Garrigues and the Official State Gazette launch the new Electronic Code for Foreign Investments in Spain

25 / 04 / 2016

SEE Electronic Code for Foreign Investments in Spain

The new publication, prepared by tax and corporate/commercial law professionals, is a compilation of all the legal provisions on these subjects that regulate the entry of foreign productive investments into Spain.

Garrigues and the Official State Gazette State Agency have presented the new Electronic Code for Foreign Investments in Spain, a compilation of all the corporate/commercial tax legislation regulating the entry of foreign productive investments into the Spanish market.

This is a particularly useful tool for companies that view Spain as an attractive and profitable country to invest in, as was witnessed during its presentation last Tuesday at the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness by the Garrigues partner, Vicente Bootello, the head of the Official State Gazette State Agency, Manuel Tuero, the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry, Miguel Temboury and the Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz.

The new code has various sets of rules from the different legal areas. Firstly, the corporate/commercial legislation includes both provisions regulating movements of capital and foreign economic transactions, as well as specific regulations on productive foreign investments liberalized in Spain with several exceptions in the real estate industry, tax havens and other regulated industries.

The corporate/commercial part rounds off with a set of tax provisions on such foreign transactions, especially in relation to nonresident income tax, and corporate income tax. The tax part culminates with a set of provisions regarding money laundering and terrorist financing.

So that no aspects are left untouched, the documents include all the agreements for the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments (APPRIs), double taxation treaties that Spain has signed with over 100 countries worldwide and even the tax information exchange agreements that the Spanish tax authorities have reached with other States, which are crucial to combating international tax fraud.

Together with Vicente Bootello at Garrigues, the work has been carried out by the principal associate of the Tax Department Nicolás Cremades, the partner Jaime Bragado and the associate Natalia Gutiérrez, in the Corporate/Commercial Law Department.

One of the major advantages of this new electronic code is its ability to update permanently, so that both heads of legal departments and the pubic, as well as law students or students from other fields can consult at any time, the latest developments in the legislation applicable to the issue in question. The head of the BOE, Vicente Tuero, announced that the code would be translated into English, so that its use can be even more widespread.

This code joins the close to 100 codes on specific legislations that have already been prepared in digital format by the BOE in conjunction with several Spanish law firms. Four of them with Garrigues, on sports law, pharmaceutical law, insolvency and intellectual property.