Audiencia Nacional

The Audiencia Nacional, in English the National Court, is a high court in Spain whose jurisdiction covers the whole Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime and has original jurisdiction over major offences such as crimes against the Crown and its members, terrorism, counterfeiting of currency, card and cheque fraud, certain business crime across regional borders, drug trafficking, nationwide food and medical fraud, and international crimes that Spanish courts are competent to hear. It also hears appeals from its own Criminal Chamber, and most of its rulings can in turn be appealed to the Supreme Court. The court has criminal, appeals, administrative and social chambers, and the administrative chamber reviews decisions of ministers and of agencies such as the Spanish Data Protection Agency. Its seat is in Madrid, across the Plaza Villa de Paris from the Supreme Court. It was created in 1977, at the same time as the Court of Public Order, an exceptional court of the Franco dictatorship, ceased to exist.