How the National High Court functions

EtiquetasLabels:  criminal chamber of the high court, governing chambers, contentious-administrative chamber of the high court, National High Court, appeals chamber of the high court , Central Courts of Instruction, judicial system, Central Criminal Courts, social affairs chamber of the national high court, Central Prison Supervision Courts, governing chamber of the National High Court, courts, Central Juvenile Courts, Central Contentious-Administrative Courts

The National Criminal Court is regulated by Chapter II, Heading IV, Book I, articles 62 to 69 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary. 

The National Criminal Court is competent in three jurisdictions:

·         Penal: The central courts of instruction take care of investigating crimes of terrorism, crimes against the Crown, large scale drug trafficking,  financial crimes that cause serious damage to the national economy,  crimes committed by Spanish citizens abroad, and extraditions and fulfilment of European orders. The Penal Court takes care of judging the aforementioned crimes, and of revising the decisions taken by the central courts as an appeal court (see article 65 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary). In this order are also included the central penal court to judge  crimes with lighter sentences, the central court for minors to judge  crimes of terrorism committed by youngsters between the ages of 14 and 18, as well as the central execution court, responsible for the legal control of prisoners whose crimes are the competence of the National Criminal Court. 

·         Contentious Administrative Matters: the courts for contentious administrative proceedings and the Chamber for Contentious Administrative Proceedings oversee the appeals lodged against the acts and provisions of the Public Administration (see article 66 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary).

Social and Labour Matters: The Chamber for Social and Labour Matters deals, fundamentally, with the complaints against collective agreements of a higher territorial scope than an autonomous community, or that will affect a larger territorial area than that of a community (see article 67 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary) .

  

The Governing Chamber

The Governing Chamber of the National Criminal Court is an internal governing organ with governing competence. Among other responsibilities it deals with the approval of the distribution rules of the judicial organs, writing reports requested by the General Council of the Judiciary, writing the annual report of the institution’s activities, and the proposal of substitute magistrates, as well as being endowed with certain disciplinary faculties (see article 106.1 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary).