Rules for business premises in Spain
Activity licence (licencia de actividad)
The licencia de actividad is the prior municipal licence to run a business from premises in Spain. Today it is the exception: Ley 12/2012 bans it for retail and the services in its annex up to 750 m², where a self-declaration is enough, and outside that annex the region and the town hall decide.
Also known aslicencia de actividad · opening licence · operating licence · licencia de apertura
The general rule is no longer a licence
Spain's Local Government Act (Ley 7/1985, LBRL) states that “as a general rule, carrying on activities shall not be subject to obtaining a licence or any other means of prior control” (art. 84 bis.1). A town hall may only require one on grounds of public order, public safety, public health or the environment in that place, where a self-declaration or a notification would not be enough, or if the number of operators is limited. Installations only need an authorisation if a law says so and they can cause harm, judged by their power, capacity, noise, discharges or flammable materials (art. 84 bis.2).
Ley 12/2012, on urgent measures to liberalise retail and certain services, goes further. For retail and the services listed in its annex, with up to 750 m² of usable display and sales area, no “prior licence for installations, operation or activity” may be required (arts. 2.1 and 3.1): a self-declaration or a prior notification is enough, and a change of operator only needs a notification. The annex is a closed list of business-tax headings that includes, among others, retail trade, repairs, hairdressers, laundries, estate agents and many offices providing business services.
An example: a 400 m² furniture shop and an 80 m² café on the same street. The shop opens with a self-declaration on the day it files it; the café opens with whatever its region's law and that municipality's by-laws require.
Worth knowing
Bars, restaurants, hotels and gyms are not in that annex. For them Ley 12/2012 changes nothing, and what they are asked for (a licence, a self-declaration or a notification) is decided by regional law and municipal by-laws, often according to capacity, noise or power. Nor does the law remove the licence for building works that need one (art. 3.4), or later checks: verifying, inspecting and penalising remain in the authorities' hands (art. 5). And the electrical installation certificate is something else: it is required by the REBT, not by the licence.
Sources
Related terms
- Facilities land useFacilities land use (uso dotacional) is the use that Spanish town planning reserves for public facilities and services: schools, health centres, cultural, sports or service buildings. Whether a colegio mayor or a student residence fits on that land, or on residential land, is decided by each municipality's plan.
- Habitability certificateA habitability certificate (cédula de habitabilidad) is the document certifying that a home meets the minimum conditions to be lived in under the habitability rules of its Spanish autonomous community. In Catalonia, for example, it is needed to occupy, sell or let the home and to sign up for utilities.
- Electrical installation certificate (CIE)The electrical installation certificate (CIE), known in Spain as the ‘boletín’, is the document the installation firm signs when it finishes, extends or alters a low-voltage installation. It is filed with the autonomous community and, without the stamped copy, the distribution company cannot connect the premises.
- Self-declaration (declaración responsable)The declaración responsable is the document in which whoever runs an activity in Spain states, on their own responsibility, that they meet the requirements, hold the papers to prove it and will go on meeting them. It lets them start on the day it is filed, with checks afterwards (art. 69 of Ley 39/2015).