Renewal of the lists of judicial experts for 2025

We inform you that the lists of judicial experts must be renewed for the year 2025.

The Department of Justice makes available to professionals who are part of or wish to be part of the lists of experts the necessary information on judicial expertise: preparation of the lists of experts, payments for judicial expertise, training and other data, in the Electronic Judicial Office. At this link you can also consult Order JUS/419/2009 , relating to the payment of judicial expertise by the Department of Justice.

Professionals who wish to be part of the list of experts, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law (LEC) and the specific regulation of Order JUS/419/2009 (payments by the public administration), must take into account that:

- Inclusion in the list of experts is completely voluntary, but, from the moment a professional registers, he remains subject to the possibility of being called by a jurisdictional body in the area where he has declared his willingness to work. and has the obligation to accept the assignment. He may only excuse the appointment for the causes provided for by law (LEC).

- In the event that the expert does not accept the appointment of the judicial body, without a justified cause, he will lose his turn on the list, and, in the case of reiteration (for the third time), he will be excluded. Regarding the procedural effects , the court can take measures such as applying fines of up to €600 and, in the event of reiteration, the judge or magistrate could deduct a testimony from him to the Public Prosecutor's Office for disobedience to the judicial authority.

- When, due to some specific circumstance and temporarily, an expert cannot accept judicial appointments (such as due to leave of absence, heavy workload, retirement, etc.), they must notify the professional association, which must communicate this to the Department of Justice, Rights and Memory to avoid delays in the functioning of the courts.

- It is recommended that an expert can only choose a maximum of 8 specialties / subspecialties from those included in the file provided by the Department of Justice. In the event that more than 8 are chosen, it will be reviewed and the appropriate information will be communicated.

- The expert will only be able to choose specialties / subspecialties that are related to the qualification that has been reported in the file. In the event that any are marked as not related to the qualification reported, they will be reviewed and the corresponding information will be communicated.

CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERT LISTS

A) From the Civil Procedure Act (LEC)

- The conditions of the list are established in articles 340 and following of the LEC.

- Experts are appointed by judicial bodies at the request of parties who do not have the right to free legal aid.

- The expert can choose the territorial area in which he wants to act, that is, he can choose any of the judicial districts of Catalonia.

- In these cases, the Department of Justice is not responsible for paying for the expert opinions, but rather for the parties.

B) Order JUS419/2009, of September 17 (Order)

- Experts must be willing to work on expert reports agreed ex officio (also by the Public Prosecutor's Office) and those requested by a party who has the right to free legal assistance.

- The minutes of the expert reports that are commissioned under the conditions of this Order are the responsibility of the Department of Justice.

- The expert can choose any of the territorial areas in which the Department of Justice, Rights and Memory is structured. The choice of a specific area indicates that the expert is willing to work in any of the judicial divisions that are part of it.

Payments by the Department of Justice

- Regarding fees, it should be noted that Order JUS/419/2009 regulates in the annex the price table for expert fees according to the subject of the opinion:

The prices set in the annex include VAT, as well as all expenses incurred in issuing the expert opinion, including travel, court appearances and attendance at the expert's trial, if applicable.

Article 6 regulates the payment of expert opinions, and determines that, in certain cases (valuation of a large number of objects, complexity, etc.) the Department of Justice and Democratic Quality may authorize the payment of expert opinions whose minutes exceed the amounts set in the annex (article 6.e, cost estimate procedure). In this regard, it should be noted that the Department of Justice and Democratic Quality must not pay any funds to the designated experts under any circumstances.

- The expert has a maximum period of 3 months to start processing the payment from the date of signature by the lawyer of the Administration of Justice of the certificate accrediting the delivery of the expert opinion to the judicial body (it is not necessary to wait for the judicial procedure to end). However, in the event that this period is exceeded, the expert must wait for the procedure to end through a final resolution, in order to be able to claim, if applicable, payment from the Department of Justice and Democratic Quality.

- Information on the payment of expert opinions paid for by the Department of Justice, and the link to access the new electronic procedure to electronically submit the payment request as well as the prior authorization of the amount, can be found at the Electronic Judicial Headquarters of Catalonia.

Previous instructions:

- Minimum number of experts on the lists of associations and similar entities. As stated in article 342.2 of the LEC, the lists of experts on the associations or similar entities must be made up of a minimum of 5 people. If this minimum is not reached, the updated data cannot be incorporated into the database.

- List of experts provided for in Order JUS/419/2009. If an expert has been informed of the conditions established by this Order, and is interested in acting in the cases and conditions established (expertise reports proposed ex officio or by a party who has been granted the right to free legal aid), the option must be marked in the column “Expert Order JUS/419/2009” of the file, which contains a drop-down list. To be part of this list, these two fields must be completed.

- The experts of a professional association must mark the general specialty that corresponds ("general scope"), in addition to the subspecialty that each one has.

- As provided for in section 4 of Instruction 5/2001 of the General Council of the Judiciary, when drawing up the lists, it must be taken into account that the scope of action must be marked according to the expert's professional domicile.

In the private part of the Virtual College you can access the section of judicial experts and verify the contact details, the type of work as well as the courts where you want to be listed or by clicking here , in the same way you must demonstrate that you have professional civil liability insurance and that you are registered with some social security regime.

The deadline to update your data ends on January 30, 2025.