Breaking news: the Spanish Franchisor’s Registry is abolished

As of December 8th 2018, the obligation of Franchisors to register and update the information about their franchise network in the Spanish Franchisor’s Registry has been abolished.

As of December 8^th 2018, the obligation of Franchisors to register and update the information about their franchise network in the Spanish Franchisor’s Registry has been abolished.  

Last Saturday, the Royal Decree 20/ Act 20/2018 of 7^th December of Urgent Actions was published to promote the industry and commerce in Spain. It came into force the same day. Article 6.3 of the Royal Decree modifies article 62 of the Retail Trade Regulation Act 7/1996 of 15^th January. In this sense, the new wording of this article deletes paragraph 2, regarding the obligation to register in the Spanish Franchisors’ Registry.  

In addition, the Derogating Provision 1.a) and c) expressly deletes the article 65.1.r. (the sanctions in case that Franchisors do nor register) and Chapter III of Royal Decree 201/2010 of 26^th February (that regulated such register).  

As a conclusion, such provisions not only abolish the obligation to register for local and foreign Franchisors, but also the obligation to annually report the closure or opening of their own or franchisees’ establishments during the previous year.  

Therefore, as of 9 December 2018, local or foreign Franchisors no longer have an obligation to register and/or update their information in the Franchisors’ Registry, and the sanctions in case of breach of the obligation to register have been removed.  

The new Royal Decree does not affect the obligation of Pre-Contractual information currently in force. Hence, we highly recommend to all local and foreign Franchisors who are intending to grant a franchise in Spain to contact a local lawyer to verify the fulfilment of the provisions requested by Law.