El procedimiento testigo y el juicio verbal. Sus modificaciones en el Real decreto ley 6/2023. Arts. 438 bis y 440 y ss. LEC

Abstract

Royal Decree Law 6/2023 introduces essential amendments to the oral trial with a view to simplifying the procedure and it making more effective. The most notable aspects of the reform are the effects of technology on numerous proceedings and communications, and the regulation of the new witness procedure in the civil jurisdiction in order to respond to complaints submitted to the same court that are substantially identical in their subject matter. This is a form of joinder of proceedings that seeks to homogenise decisions. However, the reform requires an investment in resources – mainly personal and computing – because the filtering and processing work in witness proceedings initially involves added work. On the other hand, the near automatic resolution of cases may result in a failure to take into account the particularities of the matter at hand, and may limit the intervention of the parties, who may have to accept the results of proceedings in which they have had no participation or information right up to the conclusion thereof with the issuance of a decision. The basic principles of civil proceedings, such as the audi alteram partem rule, the hearing, the right to evidence or the dispositive principle of the procedure itself, take a backseat for the sake of economy, speed and, ultimately, the need to give another response to mass litigation.