Spain's consumers hit 98% spam call rate despite new 400‑prefix law

A 2026 study by the Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU) found that 98 % of Spanish consumers continue to receive unsolicited commercial phone calls. The report criticises the limited impact of recent telecom regulations, including the 2023 amendment to the General Telecommunications Law and the 2025 Law on Customer Service (SAC) that introduced a mandatory 400 prefix to identify commercial calls. Implementation of the 400 prefix has been delayed, with the government now targeting October 2026 for standardisation, but most companies still use ordinary numbers.

Operators such as Telefónica and MásOrange display “suspected spam” warnings but do not block calls, and many other providers (e.g., Digi, Vodafone) lack such alerts altogether. Apple’s iOS 26 filter silences unknown numbers but can also block legitimate calls. The OCU argues that consent‑by‑default mechanisms and pre‑checked boxes have effectively nullified the 2023 consent requirement, allowing marketing databases to keep operating without genuine user permission.