Starting from April 1, 2025, anyone wishing to file a civil lawsuit will be REQUIRED to first resort to an appropriate means of dispute resolution as provided in Article 2 as a prerequisite for the admissibility of the lawsuit. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the inadmissibility of the lawsuit, as outlined in the development of the Civil Procedure Law and its reform in Article 439 or Article 403.

What are these means that must be resorted to?

We can list the following as outlined in Article 14:

• A direct negotiation between the parties in conflict, or, if applicable, through lawyers or through a collaborative law process.
• A prior mediation in accordance with the provisions of Law 5/2012, of July 6, on mediation in civil and commercial matters. Other regional laws that establish mediation procedures may also be used.
• Conciliation before a notary regulated by the Notarial Law of May 28, 1862. • Conciliation before the registrar regulated in Title IV bis of the Mortgage Law.
• Conciliation before the clerk of the court regulated by Law 15/2015, on Voluntary Jurisdiction, and conciliation before the justice of the peace regulated both in the Civil Procedure Law and in Title IX of the Voluntary Jurisdiction Law.

Consequently, two provisions are modified: Article 399 of the Civil Procedure Law, which requires reference to the entire negotiation procedure followed before going to court, and Article 264.4, which states that the justification of the negotiation procedure followed is one of the documents that must accompany the lawsuit.