In our information note of 20 June, we communicated the suspension of the deadline for the submission of the UN Progress Report (CoP) due to technical problems with the digital platform, pending a new deadline for submission.

However, the recent PMNU communiqué reports unforeseen delays in launching the online platform and the difficulty in confirming an official date for reopening. Given the approaching reporting deadline, submission of the CoP will be voluntary by 2023.

Without prejudice to its voluntary nature, the UNGC encourages all participating companies to continue to collect data and generate responses using the forms provided. Analyses and visualisations of the aggregated data will be provided to all participants who complete the digital questionnaire.

For those companies that wish to file voluntarily, they can do so via the interim digital platform, by submitting a declaration of continued support from the CEO and the digital questionnaire (highly preferable) or a sustainability report, by 31 December.

Participants will receive an email notification when the interim digital CoP platform is launched with information on how to access the platform and submit the 2023 CoP. Participants wishing to submit a 2023 CoP will be able to access the platform from their participant profile using their UN Global Compact login credentials.

No participating company will be penalised or have its participant status changed for not submitting the CoP 2023. However, the UN Global Compact strongly encourages all participants to demonstrate their commitment and progress towards the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the CoP's interim digital platform.

Participants who have acquired "Non-communicating" status before 2023, may reactivate the "Active" status by submitting the digital form or uploading a sustainability report through the interim digital platform at any time before 31 December.

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Raúl Salas, partner of Tax Law, and Elena Ferrer-Sama, head of Tax Law, have collaborated in Chambers and Partners' The Legal 500: Tax Comparative Guide, providing an overview of the relevant tax legislation and regulations in Spain.

You can consult the chapter at the following link.

The EBA Guidelines on the use of remote customer onboarding solutions set out guidelines for credit and financial institutions (within the scope of the EU AML/CFT rules) based within the European Union to comply with the identification obligations under the AML/CFT Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council.  

In the case of Spain, the Bank of Spain and SEPBLAC are committed to comply with these guidelines in their supervisory functions of credit and financial institutions. This EBA regulation must be observed in conjunction with national AML/CFT regulations, which already largely legislate many of these guidelines. SEPBLAC regulations, such as the one authorising non-face-to-face identification systems by video identification or video conferencing, and any that may be established by the Bank of Spain in its supervisory work on institutions, should also be observed.

To date, in addition to Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway have committed to comply with these guidelines, but not Estonia, which has informed the EBA of its intention not to comply with these guidelines.

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The main objectives of the Regulation are (i) to establish the common set of rules that issuers must follow in order for a bond that pursues environmentally sustainable objectives within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (the Taxonomy Regulation) to qualify as a "European green bond" or "EuVB"; and (ii) to establish a system for registering and supervising companies acting as external verifiers of green bonds, coordinated by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

The "European Green Bond" designation is expected to (a) make it easier for investors and companies to find environmentally sustainable investments; (b) increase private capital flows towards more environmentally sustainable investments; and (c) reduce potential reputational risks for issuers by establishing a registration and monitoring regime for external verifiers.

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David Vegara, Chairman of the Advisory Board of RocaJunyent, invites us to read his Economic Note. In it, he analyses the implications that various high-impact events have had on the economy since 2020 - events that ECB President Christine Lagarde referred to at the meetings as "megashocks" - and the effects of other events that seriously affect the world economy and that have a different speed, but a capital importance: what we could call "megatrends".

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The Principles were revised in light of recent developments in capital markets and corporate governance policies and practices, and to ensure their continued existence as the leading international standard for corporate governance.  

One of the main objectives of the revision was to promote corporate governance policies that support the sustainability and resilience of companies which, in turn, can contribute to the sustainability and resilience of the wider economy. Another main objective was to support national efforts to improve companies' access to capital market financing.

Out of this review comes a new chapter on "Sustainability and Resilience" to assist companies in managing the challenges and opportunities posed by the climate transition, and other sustainability challenges.

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The purpose of the RCTIR is to centralise, in a purely electronic form, beneficial ownership information currently available from various sources, in addition to that provided directly to it by those obliged to report (hereinafter "obligors"), and to publicise it in order to protect the integrity of the financial system and other sectors of economic activity through the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. At the same time, it aims to ensure the interconnection of beneficial ownership information at European level.

In order to centralise existing information, the RCTIR will collect the data registered in official Spanish sources such as the Registers of Foundations, Associations, Cooperatives, Agricultural Transformation Companies, the Spanish Association of Property, Mercantile and Movable Property Registrars (through the Mercantile Registers) or the General Council of Notaries, among other registers with competence in the collection of data on beneficial ownership.

With regard to the information provided directly, although to date Spanish trading companies were already obliged to provide their beneficial ownership when submitting their annual accounts, this new regulation brings with it some new obligations of particular importance which, if not complied with, may lead to penalties.

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The Double Taxation Treaty (hereinafter, “DTT”), refer first to Law 35/2006, of 28 November, Personal Income Tax Law (hereinafter, “PITL”), which establishes - in its article 9 - the criteria for determining when an individual taxpayer is a tax resident in Spain. These are:

• Criterion of staying more than 183 days, during the calendar year, in Spanish territory [Article 9.1.a) PITL]
• Location of the main core or base of economic activities or interests in Spanish territory [Article 9.1.b) PITL]

Days of certified or accredited presence

The CEAC, in its resolution 00/04045/2020/00/00, of 28 March 2023, has determined that certified presence does not require the subject to remain for a certain number of hours, but that when the taxpayer is present in a State for part of a day, no matter how small, the day will be considered as a day of presence in said State for the purposes of calculating the 183-day period.

The CEAC admits circumstances of a varied nature as items that prove certified presence in Spain, such as card transactions (at physical locations), use of means of transport, health and medical visits, performance of actions before a notary, access to sports, banking venues, and any other kind, payments with Via-T, contract signatures, presence in courses, car parking in public car parks, cash withdrawal at physical cash machines, etc.

Presumed days

Predictably, the main areas of conflict will arise in the different assessment of the presumed days by the AEAT and the taxpayer, respectively, due to the high degree of uncertainty that they may present.

The interpretation of the TEAC is that the set of days that “reasonably” elapse between two dates of certified presence in Spanish territory, must – unless otherwise proven – be calculated as days of presence in Spain.

Sporadic absences

With regard to sporadic absences, the TS gave the concept a notably time-based character through its resolutions 1829/2017, 1834/2017, 1850/2017, and 1860/2017, of 28 November 2017. Thus, for any taxpayer, who - temporarily - leaves Spanish territory for a few days, such absences could be counted as time spent in Spain.

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