Register of accredited companies

Foreign general contractors and subcontractors in the construction sector who, in the context of the cross-border provision of services, decide to post workers to Spain must comply with two measures of labour-law nature to the Spanish authorities before starting business activities

1. Notification of the posting of foreign workers to Spain (for more information, see our article "Posting of workers")
2. Registration in the so-called Register of Accredited Companies (Registro de Empresas Acreditadas - REA).

Register of Accredited Companies (Registro de Empresas Acreditadas - REA)

The REA is a public register with the purpose of ensuring that general- or subcontractors comply with the requirements to be met in the field of prevention of risks at work. These obligations are listed in article 4 of Law 32/2006 of 18 October 2006, which regulates the procurement of contracts to subcontractors in the construction sector.

Obligation to register

There is an obligation to register in the REA for all those companies that carry out work in the construction sector and that act as general- or subcontractors. Both foreign and Spanish companies are subject to this obligation.

Registration

a) Responsable agency

The notification must be made in the relevant register of the Autonomous Region where the company is going to provide the cross-border services.

The registration is a one-off operation and is valid throughout Spain.

b) Time

Undertakings must apply for registration before the start of participation in the procurement procedure or subcontracting. The validity of the registration is 3 years, renewable for equal periods.

Renewal must be requested within 6 months before the expiry date and in accordance with the standard model. After expiry of the registration period and without requesting renewal in due time, the entry will be automatically deleted from the Register.

c) Procedure

The application for entry in the REA of the competent Autonomous Region may be submitted as follows:

- Preferably by electronic means, through the online management system of the REA, accessible on the website of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security: https://expinterweb.mitramiss.gob.es/rea/

- By personal on-site registration with the competent authority.

- By any of the means indicated in paragraph 16 of Law 39/2015 of 1 October on the ordinary administrative procedures of the public administration.

If the application and the declaration to be attached contain the necessary data and documents, the registration of the construction company will be carried out within 15 days and a certificate will be issued with the 11-digit allocation number of the register.

The maximum time limit for registration or a negative decision is 15 days, with the time limit running from the date of receipt of the application by the registry of the authority responsible for processing. An official notification is issued within the 10 following days. If no negative decision is issued within this period, the applicant may assume that the application has been granted by tacit administrative consent and may request the certificate of registration for the company.

d) Information and requirements

This is an extensive administrative procedure for which, among other things, the following information and appropriate evidence (translated) must be submitted:

• details of the undertaking posting the workers: Name, full address, tax ID, e-mail.
• Characteristics of the company posting the workers: general description of the activity that it will carry out on the construction sites, description of the company's organisation (overview of the different departments), brief list of the material resources at the disposal of the company (premises, installations, work equipment, etc.), description of the personal resources at the disposal of the company (number of employees, number of workers in each field of activity and the level of professional qualification).
• Details of the workers to be posted: Name and surname, identity card/passport, job title and/or professional category.
• Indication and proof of the undertaking's organisation in the field of health and safety at work in accordance with Directive 89/391/EEC (NB: the various options are not exclusive, since an undertaking may choose several forms of organisation at the same time):
  • Personal responsibility of the employer (only if legally permissible in the country concerned)
  • Designation of one or more workers to carry out health and safety measures (in which case a protocol on the designation of the worker shall be provided)
  • External prevention services (in this case, a contract with the external company must be presented or a certificate from the external company that the contract is still in force)
• training of the posted management and site personnel in occupational health and safety prevention, indicating the level of training by occupational group (proof of this training is required)

• details of the company for which the activities are carried out

Subcontracts

If the posting company in turn subcontracts, that is has the status of a subcontractor, the opening of the workplace (centro de trabajo) must be reported.

If the work is carried out without an approved construction project, a specific risk assessment must be submitted and an appropriate register of subcontracts must be established.