The Government approves the regulations for the State DNA Bank for victims

The Council of Ministers approved on October 6, and the Official State Gazette publishes this Thursday, October 8, Royal Decree 807/2026, of October 7, which regulates the State DNA Bank of Victims of the War and the Dictatorship. The regulation develops article 23 of Law 20/2022, of October 19, on Democratic Memory, which created this instrument in 2022 without operating regulations, and will enter into force six months after its publication. The text bears the signature of King Felipe VI and the endorsement of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños García.

The 2022 law adopted as state policy the demand of families who are unaware of the whereabouts of their relatives, “the majority in mass graves,” and assigned the bank to the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts. The royal decree is structured into nine articles, three additional provisions, and three final provisions, and is issued under article 149.1.1.ª and 149.1.5.ª of the Constitution, following the opinion of the Council of State and consultation with the autonomous communities. Its objective is to unify into a single state database the genetic profiles currently dispersed among public administrations and private entities, with effectiveness throughout the national territory.

A single bank managed by the INTCF

The State DNA Bank is established as a state-level database assigned to the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts and managed by the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences (INTCF), which assumes responsibility for data processing. Its function is to receive and store profiles of victims of the Civil War and the Dictatorship and their relatives, as well as people affected by the abduction of newborns, for matching and genetic identification.

Three types of profiles will be integrated into the database:

• Corporeal remains of victims and biological samples from relatives, obtained in laboratories designated by the autonomous communities, chosen by individuals, or by the INTCF.
• Profiles derived from judicial proceedings or from the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened due to the discovery of human remains.
• Profiles from cases of possible abduction of newborns, to determine their genetic filiation or that of their biological relatives.

No names or telephones: only identity and sex

Only the identifying patterns that reveal the person’s identity and sex will be registered in the database: autosomal DNA markers, Y-chromosome (paternal lineage), mitochondrial (maternal lineage), and X-chromosome. Each profile will receive an alphanumeric code dissociated from the rest of the identifying data to guarantee privacy and traceability. Name, surnames, address, telephone, or email will not be registered.

Identification and contact data will be held by each laboratory, which will also collect information regarding the discovery of the analyzed remains. The provision of samples will be voluntary and free of charge, with signed consent, and the INTCF will be the data controller in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Organic Law 3/2018, as these are specially protected data.

Accredited laboratories and two-level searches

Profiles may be provided by laboratories designated by the autonomous communities, public or private laboratories with profiles obtained for these purposes, and the biology services of the INTCF and the Security Forces and Corps. The National Commission for the Forensic Use of DNA (CNUFADN) will accredit them based on criteria from the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard and external controls from the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) and the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI).

Access will be electronic and always through the laboratories. Comparative searches will be carried out at two levels: first within each laboratory and then, automatically, against the remaining repositories. The General Directorate for Digital Transformation of the Administration of Justice will be responsible for the computer applications, maintenance, and backups. Data may only be transferred to judicial and prosecutorial authorities within the scope of open proceedings.

Autonomous databases and stolen babies

The royal decree orders the separate treatment of data from victims of the War and the Dictatorship from those regarding the abduction of newborns, and the integration of existing profiles, including the Ministry’s “DNA Profiles of Persons Affected by the Abduction of Newborns” database. Victim status will be accredited in accordance with Royal Decree 1791/2008 or Royal Decree 265/2025; in cases of abduction, a complaint admitted for processing will suffice.

The Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences will collaborate in the collection and shipment of samples, and legally constituted victims’ associations may facilitate their procurement and submission. The management of the INTCF will prepare an annual activity report to be sent to the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts and the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, which will be published on its website.

The entry into force, six months after publication, allows time for the accreditation of laboratories and the migration of existing profiles. For the thousands of families who still do not know the whereabouts of their relatives, the regulation makes operational a single database that until now existed only on paper.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 250, October 8, 2026, Sec. I. General provisions, pages 133626-133633 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-20910).