to vulnerable consumers, provided for in the additional fourth provision of Royal Decree-Law 37/2020, of December 22, and which was conditioned on the validity of the current state of alarm, is extended until August 9, 2021. Additionally, Article 5 configures a new categorization of vulnerable consumer, for the purposes of receiving the electricity social bonus and special protection against supply interruption, extending that condition of vulnerable consumer and, therefore, the right to receive the social bonus on the terms that correspond, until August 9, 2021, without prejudice to the possibility of availing oneself of said condition at any time before or after that date under the rest of the cases provided for in Royal Decree 897/2017, of October 6, regulating the figure of the vulnerable consumer, the social bonus and other protection measures for domestic consumers. In another order of things, and with the object of attending to the social and economic reality of households, protection measures in situations of vulnerability in housing matters established in Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31, adopting urgent complementary measures in the social and economic field to face COVID-19, are extended, which is modified to extend by three months from the end of the current state of alarm the deadlines established. In this way, first, through Article 7, the suspension of housing procedures and evictions in situations of vulnerability is extended until August 9, 2021, in the cases and according to the procedures already established. Likewise, said article extends the possibility of applying an extraordinary extension of the lease contract period for a maximum period of six months, during which the terms and conditions established for the contract in force will continue to apply, provided that no different agreement has been reached between the parties, to those contracts whose expiration was established between May 9 and August 9, 2021. Also, until August 9, 2021, the possibility of requesting the moratorium or partial forgiveness of the rent is extended, when the landlord is a public housing entity or a large holder, on the terms established in said royal decree-law; and the housing rental contracts that can benefit from the extraordinary six-month extension are extended for the same period, under the same terms and conditions of the contract in force. That is, the possibility of the tenant in such cases, the temporary and extraordinary deferral in the payment of the rent is extended, provided that such deferral or total or partial forgiveness of the same has not already been achieved voluntarily by agreement between both parties. For its part, Article 8 extends the period during which landlords and holders of housing affected by the extraordinary suspension provided for in the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31, can present the request for compensation provided for in the additional second provision of Royal Decree-Law 37/2020, of December 22, on urgent measures to face situations of social and economic vulnerability in the field of housing and in transport matters. This deadline was 1 month from the end of the validity of the state of alarm declared by Royal Decree 926/2020, of October 25, so with the extension of three months provided for these measures, the new deadline until which said request can be presented is fixed at September 9, 2021. The temporal extension of these measures responds to reasons of urgency and necessity in a context where, after the end of the state of alarm, social and economic recovery will occur progressively, to the extent that a vaccination percentage is reached that allows recovering confidence, and during a period in which the economic activity of certain sectors may still be subject to certain restrictions derived from the evolution and effects of the pandemic. In any case, the Constitutional Court has repeatedly endorsed the adoption of measures with social impact in exceptional situations and of urgent need. Such endorsement demands the material concurrence of an explicit and reasoned motivation of the necessity and also formal, linked to the urgency that prevents recourse to the ordinary processing of normative texts. cve: BOE-A-2021-7351 Verifiable at https://www.boe.es

OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN No. 107 Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Sec. I. Page 53409 This royal decree-law complies with that repeated doctrine of the Constitutional Court contained in multiple sentences among which could be cited 6/1983, of February 4, FJ 5; 11/2002, of January 17, FJ 4, 137/2003, of July 3, FJ 3 and 189/2005, of July 7, FJ 3), among many others. Its material motivation derives from the need to face the serious consequences of the worsening of the vulnerability of many people renting their usual housing as a consequence of the current scenario of paralysis, job losses, significant reductions in hours and salaries, etc. And the extraordinary and urgent need is part of the political judgment and opportunity that corresponds to the Government (again STC 61/2018, of June 7, FJ 4; 142/2014, of September 11, FJ 3). The measures adopted are considered, in addition, the necessary ones as an indispensable character to attend to the general interests affected, existing (STC 139/2016 of July 21, FJ 3), "a connection of meaning or relationship of adequacy between the defined situation that constitutes the enabling premise and the measures adopted in the decree-law" (thus, from the beginning, STC 29/1982, of May 31 (RTC 1982, 29), FJ 3, up to more recent ones STC 96/2014, of June 12 (RTC 2014, 96), FJ 5, and 183/2014, of November 6 (RTC 2014, 183), FJ 4). In short, the extraordinary and urgent need of these measures is justified by the exceptional situation derived from the health and economic crisis, from which it derives that, regardless of the end of the validity of the state of alarm, an economic recovery that allows recovering the levels existing before COVID-19 has not occurred, which implies the maintenance of serious situations of vulnerability needing protection, both in the field of housing rental, as well as regarding the essential nature of certain supplies for households. The grave situation in the economic and social field that households in Spain are facing, and the special consequences that this may have, in a particular way, in the field of housing, justifies the extraordinary and urgent need for the adoption of the proposed measures, taking into account the impact of the health crisis and the measures adopted in the context of the state of alarm, and the need to safeguard the protection of the most vulnerable households for a period of three more months, once the aforementioned state of alarm has ended. With regard to gender-based violence, Law 1/2021, of March 24, on urgent measures in matters of protection and assistance to victims of gender-based violence, establishes in its Article 1 the declaration of essential service of the services for victims of gender-based violence: "For the purposes of what is provided in this Law, the services referred to in Articles 2 to 5 thereof shall have the consideration of essential services with the effects provided for in Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, declaring the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19, its development regulations; Royal Decree-Law 10/2020, of March 29, regulating a paid and recoverable leave for employed persons who do not provide essential services, in order to reduce the mobility of the population in the context of the fight against COVID-19, and the rest of the legal order." This law has its origin in Royal Decree-Law 12/2020, of March 31, on urgent measures in matters of protection and assistance to victims of gender-based violence, being the aforementioned Article 1 a reproduction of Article 1 of said royal decree-law. Gender-based violence constitutes a threat to human rights, among them, life, physical and psychological integrity, health, security and economic and social well-being of its victims and of society as a whole. Therefore, it is necessary that in the current situation of international pandemic (the World Health Organization raised on March 11, 2020, the situation of public health emergency of international concern caused by COVID-19 to an international pandemic), the necessary measures are maintained and developed to guarantee the adequate functioning of the services destined to their protection and assistance, eliminating the obstacles that may hinder or make impossible the access of victims to the usual means of comprehensive assistance, communication and denunciation of situations of gender-based violence; or that even having such means, they may find that the assistance services are not available or are not at the usual level of attention. These measures will guarantee the rights of victims and in particular the right to comprehensive social assistance contemplated in Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender-Based Violence; as well as compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. cve: BOE-A-2021-7351 Verifiable at https://www.boe.es

OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN No. 107 Wednesday, May 5, 2021 Sec. I. Page 53410 [Text continues with further legal justifications and specific articles regarding housing, utilities, and gender violence protections, extending deadlines and defining vulnerable consumer categories as detailed in the source text.]