SPAIN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Rubén Canales and Ignacio Temiño, Abril Abogados
Introduction Spain is one of the largest economies in the European Union and, within the eurozone, it recorded the low - est inflation increase (5.6%) in 2022, coupled with a remarkable growth rate of around 5%. Forecasts for 2024/2025 remain positive, with no short- or medium- term predictions of a recession. In this favourable economic environment, marketing and advertising continue to play a key role in enhanc - ing commerce, development, and competitiveness. Spanish companies are increasingly prioritising legal areas linked to marketing, such as privacy law, as part of their commercial strategies in booming sectors like e-commerce, e-learning, telecommunications, audio - visual production, and entertainment. Intellectual property rights are also a significant area of focus across all sectors of the economy. Trade marks, designs, and copyrights are valuable assets, with many companies investing heavily in them and defending their rights vigorously when necessary. Additionally, Spain is particularly strong in industries such as food, fashion, and tourism. In these sectors, protections for fair competition, trade dress, and geo - graphical indications are especially important. For instance, many of Spain’s iconic gastronomic prod - ucts, such as wine and olive oil, are tied to geographi - cal indications, which function as guarantee marks. In the entertainment sector, Spain’s exceptional tel - ecommunications infrastructure – ranking third glob - ally in fibre optic coverage per capita, after Japan and South Korea – has driven high levels of digital content consumption and production across various fields. Audiovisual production and video game development continue to grow annually, with copyright protection playing a vital role in supporting these industries. From a legal perspective, advertising in Spain is heav - ily shaped by a well-developed system of self-regula - tion. Autocontrol, the country’s primary self-regulatory organisation (SRO), was established in 1995 as a non- profit association. It operates independently, bring - ing together advertisers, advertising agencies, media outlets, and professional associations. Its mission is to promote responsible advertising that is truthful, legal,
honest, and loyal. Autocontrol currently has around 600 direct members and 4,000 indirect members, rep - resenting approximately 70% of Spain’s advertising investment. Autocontrol manages the Spanish system of self-reg - ulation of commercial communication on the basis of three main instruments: • Codes of Conduct: The Code of Advertising Prac - tice of Autocontrol is based on the Code of Adver - tising and Marketing Communication Practice of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Code), and the Sectoral Codes of Conduct whose application has been entrusted to Autocontrol. • Advertising Jury: This is the extrajudicial dispute resolution body that is responsible for resolving advertising complaints. • Legal Counsel: This service is provided by experts in advertising law, privacy and data protection and IT, who advise companies on the fulfilment of their legal obligations in these areas. Autocontrol offers a “copy advice service”, which is a tool that offers a technical opinion on the legal and ethical correctness of a specific advertisement before it is launched to the public. However, advertis - ers are not obliged to follow Autocontrol’s advice, and the advice provided is not binding. This means that when a complaint is made against advertising which has been pre-approved, Autocontrol is not bound by the opinion issued in the copy advice and is free to adopt a decision contrary to the one given by the copy advice service. Most disputes about advertising and marketing are submitted to the self-regulatory system, which is widely used because the direct and indirect mem - bers of Autocontrol are linked to approximately 70% of advertising investment in Spain. According to the official data published, since its creation: • Autocontrol has handled more than 518,000 legal and ethical inquiries, of which almost 424,000 cor - respond to Copy Advice ® ; and • the Autocontrol Advertising Jury has resolved 5,354 cases, with an average timeframe of 14 days in the first instance.
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