Spain

Business Environment

Closed hours and days: Businesses open from 9.00 to 14.00 and from 16.00 to 19.00 in general ; from 9.00 to 15.00 in July - August (from 9.00 to 14.00 to the public including on Saturday).

National standards organizations
Integration in the international standards network: The Asociacion española normalizacion y certificacion (Aenor) is the organisation in charge of developing normalisation and certification activities. It works in accordance with the European standards. The Aenor is divided into 115 Technical Committees of Normalisation (CTN), each of which is responsible for the normalisation of specific products. The Aenor is a member of the various European organisations for normalisation, such as: the ECN (European Committee of Normalisation), the CENELEC (European Committee of electrotechnical normalisation) and the ETSI (European Telecommunication Standardisation Institute).
The standard ISO 9000 is a symbol of competitiveness, although optional.
Classification of standards
Online consultation of standards
Certification organizations

Independence of justice: Judiciary is largely independent in Spain, however it has been affected by Basque terrorism as judicial officials and law enforcement officers have been targets of separatist group ETA.
Equal treatment of nationals and foreigners: Spain is largely ruled by law. Foreign nationals can normally expect an impartial trial from the country’s judicial system. Political corruption remains an issue in Spain.
The language of justice: Spanish
Sources of the law and legal similarities: The main source of the law is the constitution of 1978. The country’s legal system is based on civil law system, with regional variations. Being a member of the European Union, the national law in Spain needs to comply with the conditions of the Community legislation. Spain accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations. The people of Spain enjoy considerable political rights.
Consulting national laws online

National organizations: The organisation in charge of the registration of patents and trademarks is the Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas.
Nowadays, any company or any private individual wishing to protect his invention in several European countries should appeal to the European Patent, created by the Agreement of Munich (1973). It is a common system of liberation of patents, of which management is ensured by the OEB, European Office of the patents, located in Munich.
Spain adheres to the agreement of Munich (on patents) and consequently recognises the European deposit.
International membership: Member of the WIPO
Signatory to the Paris Convention
Membership to TRIPS

Type of property	Law	Validity	International agreements signed
Patent	Patent Law 1993	20 years	Patent Cooperation Treaty Strasbourg agreement concerning the International Patent Classification
Trademark			Trademark law treaty Nice agreement concerning the International classification of goods and Services for the Purposes of the registration of Marks Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks
Design
Copyright			Berne convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic Works Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against unauthorized duplication of their phonograms Rome convention for the protection of performers, producers of phonograms and Broadcasting organizations WIPO copyright treaty
Industrial Models

Tax rate: 16%
Reduced tax rate: The reduced rates are 4 and 7%. The 4% rate applies to basic necessities. The 7% rate applies to food, dwellings, certain transport services and tourism.
Exports and export-related services are zero-rated, as well as financial operations and insurances, healt cares and education services.
Other consumption taxes: Excise duties are also levied on certain products, especially on spirit.

>> To get further information on the VAT rates in Spain, please check the list of vat rates applied within European Union, as well as the Agencia Tributaria web site.

>> More detailed information on excise duties is available concerning alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, energy products on the European Commission website.

Tax rate

Capital gains taxation

Capital gains tax rate is 35%.
A 15% reduced tax rate is applicable to long-term capital gains.

Other corporate taxes

Tax year: The fiscal year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st of the same year.
Accounting regulation bodies
Publication: Companies must hold an inventory book and annual accounts.
Annual accounts must contain the balance sheet, the loss and profit account and the annexes.
Professional accountancy bodies
Certification and auditing: Annual accounts must be dated and signed by the manager, the associates or by all the administrators according to the size of the company.
Accounting news