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Friday, March 29, 2024

New penalty regime for illegal parties on Ibiza comes into force on Thursday

The Policía Local cannot enter houses without judicial authorization and the Govern states that they must prevent illegal parties before they happen, or wait for it to end and act when attendees leave.

The Balearic Executive presided by Francina Armengol, travelled to Ibiza yesterday to hold for the first time during this legislature a Consell de Govern in which important issues affecting the island were approved, specifically, two decree laws to toughen penalties to combat illegal parties and to unfreeze the new island order of loading and unloading of the taxi sector. The two regulations, which must be validated within 20 days in the Balearic Parliament, will come into effect from Thursday after publication in the Official Bulletin of the Balearic Islands (BOIB).

At the press conference after the Consell de Govern held yesterday at the Consell de Ibiza headquarters, President Armengol stressed that one of the “novelties” of the decree law to combat illegal parties is that the penalty regime will not only apply to the organizers of the event, but may also fine the owners of the property (a minimum of 150.000 euros if they know that their property is being used for this illegal activity) and the participants, with a minimum of 300 euros and a maximum of 3,000 euros. The penalty regime covers a range of between €300 and €300,000. In addition, the fine will be increased if it has caused a nuisance to neighbors.

Definition of illegal parties

The decree law also defines illegal parties (basically those held in a private housing space for profit, in which attendees pay an entrance fee, and are advertised outside commercial channels) and “are prohibited” as they are considered “unfair competition to legal leisure”, as Armengol stressed.

This decree law is a modification of the Balearic law of activities and also of the law of tourism, in this last case to harden the penalty regime for the breach of a tourist activity (holiday home, for example) and that can lead to the loss of the license.

Despite the express request of the Consell de Ibiza, the Balearic Minister of the Presidency, Mercedes Garrido, explained that the Policía Local will not be able to enter the homes during illegal parties due to “the inviolability of the home”, unless the agents have a judicial authorization or permission from the property owner. “The objective is to stop them before or wait for them to exit so that the agents can gather the information in order to instigate a sanction file”, she indicated.

Another features of the legal reform is that local councils will be able to adopt precautionary measures (the law on activities provides for a wide range of options, the councilor recalled) without waiting for an infringement file to be opened first. In fact, the adoption of precautionary measures will imply the start of the procedure.

For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.

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