Delimitation of the Public Domain
Introduction
The Spanish Coastal Law is what regulates the determination, protection, use and policy of the maritime-terrestrial public domain and especially of the maritime shore.
Until 2013, Law 22/1988, of July 28, on Coasts was in force, which repealed the Coastal Law of April 26, 1969, and was developed in the Regulations of the Coastal Law, approved in Royal Decree 1471/1989 of December 1, 1989. This law was modified by Law 2/2013, of May 29, on the protection and sustainable use of the coastline and on the modification of Law 22/1988, of July 28, on Coasts, in force.
The effective application of the 1988 Law, especially in its aspect of coastal protection, did not occur in most of the territory, as pointed out by the European Union in the Auken Report").
The modifications introduced by the new Law 2/2013, of May 29, on the protection and sustainable use of the coastline, of Coasts will allow the regularization of 12,800 homes located in public domain, which the previous law considered illegal and had to be demolished.[3] In addition, 140,000 homes will be able to benefit from the works amnesty.[4].
On September 17, 2013, the European Parliament approved a new resolution on the Coastal Law of 1988 and the modification of the Coastal Law of 2013 urging the Spanish government to fairly compensate the legitimate owners expropriated or demolished by the Coastal Law. The European Parliament has approved in its resolution that the Concession does not represent any compensation for the loss of properties, but has urged that the State compensate fairly, paying at market value for the expropriations carried out due to the application of the Coastal Law. It also declares that the legal uncertainty has not been resolved and has asked the European Commission for an opinion on the European directives and laws that it violates.[5].
Objectives of the law
After the meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by Mariano Rajoy on October 5, 2012, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment Miguel Arias Cañete presented the bill that modifies the 1988 Coastal Law and argued that it was necessary to change the previous law because it had created "legal uncertainty" and a bad image of Spain abroad, because there were foreigners among those affected by the 1988 regulation, according to which from In 2018, houses built on the Maritime-Terrestrial Public Domain would begin to pass into the hands of the State to be demolished.[6][7].