Spain: new written-information duties for remote workers take effect 5 October
Royal Decree 723/2026, dated 9 September, was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 15 September 2026 and enters into force twenty days later, on 5 October 2026. It applies to employment relationships lasting more than four weeks. Two of its provisions bear directly on people working remotely in Spain. Article 3.2.c) requires the employer to state in writing both the work centre where the employee habitually provides their services and the centre the employee is attached to when working at a distance. Article 3.2.k) requires the employer to disclose the existence of algorithmic or automated decision-making systems, including the rules on which they operate, where those systems are used to determine working conditions.
The decree repeals Royal Decree 1659/1998, the instrument that had governed written information on essential contract terms, and replaces it. The BOE’s own legal analysis records RD 723/2026 as transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions partially, and the preamble notes that existing Spanish law already carried some of the protections the directive requires.
Why this matters
If you are employed in Spain and work remotely, from 5 October your employer must put in writing which work centre you are attached to. That single line decides practical things that are otherwise left vague: which workplace agreement covers you, which works council represents you, and which office your terms are anchored to when you are not in one. Remote workers are the group most often left without a clear answer, because there is no daily desk to settle the question. Separately, if software is setting your schedule, allocating your tasks, or feeding decisions about your pay, your progression or your continued employment, your employer must now tell you that it exists and explain the rules it runs on.
One limit is worth being clear about. These are duties owed by employers to employees. If you work in Spain as an autónom@ rather than under an employment contract, the decree does not apply to your client relationships.
Context
The transposition deadline for Directive (EU) 2019/1152 was 1 August 2022. In July 2026 the European Commission sent letters of formal notice to eight member states over incomplete alignment with it, as we reported in our coverage of the July infringement package. Spain was not among the eight, which is consistent with the partial-transposition framing in the BOE analysis: the Spanish framework already covered part of the ground, and RD 723/2026 fills in the remainder.
The algorithmic-disclosure duty arrives while the same subject is live at EU level. The European Commission’s second-phase consultation on the Quality Jobs Act, which closes on 28 September 2026, covers algorithmic management and workplace surveillance among its five areas. For background on how EU rules on automated systems intersect with remote working, see our guide to the EU AI Act and remote work.
What to watch
The obligations bite on 5 October 2026 for relationships lasting more than four weeks. If you are employed in Spain and remote, the practical step is to check whether your written terms name a work centre, and to ask for that in writing if they do not. For questions about how the duty applies to your own contract, a labour lawyer or your works council is the right place to take it. General background on working for yourself in Spain is in our guide to being self-employed as an autónom@.