USURPATION OF PUBLIC FUNCTIONS AND INTRUSIVENESS

On the one hand, Article 402 of the Penal Code punishes the illegitimate exercise of acts proper to an authority or public official, attributing official character, with a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years. It also punishes, with a fine of 1 to 3 months, the person who, without being authorized, improperly uses in public a uniform or insignia that attributes an official character to him/her.

On the other hand, Article 403 of the Penal Code regulates the crime of professional intrusion, which is committed by a person who performs the acts of a profession without having the corresponding academic degree. The penalty applicable to this crime is a fine of 12 to 24 months. However, the penalty can be a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years if the perpetrator publicly claims to be a professional or if he/she performs the acts in a place open to the public where the services of that profession are advertised.