Resolution of 27 April 2020 of the Executive Commission of the Bank of Spain on the continuation of the procedure for submitting complaints and claims

III. OTHER PROVISIONS BANK OF SPAIN 4703 Resolution of 27 April 2020, of the Executive Commission of the Bank of Spain, on the continuation of the procedure applicable to the submission of complaints and claims, whose processing and resolution is the competence of the Bank of Spain, regulated in Article 30 of Law 44/2002, of 22 November, on Measures for the Reform of the Financial System and in Order ECC/2502/2012, of 16 November.

Article 30 of Law 44/2002, of 22 November, on Measures for the Reform of the Financial System, regulates the submission of complaints to the Bank of Spain, the National Securities Market Commission, and the General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds.

The procedure for submitting complaints to the aforementioned bodies is regulated in Order ECC/2502/2012, of 16 November.

With the entry into force of Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declaring a state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19, and in application of what is provided in the additional third provision of the aforementioned Royal Decree, the time limits were suspended and the deadlines for the Bank of Spain's complaint procedure were interrupted during the validity of the state of alarm and its extensions.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, paragraph four of said additional third provision provides for the possibility of motivatedly agreeing to the continuation of the procedure in cases indispensable for the protection of the general interest or the basic functioning of services. During the validity of the state of alarm, financial entities whose services have been declared essential have remained open to the public and have been operating with the normality that current circumstances allow.

On the other hand, the declaration of the state of alarm has brought with it the adoption of a series of exceptional measures (mortgage and non-mortgage moratoria; guarantee lines for state coverage of financing granted by financial entities to companies and self-employed individuals) that have progressively and increasingly affected different aspects of banking services.

Although, despite the suspension of the deadlines for the complaint procedure, the Bank of Spain has continued to provide service to citizens by informing on its web pages about the various measures adopted by the Government, as well as through written and telephone advisory activity, the growing number of doubts, inquiries, and complaints attended to in relation to the state of alarm and, in particular, in relation to the measures adopted by the Government to mitigate the effects of the health crisis, make it necessary to reactivate the deadlines for the complaint procedure in order to adequately protect the general interest and, in particular, the user of financial services even in these exceptional circumstances, as well as to guarantee the adequate functioning of the Bank's basic services, specifically this complaint service; all without prejudice to those other administrative procedures whose continuation, on a case-by-case basis or generally, may be declared by the respective competent bodies of the Bank of Spain.

In view of the above, the Executive Commission of the Bank of Spain, in its session held on 27 April 2020, has adopted the following agreements:

1. To agree to the continuation of the administrative procedure applicable to the submission of complaints and claims regulated in Article 30 of Law 44/2002, of 22 November, on Measures for the Reform of the Financial System, and in Order ECC/2502/2012, of 16 November, whose processing and resolution is the competence of the Bank of Spain, considering it indispensable for the protection of the general interest and for the basic functioning of the services entrusted to the Bank of Spain, for the purposes of what is provided in the additional third provision of Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declaring a state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19.

2. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the bodies of the Bank of Spain competent in relation to other procedures may declare, on a case-by-case basis or generally, the continuation of any other procedures in which the circumstances of paragraphs three or four of the additional third provision of Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declaring a state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19, concur.

3. To proceed to the publication of this agreement in the "Official State Bulletin".

4. The computation of the deadlines applicable to the processing of the complaint procedure will resume the day after the publication of this agreement in the "Official State Bulletin".

Madrid, 27 April 2020.–The General Secretary of the Bank of Spain, Francisco Javier Priego Pérez.

OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN No. 118 Tuesday, 28 April 2020 Sec. III. Page 30618 cve: BOE-A-2020-4703 Verifiable at https://www.boe.es

https://www.boe.es OFFICIAL STATE BULLETIN D. L.: M-1/1958 - ISSN: 0212-033X