Parliament approves the Customer Services Law: goodbye to spam calls and hidden administrative fees

The Minister for Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda , Pablo Bustinduy, during his speech in the Lower House of Parliament (EFE)

The Lower House of Parliament has approved the Law on Customer Services promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, a historic milestone in terms of consumer rights protection as it represents the approval of the first law that regulates customer services and establishes quality standards to ensure that consumers are protected from abuse.

Among the most important measures included in the text are putting an end to spam calls, unexpected administrative fees, fake reviews or unauthorised contract renewals. Furthermore, it includes improvements for free, fast, fair and personalised telephone support, while establishing rights and obligations for companies to act with transparency and respect towards consumers.

During his speech in Parliament, Pablo Bustinduy argued that "consumers deserve fair and personalised customer service established by law," and stressed that this law will serve to protect citizens and end corporate impunity: "This is not merely a technical regulation, but a step towards a fairer, more responsible, and more humane consumption model", the minister stressed, highlighting that this law empowers consumers against businesses.

Now, following its approval, the legislation will go to the Upper House of Parliament and then return to the Lower House for final approval.

No more spam calls

Companies will be required to identify their business calls with a specific numeric code (a telephone prefix), and to identify customer service calls with a different code. This means telecommunications operators will be required to block all calls from companies that do not use these codes, preventing the bombardment of unsolicited sales calls, colloquially known as 'spam calls'.

Furthermore, contracts concluded through unsolicited telephone calls will be declared null and void. This measure aims to prevent consumers from feeling pressured by these types of commercial calls and to discourage companies from making unwanted calls, as contracts obtained through such communications will be cancelled.

No more hidden administrative fees

Businesses should offer, from the outset of the transaction, the full price including administrative fees and any other issues or costs that may be passed on to the consumer or user. This will prevent companies from communicating prices by breaking down figures, even at different stages of the purchase process, as happens, for example, with the purchase of tickets.

In this way, the law guarantees that the buyer can know from the outset the total price they are paying and what it covers, without unexpected price increases at the end of the transaction.

Transparent advertising algorithms and personalised pricing

Consumers will have the right to know what parameters are used to personalise the prices and advertising they receive through apps or digital platforms. The algorithms used must be transparent and accessible, and may not employ discriminatory parameters or exploit situations of urgency or need.

Personal attention

The law prohibits the use of premium rate numbers as a means of communicating with customers, and companies will have to ensure that 95% of the telephone calls they receive from their customers are answered, on average, in less than 3 minutes. In addition, companies will be prohibited from handling these calls exclusively through answering machines or artificial intelligence, so that customers can ask to speak directly to a specialised operator at any point during the query or complaint. Customer complaints must be dealt with within a maximum of 15 days, halving the current 30-day period. Likewise, complaints relating to undue charges to customers must be resolved within 5 days.

The regulation also strengthens linguistic rights by stipulating that large companies, that is, those with more than 250 employees that have a turnover of more than 50 million euros, and that operate in territories that have co-official languages, must guarantee that the submission of queries, complaints, claims or incidents can be made and answered both in Spanish and in any of the co-official languages of that autonomous community. In this regard, businesses should also ensure accessibility to customer support services for vulnerable consumers, such as those with disabilities or the elderly.

Crackdown on fake reviews

The text restricts fake reviews through various mechanisms, such as prohibiting the buying and selling of reviews or requiring that reviews be published within 30 days of acquiring the product or service, with the aim of ensuring that the review reflects the real and recent opinion of a consumer of that product or service.

In addition, the company receiving the review will be guaranteed the possibility of replying and requesting its removal when it can prove that the person signing the review has not purchased the product or enjoyed the service, demonstrating that the content of the review is not truthful.

An end to unauthorised contract renewals

Companies will be required to give 15 days' notice of the date on which the automatic renewal of a service or subscription that has been contracted online will take place, in addition to facilitating voluntary cancellation if the consumer wishes to do so.

This is intended to guarantee by law that all consumers can make informed decisions and avoid the automatic renewal of unwanted contracts without giving consumers time to decide whether or not they want to remain subscribed to the services offered.

Non official translation