New mandatory contract information in Spain from 5 October: what you must hand over, and when

On 5 October 2026, what you have to hand over in writing to every person you hire changes. This is not a recommendation or a best-practice guide: it is Royal Decree 723/2026 of 9 September, published in Spain's official gazette on 15 September, and it applies to every company with no exemption by size.

The decree implements Article 8.5 of the Workers' Statute and transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions. In practice it does three things: it expands the list of what must be disclosed, it brings forward the moment of handing it over, and it requires you to be able to prove that you did.

What RD 723/2026 is, and who it covers

The duty to inform is not new. Article 8.5 of the Workers' Statute already required the essential elements of the contract to be communicated in writing, and it was implemented by a 1998 decree that had fallen behind: it described a labour market without remote work, without permanent seasonal contracts as we know them and, of course, without algorithms allocating shifts.

RD 723/2026 replaces that framework. It applies to every company and every worker covered by Article 1 of the Workers' Statute, with specific chapters for seafarers and the fishing sector, and it covers as a general rule employment relationships lasting more than four weeks. There is no headcount threshold: it binds you the same with one employee as with three hundred.

The full list: the seventeen items of Article 3

This is the part worth having in front of you when you review your hiring templates. We group them into blocks to keep them manageable, but the order and the lettering are the decree's own.

Identification, role and place of work

• a) The identity of the parties entering into the contract.
• b) Start date and, for fixed-term contracts, end date or expected duration.
• c) The company's registered address and the workplace, with the details of the remote working location where there is one, and a note if work is performed across several sites.
• d) A description of the role and, for fixed-term contracts, the enabling ground and its justification.
• e) Professional category or job group, with sufficient detail of what the work involves.

Money and time

• f) Pay: base amount, each supplement separately, frequency and method of payment, and how variable components are calculated.
• g) Working time: daily, weekly and annual hours, night or shift work where applicable, the procedure for changing the schedule, the overtime arrangements, the length of holidays and how they are set. For irregular hours, the distribution system and minimum notice periods; for permanent seasonal contracts, the periods of activity and inactivity.
• h) Probation period: its specific duration and each party's obligations during it.
• i) The right to training provided by the company where applicable.

What was not there before

• j) For temporary work agencies, the identity of the user company and the justification for the contract.
• k) Algorithmic or automated decision-making systems. We cover this in the next section.
• l) The equality plan, work-life balance measures where they exist, and the protocol against sexual harassment.
• m) Planned LGBTI equality measures, where the company has them.
• n) The termination procedure, its formal requirements and notice periods.
• o) The applicable collective agreement, with its code, publication date, term and whether it is in ultra-activity.
• p) Social security: the management system, the body covering the contingencies, any voluntary protections, and pension plans with their contributions.
• q) The circumstances allowing changes to what was disclosed under d), e), f) and g), and the procedure for making them.

The item almost nobody has read: algorithms

Item k) is the substantive novelty and the one most companies will miss, because nobody associates «employment contract» with «algorithm». It requires you to disclose both the existence of these systems and their operating patterns.

The existence of algorithmic or automated decision-making systems, and their operating patterns, where they are involved in decisions concerning the duration of work, the allocation of tasks, pay, professional progression, the location of the post or the termination of the contract.

If you allocate shifts with a tool that proposes them on its own, if a system scores performance to decide variable pay or promotions, or if a model assigns tasks according to each person's profile, you have to say so in writing and before the work starts. This does not stand alone: it connects with the European AI Regulation and with Article 64.4.d of the Workers' Statute, which already gives works councils the right to know the parameters of those algorithms.

When it has to be handed over

This is the most awkward operational change. It used to be enough to inform within two months of the work starting. Article 7.1 now brings that forward to before it begins.

The three deadlines

• New hires: the Article 3 information is handed over before the employment relationship starts. If someone begins on Monday, they must have it by Friday.
• Later changes: they must be communicated as soon as possible and, at the latest, on the date they take effect. A change of schedule or of a salary supplement is not reported at month end.
• Contracts predating 5 October: you do not have to revisit them on your own initiative, but if the person requests it you have 30 working days from receiving the request (sole transitional provision).

How it must be handed over, and why this is the hard part

Article 7 does not simply say «in writing». It accepts paper or electronic form, but attaches three conditions that, taken together, rule out an improvised email.

The three formal requirements

• Accessible to the employee: they must be able to consult it whenever they want, not only on the day you sent it.
• Storable: in a format that allows it to be kept, not a link that expires or a message buried in a thread.
• With proof of transmission retained by the company: it is on you to be able to evidence that you handed it over, when, and to whom.

That third requirement is what turns a paperwork duty into a filing problem. Having informed someone is not enough: you have to be able to prove it years later, in front of an inspector or a court.

What happens if you do not

The decree carries no penalty regime of its own. A breach falls under Article 6.4 of the LISOS, which classifies as a minor infringement the failure to inform the worker in writing about the essential elements of the contract and the main conditions under which the work is performed.

Minor infringement: the bands of Article 40.1.a

• Minimum band: €70 to €150.
• Medium band: €151 to €370.
• Maximum band: €371 to €750.
• Like the rest of the social order penalties, it is imposed per workplace, not per affected employee.

With figures like those, presenting this as a financial threat would be dishonest: the fine is small. The expensive risk is evidential. The Article 3 information is the record of what you agreed, and without it you are left undefended exactly where disputes concentrate: the real length of the probation period, how the variable part of the salary is calculated, what distribution of hours had been agreed, or what notice applied. In litigation, what you cannot evidence tends to be resolved in favour of the claimant, just as happens with working time records.

How to reach 5 October without surprises

A preparation checklist

• Review your contract template and mark which of the seventeen items it already covers. Most templates are missing k), l), m), p) and q).
• Prepare a reusable information annex with everything common to the whole workforce: collective agreement, harassment protocol, equality plan, social security body, training.
• Itemise pay properly. «Gross annual salary per the collective agreement» no longer works: base and each supplement must be separated, and the calculation of variable pay explained.
• Justify the probation period in writing, with its specific length.
• Take stock of any automation. If a tool proposes shifts, scores performance or allocates tasks, it falls under item k).
• Decide where it is stored and how delivery is evidenced, which is the Article 7 requirement and the one most companies will improvise.
• Prepare your answer for older contracts, because the 30 working days start running the day somebody asks.

Handing it over and being able to prove it: where Horalia helps

Of everything above, the hardest part to sustain over time is not drafting the information: it is evidencing delivery every time, for every person, for years. Article 7 asks for accessibility, storage and proof of transmission — precisely the three things an email with a PDF attached does not give you.

Horalia's document management covers that stretch.

The three Article 7 requirements, handled

• Assignment to a person, a team or a site in a single click: the common annex reaches the whole workforce without forwarding it one by one, and each person sees theirs from their own profile.
• Advanced electronic signature, carrying the same legal weight as a handwritten one under the eIDAS Regulation and Spain's Law 6/2020, and uniquely linked to the person signing: there is your proof of transmission.
• Tamper detection: any change made after signing is detectable, so you can prove the document you produce is the one that was handed over.
• Classification by type and tags: contracts, training and policies kept apart, with the Article 3 information findable by person and by date.
• Search with filters: when someone asks for theirs, or an inspection arrives, the document surfaces in seconds rather than in a three-year-old shared folder.
• Preview without downloading, to consult it without handing out loose copies.

And since a good share of those seventeen items concern working time, schedules and holidays, the information you have to provide comes out of what you already manage: time tracking, schedules, shifts and absences and holidays. You can explore Horalia or try it for free.