Legal concept and doctrinal concept of occupational disease. Jurisprudential interpretation of the list of occupational diseases in Royal Decree 1299/2006

Abstract

The concept of occupational disease is analysed from the Workplace Accident Act of 1900 up to the current Social Security Law, which in Article 157 defines occupational diseases, referring to a list of diseases based on both doctrine and jurisprudence and making a detailed interpretation of occupational diseases. The most widely accepted doctrine considers that the Social Security Law defines occupational diseases based on two concepts and a causal relationship. The structure of the concept of occupational disease can respond to the implementation of the list-based system, the open or judicial system and the mixed system, while in the Spanish legal system the recognised system is the closed-list system. The current list is regulated in Royal Decree 1299/2006 of 10 November, in which there are inaccuracies, ambiguities, general references, vague expressions and the use of adverbs and terms which may lead to the list not being classified as closed. Meanwhile, jurisprudence considers, in relation to these general terms contained in Royal Decree 1299/2006, that there are situations where it could be classified as an open-list system, so a broad margin would be left to judicial interpretation.