Spain — Ley 10/2025
| Matter | Rule |
|---|---|
| Scope | All undertakings providing basic services of general interest — water, gas, electricity, transport, post, electronic communications and financial services; and all large undertakings in any other sector, with 250 or more employees, turnover above €50 M or balance sheet above €43 M |
| Territorial reach | Applies to undertakings established in Spain or in another State, provided they operate in Spanish territory |
| Waiting time | 95 % of calls answered, on average, in under three minutes |
| Human attention | Exclusively automated service prohibited; the customer may request an operator from the main menu |
| Escalation | Right to a supervisor or quality department within three minutes |
| Response to complaints | Fifteen working days; two hours for service-continuity incidents; five days for billing |
| Sanctions | No own penalty scale; refers to Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, enforced by seventeen regional consumer authorities |
Portugal is the EU offshoring destination with the highest relative penetration, and Spanish offshored employment grew 12.5 % in a year when domestic employment fell 6.7 %. A number of Portuguese-based operations therefore fall within the Spanish regime and have, in all likelihood, not mapped that exposure.
Portugal, Italy and France
Portugal — sixty seconds since 2009
Once the call is answered, waiting time must not exceed sixty seconds, counted from the moment the consumer selects the option to speak to the professional. Maximum five initial menu options, one of which must be human contact. Outbound calls only between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Reversed burden of proof for the first ninety days — with no corresponding duty to create the evidence, since Article 9 was repealed in 2010.
Decreto-Lei n.º 134/2009
Italy — offshoring and the right to an EU operator
Thirty days prior notification of offshoring outside the Union; mandatory disclosure to the consumer of the country where the operator is physically located; right to be transferred to an operator in Italy or the Union within the same call; joint liability between the client and the centre operator. Penalties of €150 000 per omitted notification, €10 000 per day of delay and €50 000 per day for breach of disclosure duties.
Article 24-bis of Decreto-Legge 83/2012
France — prior consent since August 2026
Telephone prospecting prohibited in all sectors save with prior explicit consent, existing contract or sale of periodicals. Consent valid for one year; proof must be kept for at least three years. Calls only Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., maximum four calls per month per consumer. Penalties up to €375 000 for legal persons.
Loi n.º 2025-594 and Décret n.º 2026-662, applicable since 11 August 2026
The Digital Fairness Act announced in the 2030 Consumer Agenda of 19 November 2025 remained, in September 2026, a mere announcement without a proposal number. Even with tabling in late 2026, the ordinary legislative procedure and transposition period would place practical application in 2029 to 2031. National divergence is structural and lasting, not transitional.
Apply this to your operation
A general framework is no substitute for a concrete assessment. The diagnostic determines what applies to your operation.