Screenshot of the BOE announcing the repeal of Constitution on Wednesday morning. Iberley

Online blunder as Spain’s BOE official state gazette repeals the Constitution

The glitch also left eight other fundamental laws without effect, including the Penal Code, the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Act

Melchor Sáiz-Pardo

Madrid

Friday, 21 April 2023, 18:00 | Updated 20:16h.

The website of the Spain's official state gazette (BOE) declared the Spanish Constitution repealed on Wednesday morning. An error caused the BOE to publish the erroneous declaration that the country’s 1978-adopted Magna Carta had lost its validity.

The BOE also declared at least eight other fundamental laws as 'repealed': the Civil Procedure Act, the Criminal Code, the Civil Code, the revised text of the Workers' Statute, the General Social Security Act, the Act regulating social jurisdiction, the revised text of the Insolvency Act and the Public Sector Legal Regime Act.

The errors, reported by the specialised legal portal Confilegal, was detected at 9am on Wednesday by Iberley, the legal database for labour, tax and accounting consultation.

Iberley contacted the BOE's customer service department, which 20 minutes later solved the error and restored the Constitution and the rest of the regulations. However, no one has been able to say for how long the BOE left Spaniards without the Magna Carta.

According to the Iberley officials who detected the errors, this is not the first time that the official state gazette has mistakenly published a statement that a law has been repealed.