Traffic assumes municipal sanctions in Valencia de las Torres

The Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Badajoz has assumed the sanctioning authority for traffic violations committed on the urban roads of the municipality of Valencia de las Torres, at the request of the City Council itself. The agreement, signed by the provincial chief, José Luis Capilla González, is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz number 163, dated August 26, 2026, as announcement 3371/2026.

The decision is a response to the insufficiency of municipal services to properly exercise this authority and will enter into force the day following its publication in the gazette.

A process initiated by the City Council

The procedure began with the plenary agreement of the Municipal Corporation of Valencia de las Torres, adopted on March 20, 2026, in which the assumption of competencies was proposed due to the insufficiency of municipal services. The agreement was forwarded to the Headquarters on March 23, 2026.

The sanctions unit of the Headquarters reported that there was no objection to processing the files that might be initiated, and the justified reasons and the exceptional nature of the request were duly accredited.

The legal framework of the assumption

Municipal competence regarding traffic, parking, and mobility is recognized in article 25.2 g) of Law 7/1985, Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, and its scope is specified in Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of October 30, the consolidated text of the Law on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Circulation, and Road Safety.

Article 84.4 of this law, in its Title V on the Sanctioning Regime, establishes that provincial traffic chiefs shall assume the competence of mayors when, for justified reasons or due to the insufficiency of municipal services, it cannot be exercised by them.

Scope of the assumed competence

The assumed competence comprises only the sanctioning of traffic violations, as well as the instruction of the corresponding sanctioning proceedings, which always corresponds to the administration that adopts the resolution.

• The organization and control of traffic on urban roads remains a municipal competence.
• The surveillance and reporting of violations also remain in the hands of the City Council.
• The assumption is carried out without financial compensation from the General Directorate of Traffic to the City Council.
• The exercise of the competence will continue as long as the circumstances that motivated it are not seen to have disappeared or the City Council does not express its re-assumption.

The measure affects all drivers traveling on the urban roads of Valencia de las Torres, whose sanctioning files will now be processed by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters of Badajoz, thereby guaranteeing the continuity of the sanctioning regime in a municipality whose services were unable to handle it on their own.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Badajoz, no. 163, August 26, 2026, State Administration, pág. 2-3 (official reference: announcement 3371/2026).