In recent years, commercial calls without consent have become one of the main discomfort for users in Spain. Although this practice had already been regulated by modifying the General Telecommunications Lawit has not been until the middle of 2025 When an important milestone has occurred: the first economic sanction by telephone spam.
What establishes the regulations?
The update of the General Telecommunications Law, approved in 2022 and in force since June 29, 2023introduced a clear restriction: it is prohibited to make commercial calls without the express consent of the recipient. They are only allowed if the user has previously authorized that type of communication or if he has been a client of the issuing company during the last year.
The objective of this reform was clear: to protect the privacy of citizens and stop an intrusive practice that affected millions of people. Since its application, companies that violate this standard face sanctions that can reach up to two million euros, depending on the volume of business and the severity of the infraction.
The case of Adverbis Spain, SL: the first sanction
The first company penalized for breaching the law has been ADVERBIS SPAIN, SL., An agency dedicated to digital marketing. He July 27, 2023just a month after the regulations entered into force, the company made a commercial call to an individual without its authorization, although it was registered in the Robinson lista voluntary system to avoid this type of communications.
The affected filed a complaint before the Spanish data protection agency (AEPD)which decided to impose a fine of 5,000 euros to the company. Although the figure is not high, it is due to the small size of the company. If it had been a great corporation, the amount would have been considerably greater.
How to report unwanted calls
The AEPD It facilitates a specific form in its electronic headquarters so that any citizen can denounce this type of situations. The process is free and fast. In addition, if the company is part of the Code of self -control conductit is possible to manage the claim through that channel in less than a month.
FROM ADVERTISING TO FRAUD: THE NEW STAGEARY
Although this regulation marks an important advance, in 2025 The panorama has changed: many of the annoying calls no longer have commercial origin, but come from criminal groups. These unwanted communications seek more dangerous objectives such as stealing personal data, supplanting identities or recording the victim’s voice to give legal appearance to false authorizations.
Sometimes, the sole purpose of the call is to get the user to say “yes”, an answer that could be manipulated to justify fictional contracts.
The new measures against spam
To stop these types of situations, the government has launched three key measures:
- Automatic blocking of international calls that mimic national numbers.
- Assignment of specific prefixes to identify commercial calls.
- Declaration of legal disability of closed contracts or sales through unauthorized calls.
These actions seek to strengthen both privacy protection and safety against telephone fraud.
Tips to protect yourself
Citizens have several tools to avoid being victims of unwanted calls:
- Register on the Robinson list or other similar services such as Stoppublicity.
- Use the AEPD complaints channel.
- Do not respond to calls from unknown numbers or provide personal information.
Although there is a way to go, the first sanction for telephone spam and the new measures mark a turning point to reduce this type of intrusions.