Spain implements new telephone numbering regulations

Spain has introduced new regulations regarding telephone numbering to improve consumer identification and manage number availability. As of October 17, all commercial calls intended to offer products, promote services, or acquire new customers must originate from a nine-digit number starting with the '400' prefix. This measure, proposed by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, aims to help consumers easily identify telemarketing attempts.

There is ongoing debate regarding how this affects the insurance brokerage sector. While brokers performing cold calls using purchased databases will likely need to adopt the 400 prefix, experts suggest that brokers managing existing client portfolios through cross-selling may not be subject to the same requirements.

Additionally, the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) is modifying rules for nomadic VoIP services. To prevent the exhaustion of available numbers, these services will transition from using certain provincial numbers starting with '8' to a specific numbering block starting with '51'. Previously assigned provincial numbers may be retained only if they are converted to conventional fixed-line numbering and authorized by the CNMC.