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AMERICAS: SPAIN

The New Spanish Information Law
Authors: Gerhard W. Volz & Amelie von Bülow, Schiller Abogados

The new Law of Information (LEY 56/2007, de 28 de diciembre, de Medidas de Impulso de la Sociedad de la Información) was passed by the Spanish Congress on the 20th of December 2007 and is in force since the 30th of December 2007.

The general idea of the law is to support activities on the internet and guarantee the rights of the citizens within the digital society.

The new Law of Information contains changes of the existing Law of Information, the Law of Electronic Commerce, the Law of Electronic Signatures, the General Law of Telecommunications and the Law of Organisation of Retail Trade.

The most important new aspects are:

  • Companies with more than 1000 employees or a business volume exceeding 6.010.121,04 € that offer services with special relevance (e.g. financial and bank services, electricity, water, gas, telecommunications) must provide their clients with the possibility of online communication, consultancy and contracting, based on the electronic signature and especially the electronic identity card.
  • Plans concerning the extension of the electronic invoice in Spain
  • Regulation of electronic auctions among companies and the intention of decreasing the mistrust in participating in this new modality of purchase
  • Obligation of internet providers to inform their users constantly free of charge in an easy and understandable way about technical means to improve the protection against security problems in the Net
  • The Public Administration has to fulfil with an average level of accessibility to their and connected Websites prior to the 31st of December 2008. The level of accessibility is interpreted according to the general acknowledged Spanish standards.
  • The infringement of consumer or user rights by companies operating in the area of telecommunication, constitutes an infraction of public law.
  • The government, in collaboration with the autonomous Spanish regions is obliged to improve the extension of broadband use of internet. The idea is to create a nation-wide coverage until the 31st of December 2008.
  • Construction companies working on new streets or railway systems are obliged to provide installations for the net of electronic communication. This also applies to the construction in areas of new urbanization.
  • If services within the Internet infringe principles as public order, security, national defence, public health or protection of minors, the competent authority may adopt  the necessary measures to interrupt the services or eliminate the correspondent data.
  • Obligation of the government to present a draft law regulating the activities of games and betting online taking into account the protection of minors and the conditions of the authorization to provide games and betting in the Net in accordance with the general principles of community law.
  • Within three month the authority of assignation of domains in the Net (Red.es) has to adopt measures to enable the registration of Spanish characters within the domain .es.

The possibility of the “competent authority” to shut down websites has been criticised with the argument, that it could be used as an instrument of censorship.

Also the requirement of authorisation by a Spanish authority in order to offer games and betting online has been discussed in a controversial manner. The opponents of such a “Spanish authorisation” have argued that a legal authorization of another country within the EU must be sufficient. As the Internet does not stop at frontiers it would indeed be desirable to find a unitary solution within the European Union. In any case one has to await how the Spanish government will implement the law. An interesting aspect will also be the compensation of the autonomous regions, which at the moment receive a great part of the tax income resulting from the games.