SECTION A: FINANCIAL REGULATION

Crypto Asset Markets: Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on crypto asset markets (MiCA Regulation): After the publishment of the MiCA Regulation, on June 9, 2023, the Member States of European Union shall decide on the period of application of the Regulation in each country. However, in case of that no decision is taken by the Member States of European Union, this Regulation will automatically apply from July 2026 for crypto asset service providers, but with a transitional period of 36 months. 

The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has announced that there will be a transitional period of 18 months from the publication of the MiCA Regulation, because this Regulation will come into force in December 2025. During the transitional period, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) will approve the applicable technical standards for the development of MiCA Regulation.

SECTION B: DATA PROTECTION

Changes in the use of cookies: the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), by means of the update of Data Protection Guidance regarding the use of cookies establishes that companies must implement the following relevant changes introduced in the Guidance by January 11, 2024:

Option to reject cookies in the first layer: The AEPD has introduced the obligation to include a button or equivalent mechanism with the text of “Reject cookies” or similar text, to reject the use of cookies (except those that are exempt from the obligation to obtain informed consent). The AEPD has also pointed out that the actions to accept or reject cookies in the website must be presented in a prominent place and format.

Personalization Cookies: The AEPD has also introduced a change on the personalization cookies by considering that, when it is the user himself who makes the decision about them, this kind of cookies shall be considered technical and, therefore, do not require consent, since this kind of cookies are not used for other purposes. However, clarifies the AEPD, when the publisher is the one to take such decisions on customization cookies, it must inform about it by prominently offering the option to accept or reject them. In this case, the publisher may not use them for purposes other than those accepted.

Cookie walls: The AEPD has pointed out that for consent to be considered freely given by the users of the website, the access to the service and the functionalities shall not be conditional on the user's consent to the use of cookies. In this regard, the non-acceptance of the use of cookies shall not imply the no access to the website or the total or partial use of the service.

SECTION C: TAX

TEAC Resolution of 22 February 2024: A recent from the Economic Administrative Central Court (TEAC) resolution deals once again with the deductibility of the remuneration paid by companies to their directors with executive functions. It introduces a change of criteria and aligns its doctrine with the latest case law of the Spanish Supreme Court on this issue. 

The TEAC accepts that directors' remuneration for their executive functions could be considered as deductible from a Corporate Income Tax perspective even if it’s not expressly provided in the Company’s Bylaws.

According to the TEAC resolution, in line with the Spanish Supreme Court criteria, it considered unreasonable that a director who provides a real, effective service beyond his position as director should not be remunerated for such services and that, in the event that this director receives remuneration, the deductibility for such expense for CIT purposes is denied to the taxpayer (the company), exclusively on the basis of the doctrine of the Bond Theory.

SECTION D: LABOUR

Breaks and working time: The Spanish Supreme Court in a recent judgement regarding a labour collective dispute has established the break time carried out in the 15 minutes following the agreed start time of the working day must be considered as effective working time for those who have strict timetable control and are not employees with the category of manager or similar, nor employees with a non-managerial position and category. 

The Supreme Court has reached the conclusion based on the literal interpretation of the terms used in a pre-existing Labor Agreement of the Company in question. Thus, the judgement has followed from the above-mentioned Labor Agreement that, if a break time is carried out in the fifteen minutes following the start time, it will be considered to have been made at the beginning of the same and will therefore be considered effective working time.

SECTON E: REAL ESTATE

On February 22, the Order of February 15, 2024, of the Regional Ministry of Housing, Transport and Infrastructures has been published in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid. In this regard, the order has established the maximum prices of publicly protected housing in the Community of Madrid.

The Order contains the following measures:

• The zoning of the Community of Madrid has been modified for the purpose of determining the maximum prices of the publicly protected housing.

• The maximum prices of publicly protected housing are updated.

• An automatic annual update of the maximum prices foreseen in the Order is foreseen as from January 1, 2025.

• The prices established by the Order may be applied to provisional qualification procedures already initiated as long as certain requirements are met.

For further information, please contact:

Juan Ignacio Alonso - Andersen Partner
China Desk Coordinator
jignacio.alonso@es.Andersen.com

Wenbo Zhou - Andersen Associate
China Desk Coordinator
wenbo.zhou@es.Andersen.com

You can download the full PDF file and its tranlation in Chinese here.