The leader of Vox in Madrid, Mist, Monastery, has been punctuated in recent months by numerous cases of illegal urban developments in which, among other issues, she accuses him of having signed drawings of the works prior to having the title of architect. At the end of November, however, the College of Architects of Madrid dismissed the complaint for intrusion brought by a council member Over Madrid, claiming that they had the capacity to investigate to the deputy regional because, when he committed the alleged offenses, was not yet collegial.
beyond the new chapters that can be the case a Monastery, a professional intrusion is conduct that is more serious than is often thought; in fact, the Criminal Code makes it a criminal offence. The greater number of cases prosecuted for these facts have to do with the health sector (doctors who are not healers prescribe treatments), but also occur in many other disciplines such as engineering, law or architecture. A few cases that, besides being extensive and complex, often lead to heavy sentences because, to the corresponding intrusion, add other tort such as fraud or falsehood documentary.
The crime of unqualified labour has its origin in the THIRTEENTH century, in the Law of Games of Alfonso X. The text were punished with banishment to a remote island or to the penalty of death to the healers, apothecaries, or physical, that applying your own methods of doctors, led to death of patients. Eight centuries later, to pose as a worker who does not is also takes its toll.
The article 403 of the Penal Code punishes the person who exercises the “acts” of a profession without possessing the corresponding academic degree or official. The assumptions most minor are punished with a fine. But if the offender is attributed publicly to the profession that invades it (by advertising or disseminating identification cards), or commits the acts in an establishment open to the public, is punishable by imprisonment. In these cases, the legislator understands that the will of deception the author is higher and, therefore, its most serious violation.
however, specify when the crime is not simple. The major difficulty, precisely, is to define what encompasses the concept of “estoppel”. For the courts, this term refers to those tasks that the legal system solely attributed to certain professions, leaving out the duties granted by law to several trades. However, the absence of a guide that defines what specific acts are specific to each work, this distinction has had to be done at the flick of a sentence.
Thus, recently, the Audiencia Provincial de Ourense acquitted a specialist in natural therapies to consider that the practices of osteopathy and chiropractic “are not the exclusive competence of the therapists”. Also, the Supreme Court established in 2010 to advise on matters of immigration does not encroach on the functions of a lawyer. For judges to renew permits, apply for visas or other similar proceedings “are no functions reserved exclusively to lawyers”.
Now, what happens when the illegal acts correspond to the same profession (doctor) but to different specialties (dermatology and pediatrics, for example)? The general trend is to reject that there is an intrusion if the minimum qualifications is the same. In this way, in 2018, the high court acquitted two doctors who, despite devoting herself to medicine, performed tasks of plastic surgery. The judges pointed out that, while it is true that exercise in a clinic or hospital without a license is a violation, “we cannot reach the same conclusion with respect to the doctor who performs a specialty without the appropriate title”. This circumstance, however, does not absolve the offender from being punished by other means, such as a disciplinary or recklessly.
to Combat the intrusiveness, however, is not straightforward. As we saw in the case Monastery, on many occasions, the professional schools only have the authority to sanction its members. And the deceivers, by definition, do not form part of your mass of registered professionals. Therefore, often these are organisms that take the matter before a judge. In 2009, the Supreme Court admitted the demand of the College of Lawyers of Madrid against a man who forged the Right title and spiked their curriculum to be eligible for the post of director of Labor Relations at Citibank. The defendant was at the head of the department for nearly a decade and came to litigate before the courts. The room we had objected to four years in prison for intrusion and fraud, but rejected that should return it to the bank wages because “the work performed by the defendant was positively rated”.
on the other hand, it does not matter that the conduct is timely to commit the crime. To this conclusion came the Provincial court of Cádiz in 2013 when he sentenced a man who did spend a one-time private detective, guarding the daughter of the plaintiff (your client) and inventing quibbling about the constant dangers in which was the family to extend the research (and, hence, raise the invoice).
Preserve the reputation
With the censorship of the intrusion not only aims to protect the professional groups affected and potential users, it also seeks to safeguard the confidence of the citizenry in the degree administrative “in front of actions falsarias of deceivers”. As well stated by the Supreme Court in 1997, to sanction a medical technician who served several years as a gynecologist without having the title of medicine. The College of Physicians not reported until 20 years later, after the respondent had served more than 8,000 women, participated in the congress, to prescribe treatments and placed contraceptive devices.
Distinctions between trades
Not all the trades deserve protection against the fakers. The courts have ruled protected under the umbrella of an intrusion to those professions whose performance consists of tasks allowed legally to any citizen. This is the case, for example, of the journalists and the ability to publish news. Or the guides and carry out a tourist journey. In addition, the Constitutional Court rejected in 2002 that administrative managers and real estate agents could be attributed to this crime who carry out their functions.
