A shop of up to 750 m² opens with a responsible declaration, but its hours, prices and inspections are still regulated

Read in the BOE and the regional gazettes on 19 October 2026. Opening hours, complaint forms, self-protection and the defibrillator depend on the region; town councils may add steps to opening.

The short answer

Opening a small shop is easier than keeping it compliant. Opening goes through a responsible declaration if the business is in the annex to Act 12/2012 and its sales floor does not exceed 750 m². Day-to-day life is set by four rules that do not affect an office or an industrial unit: opening hours, prices, your region's complaint rules and, if you sell your model to others, franchising. The rest are the inspections of any premises open to the public, with the thresholds for retail.

Opening without a licence: the responsible declaration up to 750 m²

For those businesses no prior licence for installations, operation or activity can be required, nor for a change of owner, which goes through prior notice (Act 12/2012, Arts. 2 and 3). The annex is a closed list of tax headings: it includes retail, repairs, hairdressers, laundries and travel agencies, but not bars and restaurants, hotels or gyms. The declaration lets you open on the same day you file it, without prejudice to the town council checking afterwards (Act 39/2015, Art. 69). Works that need a design project still require a licence (Art. 3(4)).

Opening hours, Sundays and tourist areas

Act 1/2004 on retail opening hours gives each retailer freedom within the framework of their region (Art. 1). Regions cannot cut the overall opening time on working days below 90 hours a week (Art. 3) and must allow opening on at least 16 Sundays or public holidays a year, although they can reduce that to 10 (Art. 4). Which Sundays exactly is decided by each region, using criteria such as the sales periods, the Christmas season or the busiest tourist days.

Full freedom of days and hours (Art. 5) applies to establishments with less than 300 m² of usable sales area that do not belong to companies or groups that are not SMEs, those selling bread, pastries, ready meals, newspapers, fuel, flowers and plants, convenience stores, those in stations and border points, and those located in a high-tourism area (zona de gran afluencia turística). That area is declared by the region on the town council's proposal; municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants and more than 600,000 overnight stays a year must have at least one, and if the region does not declare it within six months, the whole municipality is deemed declared.

Prices on display

Real Decreto 3423/2000 requires the selling price, including VAT and other taxes, to be shown on every product offered to consumers (Art. 3(1)), and the price per unit of measure (kilo, litre, metre) on those that carry one, unless it is the same as the selling price (Art. 3(2) and 3(3)). Prices must be unambiguous, legible, in the same field of vision and visible "sin necesidad de que éste tenga que solicitar dicha información" (without the consumer having to ask for that information) (Art. 4(1)). It does not apply to products supplied with a service (Art. 1(2)), and the region inspects it.

Franchises: the register went, the prior disclosure did not

The Franchisor Register ceased to exist with Royal Decree-Law 20/2018, which rewrote Article 62 of Act 7/1996 without mentioning it and repealed Articles 5 to 12 of Real Decreto 201/2010, those on the register. Since 8 December 2018 the national rule has not required registration.

What remains in force is pre-contract disclosure: at least 20 days before signing the contract or pre-contract, or before the future franchisee pays anything, the franchisor hands over in writing its details, proof of the trade mark, the sector, its track record, the content of the franchise with an estimate of the investment, the network in Spain with the departures of the last two years and the essential terms of the contract (RD 201/2010, Art. 3, which speaks of twenty working days). The franchisor may ask for that information to be kept confidential (Art. 4).

Complaint forms and replying to customers

The national consumer act does not regulate the form itself: it requires you to say how customers can complain, give them a receipt and reply "en el plazo máximo de quince días" (within fifteen days at most) (RDLeg 1/2007, Art. 21(3)). Official complaint forms and their notice are regional. In the Region of Madrid, not having them, refusing them or not announcing them is an infringement (Act 11/1998, Art. 50(14)); in Catalonia every business must have complaint or report forms (Act 22/2010, Art. 211-14); in Andalusia, besides the paper book, the Order of 24 April 2026 requires registration in the Hoj@ electronic system, within six months for those with more than 250 workers or more than 20 establishments in Andalusia, among others, and within a year for the rest, with a shorter reply period (Decree 82/2022).

Accessibility: reasonable adjustments

For spaces and buildings that already existed in 2010 and private goods and services available to the public, the deadline to meet the basic accessibility conditions through reasonable adjustments expired on 4 December 2017 (RDLeg 1/2013, third additional provision). A reasonable adjustment is one that does not impose a disproportionate burden in the specific case (Art. 2(m)). Act 4/2026, published on 3 October, comes into force on 23 October 2026 and rewrites that definition: it adds that failing to make a reasonable adjustment amounts to discrimination on grounds of disability. It does not change the deadlines.

The premises: fire, electricity and air conditioning

For fire, extinguishers are checked every three months (your staff can do it) and every year and every five years by a maintenance company; the RIPCI ten-year inspection does not apply to retail use below 500 m² built if there are no high special-risk or storage areas (RIPCI). For electricity, a retail establishment is a public-assembly venue when its occupancy exceeds 50 people, at one per 0.8 m² of usable area; shopping-centre common areas always are (low voltage).

The RITE treats retail in its own way (IT 3.8): if you heat or cool, heating cannot exceed 21 °C and cooling cannot go below 26 °C; above 1,000 m², a temperature and humidity display in view of the public, and a notice in the others; and if the shop opens onto the street, doors that close automatically. Above 70 kW, the maintenance company checks those limits once in summer and once in winter (RITE).

Since 11 October 2026 the Basic Directive on self-protection has no national heading for shops; the Catalan catalogue (Decret 30/2015) includes buildings with a capacity of more than 1,000 people (self-protection plan). And smoking is banned in shopping centres and customer-service areas (Act 28/2005, Art. 7).

The defibrillator is required by the region, not by Real Decreto 365/2009: in Madrid and Andalusia, shops with more than 2,500 m² of display and sales area; in the Basque Country, those with more than 700 m² built, with a preventive and corrective maintenance log; in Catalonia, only buildings for 2,000 or more people (defibrillator).

What the rule does not say