Díaz: time-tracking decree in final procedures, approval before summer

Legal note: This article is informational and does not constitute legal advice. The Royal Decree on digital time-tracking has not been approved or published in the BOE (Spanish Official Gazette). The current obligation remains the one set out in Royal Decree-Law 8/2019.

”It is completing its administrative procedures”

Yolanda Díaz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor, spoke again about the Royal Decree on digital time-tracking on Monday, May 11, in statements reported by Europa Press:

“El registro está culminando sus trámites administrativos y se aprobará.” (The time-tracking decree is completing its administrative procedures and will be approved.)

“Yo no doy fecha exacta porque depende de los departamentos responsables, pero se aprobará.” (I do not give an exact date because it depends on the responsible departments, but it will be approved.)

The new development compared to previous months is that the Minister places the text in the final stage of the administrative path, no longer in the substantive debate stage.

What “final administrative procedures” means

Following the Council of State’s opinion — issued in March and non-binding — these are the remaining steps:

1. Wording adjustments to the text.
2. Sign-off from the affected ministries (Labor and Economy).
3. Scheduling on the Council of Ministers’ agenda.
4. Approval and signature at the Council of Ministers.
5. Publication in the BOE and entry into force (with vacatio legis if applicable).

The Minister avoids committing to a specific date because Council of Ministers scheduling does not depend on the Labor Ministry alone, but on the Government as a whole. The estimate Díaz committed to in early May — approval before 21 June — remains the public reference horizon, and the 2026 Annual Normative Plan already lists the regulation as a priority measure for the year.

The draft’s content has not moved

While the calendar advances, the content of the text remains without substantial cuts. The draft that would go to the Council of Ministers preserves the ban on paper-based records, requires clock-ins to be immutable and traceable, sets four years of retention accessible to the Labor Inspectorate in real time or without undue delay, requires support for multiple devices and workplaces, and strengthens the penalty regime. The current LISOS (Spain’s Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order) provides for fines of up to €7,500 per workplace; the draft raises the criterion to up to €10,000 per affected worker, which changes the magnitude of fines for companies with a significant headcount.

Behind this is the CJEU ruling (CCOO v. Deutsche Bank, Case C-55/18, of 14 May 2019) that obliges Spain to have an “objective, reliable, and accessible” record-keeping system — a legal basis that neither Díaz nor the Council of State can touch.

The matters that can still be fine-tuned in the final stage are the vacatio legis period — the Economy Ministry requested a one-year deadline for SMEs — and nuances on personal scope: self-employed workers without employees, senior management, and the public sector. The decree’s digital core is closed.

From “even if it’s the last thing I do” to “it is completing”

In March, following the Council of State’s unfavorable opinion, Díaz closed the debate in Congress with an “even if it’s the last thing I do”. In April and the first days of May, she reiterated the commitment to approval before summer. The May 11 statements fit that line, but for the first time they place the file in the final-procedures stage rather than defending it from criticism.

What to do while the RD has not yet reached the BOE

The current obligation — that of RD-Law 8/2019 — already requires a daily record of working hours. The new RD changes the form (digital, immutable, retained, accessible), not the existence of the obligation.

Inspections that are issuing sanctions in 2026 are doing so under the current regulation and CJEU doctrine. Courts have started to reject manipulable Excel files or paper sheets without traceability: in a ruling by the TSJ of Catalonia on records with cross-outs, the court upheld a conviction for 928 overtime hours on the basis that the record was not reliable, and that reasoning is already being applied by the Inspectorate before the regulation reaches the BOE.

If approval indeed comes before summer and the vacatio legis is short, companies still recording on paper or Excel will have only a few weeks to absorb the change. The one unknown that justifies waiting is the final scope on self-employed workers without employees, senior management, and the public sector; it affects specific cases.

---

Want to get ahead of the RD? Cleverfy already complies today with every requirement in the draft: digital clock-in, immutable records, 4-year retention, and Inspectorate access. Try 14 days free →

---

Source: Infobae / Europa Press, May 11, 2026.