The Spanish legal framework on packaging and packaging waste that entered into force in December 2022 substantially modified the regulation of packaging and packaging waste in an effort to implement a circular economy in Spain. Most of the obligations have already entered into force. However, certain marking and information obligations will enter into force on 1 January 2025.

On 28 June 2024, the European Ecodesign Regulation (2024/1781/EU) (“Ecodesign Regulation”) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 18 July 2024. This Regulation means a radical change in the manufacturing method of a wide variety of products and directly affects the supply chain of all those companies that intend to introduce products into the European Union. Its fundamental aim is to make products more sustainable by introducing a series of requirements and prohibitions that will be adapted to each product group by means of delegated acts of the European Commission.

As part of the European Union (EU)’s European Green Deal, one of the areas of EU law that has developed most rapidly and profoundly is that relating to corporate sustainability governance. Most recently, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CS3D”), has been provisionally agreed at a political level in December 2023, and confirmed by COREPER in a revised version in March 2024. The final text of the CS3D must still be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers before it enters into force.

The Spanish Registry of Food Contracts has become fully operative on 30 June 2023, which means that, as of that date, operators are obliged to register all food contracts concluded with primary producers, as well as their amendments.

Baker McKenzie’s Sanctions Blog published the alert titled Blog Series: Sanctions Enforcement Around the World, the Spanish Perspective on 14 June 2023. Read the article via the link here. Please also visit our Sanctions Blog for the most recent updates.

The year has ended with important new developments for companies that contract with the public sector, new developments that have come into force on January 1. Both the State and Catalan’s budgetary laws contain provisions on this matter. Also, as each year, the new thresholds applicable to harmonized contracts have been published.

On 20 January, 2021, part of Law 18/2020 of 28 December to facilitate economic activity, enters into force, following publication in the Official Gazette of the Government of Catalonia on 31 December. The main aim of this law is to facilitate economic activity in an all-digital environment, allowing for a more agile, efficient relationship between the administration and companies, supposedly with fewer administrative burdens for companies, and a more simplified administrative intervention framework.