Which proceedings are excluded from “MASC” (appropriate dispute resolution methods)?

The proceedings in which it is not required

Organic Law 1/2025 (“Ley Orgánica 1/2025”) lists the proceedings in which the prior attempt is not needed. They are the following:

• Those that protect fundamental rights, such as honour, privacy or one's own image.
• Those concerning urgent measures to remove a minor from danger or to prevent harm to them, provided for in the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”).
• Those concerning court-ordered support measures for people with disabilities.
• Those concerning the placement of minors with behavioural problems in specialised protection centres.
• Those on parentage, in which paternity or maternity is disputed.
• Summary protection of possession, which is the fast-track procedure to recover something you have been dispossessed of or to stop someone interfering with your use of it. It includes recovering a squatted home.
• The demolition of a structure or a building in a state of ruin that threatens to cause damage.
• Bills of exchange proceedings, which are used to claim payment of bills of exchange, cheques and promissory notes.

Nor is it needed before these other steps:

• An enforcement application, by which the court is asked to enforce a judgment, an agreement approved by the judge or a deed executed before a notary that allows this.
• Interim measures sought before the claim to secure the outcome of the case and pre-action measures, which are used to prepare for trial.
• Most non-contentious proceedings (“jurisdicción voluntaria”), in which the court's intervention is sought without there being a dispute between parties.
• The European order for payment procedure and the European small claims procedure, designed for claims between parties in different countries of the European Union.

What falls outside MASC

MASC only apply to civil and commercial matters. They do not apply to employment disputes, criminal proceedings or insolvency proceedings. Nor do they apply when one of the parties is a public authority or another public-sector body. In Barcelona, it is a criterion agreed by the civil sections of the “Audiencia Provincial” (the provincial appeal court) that this includes bodies such as the “Institut Català del Sòl” (INCASÒL), the Catalan public body that holds tenancy deposits, or the “Agència de l'Habitatge de Catalunya”, the Catalan housing agency. In addition, matters that the law does not leave to the parties' free choice cannot be referred to a MASC.

Unclear cases

In other proceedings the law is not clear and each court decides. The most common are the following:

• The order for payment procedure, which is designed for claiming money debts. In Barcelona, it is a criterion agreed by the court clerks, who handle order for payment procedures in the courts, that the attempt must be made before the application is filed. If the debtor objects, another attempt is not needed for the proceedings that follow.
• The counterclaim, which is the claim that the defendant in turn brings against the claimant in the same proceedings. In Barcelona, it is a criterion agreed by the court clerks that it is not needed.
• Road traffic accident claims and consumer claims. In Barcelona, it is a criterion agreed by the civil sections of the provincial appeal court that, in traffic claims, the prior claim to the insurer is enough. In a consumer's claims, the consumer's prior complaint to the company is enough when the company does not reply in time or its reply does not satisfy the consumer.

If you are in doubt, the prudent course is to try to reach an agreement before suing. It costs little and prevents the court from rejecting the claim.